Ammo & Ballistics [Paperback]

Bob Forker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

All you ever needed to know about ammunition has finally been collected in one volume!

Editorial Reviews

Review

All you will ever need to know about factory ammunition has finally been collected in one volume! -- Safari Press Inc.

About the Author

Bob Forkers professional career as an aerospace engineer dovetailed nicely with his activities as a gunwriter. In aerospace he worked on the development and testing of weapon systems for airplanes and helicopters. While his previous knowledge of sporting guns and ammunition provided a background for use in military applications, the intense exposure to testing and instrumentation techniques has given him a unique perspective for his current writings.

Bob combines his engineers understanding of the technical aspects of ammunition performance with a demonstrated ability to make these factors understandable to his readers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Safari Press; 1 edition (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571571612
• ISBN-13: 978-1571571618
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is a guide to factory ammunition ballistics, February 15, 2000

By 

Joe D "RealGuns.Com" (Raymond, ME) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ammo & Ballistics (Paperback)

This paperback, not hard cover book, is an excellent and very timely guide to factory ammo and factory ammo exterior ballistic performance. The book covers a very broad selection of cartridges.

The authors include listings for the .30-378, .338-378 Weatherby cartridges, as well as the .300 Remington Ultra Mag. The book goes on to offer data on the popular cowboy rounds like the .38-40, .38-55 and .44-40, and concludes with extensive listings on the big rounds up through the .700 Nitro Express.

The dimensioned cartridge drawing and brief history for each listing is very helpful and makes for more interesting reading. The velocity/energy and trajectory tables extend out to the extreme range of each listed cartridge.

The only negatives I found were some of the articles. For some inexplicable reason, the font size jumped from what looks like 10 points to 14 on the article pages, as though the publisher were trying to fill space. The authors are well known experts and the comments are certainly valid, but is there really a need to let people know the .30-06 is probably good for large deer, or that the .22-250 can cover a longer range than an almost obsolete .222 ?

I think it's worth the price, the information is accurate and timely, and it will be used frequently if you spend much time hunting, at the range, or are researching for a new firearm purchase.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Factory Ballistics, March 9, 2001

By 

Trapperb (Milwaukee, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ammo & Ballistics (Paperback)

This book is great for someone looking for all the data on factory loaded ammo and ballistics tables on how it all performs out to 500 yds. But, if you are looking for lots of information on the science of ballistics and how bullets are affected by nature in flight and on target, this book will not satisfy your hunger. Overall, a great book for hunters/shooters/reloaders looking for bullet data.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book for exterior ballistics data, February 19, 2003

By 

M. Dog (Everywhere and Nowhere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ammo & Ballistics (Paperback)

This book immediately begs comparison with "Cartridges of the World" by Frank C. Barnes. As Mr. Forker states himself in the acknowledgements of this book, Barnes' book is the one by which all other works on cartridges will be judged. "Ammo and Ballistics" is a great reference work in its own right, though, filling a slightly different niche than "Cartridges of the World." The writing, including cartridge history and current opinion, is better in the Barnes book. Also, the Barnes book has a full-sized photo of each cartridge, including obsolete cartridges. Barnes' work has a well-rounded, complete feel to it, and if the world of cartridges fascinates you, as it does me, you will find yourself reading Barnes' classic work for pleasure as well as for the wealth of useful information contained. This is why, for my uses, I prefer the Barnes book. But if you are a hunter, or for some other reason need the lowdown on exterior ballistics, for heavens' sake do yourself a favor and buy the Forker book as well. Mr. Forker supplies page after page of velocity, energy, and trajectory tables for each cartridge. There is a wealth of data here, well presented, covering factory loadings for each cartridge. Antoher useful tidbit of the Forker book is felt recoil factor of each cartridge, so a shooter can compare the felt recoil of each cartridge. No kidding, this book delivers the goods with regards to performance information. I also liked the guest articles by Graig T. Boddington, which are included. Anything Boddington writes, you can take to the bank.