Customer Reviews

Jim Carmichel's Book of the Rifle

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

 

 

Chapters: Those twisting grooves called rifling, Building today's sporting rifle, Today's rifles-how good?, Rifle stock-more than a handle, Custom rifle stock, Triggering a revolution, Rifle ammo(past & present), Understanding ballistics, Lessons in trajectory, Wind-the shooter's challenge, Bullet performance on game, Varmint rifles-the super accurate hunters, Rifles for Africa's dangerous game, All-purpose rifle-hits & myths, Rifle sight-past & present, Telescopic sight, How to sight-in a rifle & have in stay that way, Teaching yourself to be a crackshot, The accuracy game, Is handloading for you?, and The ageless .22 rimfire.

I like the author's writing style and his ability to tell storys. This makes this book a very enjoyable reading.

This book covers a wide selection of topics that I find to be very useful. It tends to be quite heavy on varimint rifles though; this is fine with me.

Some area of this book are kind of overlapping with his another (older) book called "Modern Rifles". If you have to choose between these two books, you may want to choose this book.

Even though this book is some what dated, it would be a valuable addition for both the beginner and experienced shooter. Carmichel has created a practical and comprehensive reference resource for the rifle. I already had a good number of more recent books (2000 thru 2009)on the rifle in my library, so when a shooting buddy offered to loan me Jim Carmichel's book I was unimpressed. You see, I judged the book by it's cover; the copy he had was discolored and said: "I'm well beyond ten years old". I was thinking, "you don't realized what a discriminating reader I am and I want the most current information out there". My friend insisted and I'm glad he did. It is packed with information that I have found nowhere else. From the historical development of the rifle and cartridges to practical advice on shooting from different positions, he is very knowledgable, having been a competitive shooter and hunter. This guy was decades ahead of his time and it amazes me how useful this book is after 20 years. I would not have believed it!

This is a n excellent book for new and advanced shooters. Recommend it to everyone.
John

My father bought this book back in '86 (the year I was born) and was the single most important book that all of my understanding of firearms is based on.- which is something I don't say lightly. The fundamentals that Carmichel covers in this book need to be known by all enthusiasts. And that's not to say the book doesn't go in depth on several topics. From time to time I do reference the book, and just for the heck of it I went to go see how the book was doing on Amazon. New for almost $200, amazing!

It's a shame this volume is out of print. The author covers every aspect of riflery, including a couple of chapters on ballistics and the finer points of shooting technique. The book does not cover competitive rifle shooting in detail, but that was not the author's intention. Carmichael avoids the cant and folklore of some other shooting sports authors, and doesn't put his opinions forward as truth engraved in stone. As an introduction for the curious beginner looking for a good grounding, The Book of the Rifle is hard to beat.