Customer Reviews

Best Guns

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The above review is a bunch of baloney by someone who has never read the book. This book has nothing to do with handguns at all. It's about shotguns, and specifically about the two barrel variety. - - This happens to be an excellent book and a great resource for someone contemplating the purchase of a nice double gun. - -

More McIntosh. I don't know who has the definitive work on shotguns, but this one must be close. Especially loved the section on spagetti shotguns. I can tell you up front that, for American guns, he prefers Foxes, but if you have read his works, you already know that.

This is just more McIntosh. And that is good, even though he has ruined my life. For years I've just considered guns to be tools like drills and saws .... tools to be used but not pampered. Then I discovered McIntosh, and Italian shotguns, and life has not been the same since.

I've been shooting Japanese. Totally reliable. Never had a problem. But it's like driving a Toyota. I want a Ferrari.

Michael is to blame.

The book has a lot of history, and is very informative on the history of double guns, and especially detailed in that of American heritage, I read a substatial amount about auto ejectors which I understand, twisted bore and smooth bore, pretty much self explainable, but exactly what is a sidelock, what is a boxlock? How do they differ? Old or new which way is the way to go? I look forward to buying a few doubles and using them. Obviously I do not need a $10,000, or even a $15,000 plus double, but I would like one I could use in the field and have something of value down the road in the next 20 or 30 plus years. I think a few informative drawings and discriptions a little more of the understanding of the workings and parts in detail would be benefical. I am not new to firearms for I have a found respect of them and their uses in more than a few areas but doubles are fairly new to me, and with that, new terminology and parts are hard to understand without knowing what to look for.

When you have already spent or are contemplating spending a lot of money on a fine shotgun, there arises a natural curiosity about your shotgun. You want to know everything about that gun and the people who made it. After reading all the magazine reviews and forum postings, for some there will still exist the desire to learn more. Michael McIntosh's "Best Guns" is the next step for satiating that curosity.

"Best Guns" follows the format of an international tour of shotgun manufacturers. He begins his tour with the American manufacturers and then crosses the ocean to Europe. All of the classic gunmakers of Great Britain are visited before he crosses over to the Continent. Along with brief chapers on the French and German gunmakers, McIntosh takes his readers to the Spanish and Italian firms.

Before recently passing away, Michael McIntosh was the dean of American shotgun writers. He earned this position through many years of hard work. There are not many people who have seen or experienced as much about the world of shotguns as Michael McIntosh. Is this the definitive book about the international world of shotguns? No, it is not. The industry is so large and diverse that it will take a publisher with very deep pockets to one day produce that definitive book. It is too bad that Michael McIntosh did not get the opportunity to write that definitive work. Until that work is one day published, "Best Shotguns" will serve as a well written guide for all shotgun enthusiasts.

My appreciation for classic American doubles began with my Grandfather. He would explain his love of the classics like Fox, L.C. Smith, Winchester 21's and his beloved Parkers for their timeless craftmanship of years gone by. This book was the missing link in my understanding of such guns. I could appericiate the workmanship of the weapons, but the book instilled the big picture of the actual history behind the guns themselves, their makers and founders. I found the story of the life paths leading to the weapons creations to be fascinating and informative. Whats best, the information is all here in one book. Now I have something to add historywise to my Granddads and my conversations.

I agree with the reviewer from Seattle -- this book is strictly about high-grade shotguns such as Parker, L.C. Smith, Fox, the Winchester 21 and many others, and has nothing to do with handguns. Overall it's a good book for this type of shotgun.

A must have for anyone interested in classic shotguns. Interesting reading with adequate technical information, but not overbearing.

Best guns depicts what is there the best to use for when looking for a gun. McIntosh clearly has a wealth of experince and love of the subject that he writes on.

Excelent book. Best guns depicts what is there the best to use for when looking for a gun. A real nice choice for any one looking for a compact handgun for self defense. The autor makes a very detailed description of firearms and the most convenient way to carry them.