Customer Reviews

The Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons, Fifth Edition

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

 

 

I was really disappointed with this book. It was more of a outlet for the authors to brag about themselves and complain about their ugly guns that were never excepted and produced by the military.

When you think "assault weapon" you think AR15, AK47, AK74, FAL, right?

There was almost ZERO info on the FAL. How can you right a book on assault weapons and not dedicate pages to the arm of the free world, the assault weapon used by over 90 countries?

There was little info on the AR or AK too. No real shooting techniques, cleaning ideas, or model info.

If you are interested in reading about the authors home made guns and a UGLY 22 cal. machine gun, this book is for you.

If you want valuable info on real assault weapons and there many variations look somewhere else.

I really like books on guns and guns themselves but I was really disappointed with the ham-handed editorializing in this supposedly objective review of the world's assault rifles. I thought guns were inert but after reading this book you'll see that Soviet Bloc weapons were the evil tools of the commies. Thus only begrudging praise is given to what is by any standard the BEST assault rifle ever made- the AK-47 and its ilk. We learn that the Red Army put Ppsh41's into the hands of housewives at the Battle of Stalingrad because "international atheistic socialism" didn't respect the divinity of women. I don't know which of the two genius' who wrote this book researched that little factoid but I believe it is based on the early defense of one of Stalingrad's factory works by female workers which astounded and depressed the Germans. Why aren't German WW2 guns are called the tools of the "international fascist murderers". Its depressing to still have to deal with Cold War misinformation. Having to wade through the authors' political baggage made this a tedious read, although the illustrations and technical info is good.

This book has almost all the right things to be a hit. It has tons of pictures, gun tests, gun specifications, and hard to find information about guns never built. You can read it once and be amazed and then you can still pick it up and learn more. you can never stop learning from it. The reason I gave it four stars, though, is because of its lack in amount of guns. I understand it is the fifth installment in a series, so I can't wait for the sixth!

I have generally enjoyed reading the previous editions of the "Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons", but this book was dismal in my humble opinion. As other reviewers have noted, there is general discordance with the style of writing, with most chapters appearing to be quickly slapped together from old articles. Most of the material is old and outdated, and most of the firearms written about in this book would not fit the current definition of "Assault weapon" that the picture on the front would convey (Ranch rifles, bolt action 'sniper' rifles, semi-auto shotguns, AR-15 type rifles, and standard handguns seem to take up most of the space). For an updated book about assault weapons, there was little information on current production models of the excellent new firearms available today.

When someone sells a book about assault weapons, you would expect most of the book to be about assault weapons. This one is not. I can not recommend this book because of its poorly written and outdated chapters and subjects and a general lack of any semblance to its title. Go and read through the book at a local store before considering a purchase, it might well save you some money.

This book is a mishmash of articles in no logical order with lots of factual errors and lots of outdated information. Obviously slapped together from existing articles. Really a disappointing waste of time.

As a builder and collector of AR-15's, I purchased this book in the hopes of getting some new info on the military versions of the rifle. The cover of the book certainly caught my eye, and perhaps that was the intention. However, I found myself getting a bit "depressed" as page after page of non-M16 info was thumbed through. Finally, after reaching nearly the end, there was one story on the M4 Carbine. It was just enough to make me keep the book. That's more than I can say about a few other books I also ordered.

I have generally enjoyed reading the previous editions of the "Gun Digest Book of Assault Weapons", but this book was dismal in my humble opinion. As other reviewers have noted, there is general discordance with the style of writing, with most chapters appearing to be quickly slapped together from old articles. Most of the material is old and outdated, and most of the firearms written about in this book would not fit the current definition of "Assault weapon" that the picture on the front would convey (Ranch rifles, bolt action 'sniper' rifles, semi-auto shotguns, AR-15 type rifles, and standard handguns seem to take up most of the space). For an updated book about assault weapons, there was little information on current production models of the excellent new firearms available today.

When someone sells a book about assault weapons, you would expect most of the book to be about assault weapons. This one is not. I can not recommend this book because of its poorly written and outdated chapters and subjects and a general lack of any semblance to its title. Go and read through the book at a local store before considering a purchase, it might well save you some money.

I am sorry that the first thing I must note is that I became confused about the edition I meant to purchase -- even though I first tried to confirm it by checking with Google Books -- and so I had no particular expectations when I read it. Obviously, I would have had more such expectations if I had actually purchased what I had meant to purchase!

I must emphasize that one needs to take special care with serialized publications, and it is possible that Google Books may post the same cover artwork regardless of the actual issue number, only changing the interior text. To avoid problems with these types of purchases, the titles and edition numbers and ISBN numbers should be checked carefully. Fortunately, the cost is often so low that it is not worth the trouble to return these particularly cheap kinds of used products.

It is a bad thing that except for the cover, this book is in black and white. For good points, this publication does contain reasonably good information on the famous H&K G11, on the interesting UD42 submachinegun once made by the wartime United Defense Supply Corporation that is no longer in business and that I knew nothing about, on Knight Industries special-purpose hybrid "revolver rifle," on the SPAS 15 shotgun, and on the K9 shotgun. There will be those who will say that there are better diagrams of the G11 on the internet today -- especially because they are in color, whereas this book is in black and white. I do not believe I had ever seen a diagram of how the G11 magazine is assembled until I read this book. Nevertheless, to grasp small but important details such as how to recognize and use the charging handle on the G11, or to understand more about the experience of firing the G11, it would be better to consult the revised 12th Edition of "Small Arms of the World" by Edward Clinton Ezell.

The pictures that show weapons broken down (field-stripped) are often overlooked by other sources, wether in books or on the internet, and so they are especially valuable. The section on JSDF-issue small arms has interesting information on the history, functioning, and market share of Howa Heavy Industries. This would be interesting to those such as myself who are interested in the way Japan developed its modern small arms, including the Type 89 rifle and its immediate predecessor.

When it comes to bad points, I do not deny that some people will be annoyed by what might be called pro-Western center-right politically correct baggage in this book. For myself, however, I did not notice it because I was concentrating on the pictures, which are well-chosen. Some will criticize how this book has been stitched together from magazine articles. Some will say that the reasoning behind the table of contents is hard to see. Some people will be confused by the unexpected references to peoples' names, without any pauses to remind the reader who that person is. Some people will be annoyed by the cheap binding and the crumpling of the low-quality paper. This is why is is right to give a low rating, but on the other hand, it does not mean that the book is worthless.

Hello, I read the book "THE GUN DIGEST BOOK OF ASSAULT WEAPONS" by Jack Lewis and co written by: Steve Comus, Jim Dickson, Dean A. Grennel, Frank James, J.D Jones, Eric Kincel,David Steel, and Jim Thompson.The main center of assult weapons was broken into different parts and put into subjects, giving the reader better knowledge by showing the reader the type of gun and under which catagory it falls. The Author's style, right off, proves the author's great knowledge of the subject. This book takes you all over the world showing you not only the U.S. Military weapons but also the weapons that were used and that are still being used today from countries all over. The theme promotes the idea thats in the head of every assault gunsmith and gunnery sgt. and machine gun developer: To make the lightest, non-bulky gun, that fires the most rounds possible per minute in the shortest amount of time, and without barrel change or cook-off(when the gun over heats),While still being silent to the enemy. It seems hard and it is! The book shows the worlds great attempts where different countries have different ideas. I enjoyed this author's style and would happily read another book by him or the gun digest company.

The author seems to like German firearms and hate Russian AKs. A lot more guns are covered in this latest edition, but the objective descriptions on many of the guns are less detailed when compared to the previous edition.