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The Official Guide to Gunmarks: Third Edition
 
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The Official Guide to Gunmarks: Third Edition [Paperback]

Robert H. Balderson (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)


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Book Description

Official Guide to Gunmarks December 30, 1996
THE ULTIMATE GUN IDENTIFICATION AND REFERENCE GUIDE!
Completely updated and expanded, this new edition of The Official Guide to Gunmarks identifies manufacturers' marks that appear on American and foreign pistols, rifles, and shotguns. It is the perfect reference for discerning collectors to take with them to gun shows and auctions.
[ ] COMPREHENSIVE. Virtually every gunmark you are likely to encounter is illustrated and indexed for easy reference. Modern proof and inspection marks from the late nineteenth century to the present day indicate the gun's country of origin and the specific test that was performed to qualify it. Military Acceptance Marks are listed for nations that don't require proof marks.
[ ] LOADED WITH INFORMATION. A complete reference offering new, important features: date of manufacture, curios and relics, manufacturers and importers, associations, and an essential glossary of firearm terms. A lively Q&A section investigates current firearm topics.
[ ] PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. The Official Guide to Gunmarks enables collectors to overcome the difficulties of determining makers' marks and proof marks, pointing out which marks make a firearm valuable and rare, and how to spot fakes and forgeries.
[ ] BONUS FEATURE. A special section translates the Waffenamt numerical system, used by the Germans during World War II in lieu of manufacturers' names.

HOUSE OF COLLECTIBLES
Serving collectors for more than thirty years


Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

THE ULTIMATE GUN IDENTIFICATION AND REFERENCE GUIDE!
Completely updated and expanded, this new edition of The Official Guide to Gunmarks identifies manufacturers' marks that appear on American and foreign pistols, rifles, and shotguns. It is the perfect reference for discerning collectors to take with them to gun shows and auctions.
[ ] COMPREHENSIVE. Virtually every gunmark you are likely to encounter is illustrated and indexed for easy reference. Modern proof and inspection marks from the late nineteenth century to the present day indicate the gun's country of origin and the specific test that was performed to qualify it. Military Acceptance Marks are listed for nations that don't require proof marks.
[ ] LOADED WITH INFORMATION. A complete reference offering new, important features: date of manufacture, curios and relics, manufacturers and importers, associations, and an essential glossary of firearm terms. A lively Q&A section investigates current firearm topics.
[ ] PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. The Official Guide to Gunmarks enables collectors to overcome the difficulties of determining makers' marks and proof marks, pointing out which marks make a firearm valuable and rare, and how to spot fakes and forgeries.
[ ] BONUS FEATURE. A special section translates the Waffenamt numerical system, used by the Germans during World War II in lieu of manufacturers' names.

HOUSE OF COLLECTIBLES
Serving collectors for more than thirty years

Product Details

  • Paperback: 384 pages
  • Publisher: House of Collectibles; 3 edition (December 30, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0676600395
  • ISBN-13: 978-0676600391
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Research without method, July 15, 2000
This review is from: The Official Guide to Gunmarks: Third Edition (Paperback)
Serious gun collecting, which involves knowledge of the objects in addition to mere possession of them, often involves some research on the identity of guns, unknown to the collector, or of a known type, but in details differing from standard. This research quite often comes to interpreting the different marks and stamps found on most guns. A reference work on gun marks is, therefore, of great use to collectors, provided that it is correct in details, easy to use and fairly well updated.

When purchasing "The Official Guide to Gunmarks (3rd. ed.)", this is what I expected to find, but I must admit that I have been, at least in part, disappointed.

This work is divided into many different chapters, listing trade names, trade marks etc. I believe that most buyers are mainly interested in the "Gun Marks" sector, with illustrations of various gun marks, the understanding and interpretation of which are essential to establish the identity of an unknown gun or the attribution of guns to a certain period, a country, an army etc. Unfortunately, less than half of the book's 367 pages are dedicated to this subject, while the rest of the space is used for listing brand names (useful, as these are often found on the guns), Nazi production codes, (not so useful, as many of the codes listed have very little or nothing to do with gun marks. As comprehensive litterature on this subject already exists elsewhere, I consider this section as merely waste of space.)

As many of the illustrations are very coarsely made, and in quite a few cases are actually inaccurate, I should consider the job of completing (many very wellknown marks, which collectors see every day, are missing), updating and refining the illustrations, as a much more urgent task for the author, than filling the pages with irrelevant information on e.g. "Curios or Relics"-listings, which are readily available from the B.ATF, or "Assault Weapons"-legislation text, which actually should not fall within the scope of this book at all, judging strictly from the title.

The sub-division of different kinds of marks, like "crowns" or "birds", also appears to be rather haphazard, which makes it quite difficult to find the mark you try to identify, without having to glance through the complete section, as many marks are not listed under the section where you should expect to find them.

Some attention to this (and my other comments above) could make the next edition of this book truly valuable to collectors, as (to my knowledge) no complete and comprehensive work on this interesting subject exists today. Unfortunately, the current edition strikes me as more confusing than informative.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book, September 12, 2010
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This review is from: The Official Guide to Gunmarks: Third Edition (Paperback)
Great book. Lots of valuable information in it. You'll be glad you bought it.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Guide to Gunmarks is right on target, June 5, 2000
This review is from: The Official Guide to Gunmarks: Third Edition (Paperback)
The Official Guide to Gunmarks is a most valuable reference for identifying all of those (often strange) marks stamped into various parts of firearms. This tome may not include EVERY mark that one might run across, but it is certainly very comprehensive. This book is a "must have" for any serious firearms collector.
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