Customer Reviews

The Great Book of Guns: An Illustrated History of Military, Sporting, and Antique Firearms

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

 

 

If you are looking for a book that covers the history of guns, how their operation has evolved, and an overview of the types of guns in existence, this book is an excellent resource for you. The photos are clear and very detailed, perfect for a historical review of functionality. "The Great Book of guns" features photos of the older flint-lock pistols, pepperbox revolvers, and guns of the Old-West. It even includes the oddities including the Japanese sword-gun (not a bayonet, but a full-size sword with a handle that was a gun). There is a photo of the WWII Liberator, made by GM to be cheap, easy to build, and to dropped in mass on Germany for partisans to get.

This praise aside, the book is lacking in a few key areas. I understand that the author can't possibly include every in existence. But he seems to spend a lot of space covering one-off home-made guns, but neglects major commercial introductions (such as the Glock)? Consider the revolutionary nature of the Glock. Gaston Glock with no gunmaking experience making a gun for the Austrian army that bucked much conventional thinking regarding guns. Who would think a plastic frame would make a reliable gun? Almost every gun today is a copy of a Glock (Springfield XD, Steyr, S&W SW, etc), and yet the only mention of the Glock in this book is in a side-panel about SWAT teams, where it mentions that SWAT teams use Glocks among other weapons.

This book was an interesting read, but I wonder what criteria the author picked for each gun he included. I would have also liked more diagrams, showing how each gun works and the progression of various styles of gun. I give the book 4 stars since it was fun to flip through, and makes a good coffee table book, but for serious study of firearm history, you might need to go elsewhere.

This book was for my son. He really enjoys the pictures and the text. He received several "gun"
books for Christmas and this is one of his favorites.

The photos are great! There was little information to really tell about each gun pictured.

I can be short on this one:
When you're a collector of antique guns...this is THE book you gotta have in your collection.

Received product quickly and in the condition noted. I will order from them again.

Was a gift for thrilled husband ... he plans to paint some of the guns from the excellent photographs. Of curse, it will cost a fortune to have them all framed!

This book looks sweet on our coffee table. The pictures are beautiful- especially the ones of antique rifles. My knowledge of firearms has greatly increased just by reading it in my spare time. There is fascinating history about guns that I had never heard of previously. I like the way the book is organized by firearm type and country of origin. I'm truly glad I purchased this book.

this reveiw of history's firearms has one glaring ommision. the glock was not the first polymer framed handgun, however it was a major leap forward in the world of guns. hecklern and koch did it first, but glock made the concept of polymer frame usable and affordable.
in addition to the lack of glocks, i also disliked the tone of some of his articles.

note: his book, the gun: a visual history, does include mention of the G17.

This book was a gift for Christmas for my grandson. He said he likes it very much. He called me in Arizona to thank me for it, I figure it is what he wanted. I guess it's fine. As long as he's happy, that's all I care.