Essential books for a gun library

[aterry33]

I'll start with a few:

Standard Catalogue of S&W, by Supica

History of S&W, Roy Jinks

No Second Place Winner, Bill Jordan

Keith on Sixguns, Elmer Keith


Others?

 

[Dashriprock]

Agreed, and add these:

Craig Boddington's two fine volumes on rifles, American Hunting Rifles and Safari Rifles.

Complete Book of the Rifle by Jack O'Connor

Hoglegs, Hipshots & Jalapenos by Skeeter Skelton

Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey by Skeeter Skelton

Use Enough Gun by Robert Ruark

 

[Dashriprock]

Sure hope some more chime in here -- I'm as avid about gun books as I am about guns and would certainly enjoy some tips on titles I don't yet own.

Some other gems:

Shooting by J. Henry FitzGerald

The Gun & Its Development by W.W. Greener

Fast & Fancy Revolver Shooting by Ed McGivern

Browning: American Gunmaker by J.M. Browning and Curt Gentry

Weatherby: The Man, The Gun, The Legend by Grits and Tom Gresham

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Collecting Classic Bolt Action Military Rifles by Paul S. Scarlata

 

[P&R Fan]

Anything and everything by Elmer and Skeeter.
William Brophy's books about military rifles, I.E. '03 Springfield and Krag.
The J.M. Pyne stories by Guy Lautard-Great stories about single-shot rifles. J.M.Pyne is really a reflection of Harry Pope, one of the greatest barrel makers ever.

 

[Onomea]

The Book of Colt Firearms, by RL Wilson. It is about the only good book covering all Colts (up to the 1970s, anyway) out there. It has recently been republished in a third edition, so not as hard to find as it used to be. It is expensive, but worth it if you collect Colts. (Also it is not infallible. It contains occasional errors.)

 

[cjw3]

Hatcher's Notebook

Cartridges of the World

 

[jkc]

The Accurate Rifle - Warren Page

John M. Browning, American Gunmaker - John Browning & Curt Gentry

Hell, I Was There - Elmer Keith

The Art Of The Rifle - Jeff Cooper

 

[n4zov]

Hatcher's Notebook by Julian S. Hatcher

Mr. Rifleman - Colonel Townsend Whelen

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The Pistol Shooter's Book by Charles Askins.

 

[s&wchad]

You can never have too many reference books. Here's just a few that haven't been mentioned.

The Rifle in America Sharpe
The Study of the Colt Single Action Army Graham, Kopec & Moore
Colt .45 Service Pistols Clawson
Marlin Firearms Brophy
The Winchester Book Madis

 

[bigolddave]

A History of the Colt Revolver, Haven and Belden
The Parker Gun, Larry Baer
L C Smith Shotguns, Brophy
The Home Guide to Cartridge Conversions, Nonte

 

[Cyrano]

A BIG subject. Many excellent works mentioned; I wish I had all of them. Here's a few more;

General Subjects
NRA Book of Rifles and NRA Book of Pistols, W.H.B. Smith.
Small Arms of the World; Smith and Smith
A Rifleman Went to War; McBride
Shots Fired in Anger; George.

Special subjects, whatever interests you
System Mauser; Breathed and Schroeder
Mauser Pocket Pistols; Pender
The World's Machine Pistols and Sub Machineguns; Nelson and
Musgrave
Centerfire Pistol and Revolver Cartridges; White and Munhall
History of Modern US Small Arms Ammunition; Hinckley, Woodin and Scranton.
Astra Automatic Pistols; Antaris.
Us Rifle M 14; Stevens.
The Black Rifle; Stevens.
The Pennsylvania Kentucky Rifle; Kaufman.
Single Shot Rifles; More Single Shot Rifles, Still More Single Shot Rifles, Boy's Rifles: Grant.
The Revolver (4 vols), A.W.F. Taylerson
Mannlicher Military Rifles; Scarlatta.
Sharps; Frank Sellers
Revolvers of the British Service; Chamberlain and Taylerson.
Trapdoor Springfields; Waite and Ernst.
Book of the Garand; Hatcher
War Baby, Vols I and II, Larry Ruth.
French Service Handguns; Medlin and Huon
Proud Promise; Huon.

Probably lots more I haven't mentioned.

 

[bummer]

ordinance went up front.

 

[MR .44 Spl]

Anything by Bruce Canfield:
"U.S. Infantry Weapons of World War I"
"U.S. Infantry Weapons of World War II
"Complete Guide to the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine"
"A Collector’s Guide to Winchester in the Service"
"Johnson Rifles and Machine Guns, The Story of Melvin Maynard Johnson, Jr. and His Guns"
"An Illustrated Guide to the '03 Springfield Service Rifle"
"Complete Guide to United States Military Combat Shotguns"

There are probably some others.

I also liked:
"U.S. Handguns of World War II - The Secondary Pistols and Revolvers" by Charles W. Pate

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

We must ask the question "What are you interested in?"-shooting, gunsmithing, collecting, history, military surplus, then go from there.

 

[JOliver]

The Pistol Shooter's Treasury by Gil Hebard

 

[wuluf]

I'm currently enjoying: " American Rifle, a Biography" by Alexander Rose.

 

[Cyrano]

Second thoughts and books I'd forgotten:

Textbook of Automatic Pistols. Wilson.
Colt's New Service Revolver. Mullin.
Red Coat and Brown Bess. Darling.
The Pinfire System. Smith and Curtis.
De Shootinest Gent'man. Buckingham
Gun Tools, Vol 1 and 2. Shaffer, Dorsey, Rutlidge.
Mauser Bolt Rifles. Olsen.
The Lee Enfield Story. Skennerton.
The Sten Machine Carbine. Laidler.
US Handguns of WW II. Pate.
Military and Sporting Rifle Shooting. Crossman.
The Winchester Lee Rifles. Myszkowski.
The Commercial Mauser 98 Sporting rifle. Womak.
Arms of the World, 1911. Schroeder.
The Colt Pocket Hammerless Automatic Pistol II. Brunner.