Customer Reviews

Small Arms of the World: 12th Edition

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I highly recommend these Small Arms of the World books, due to the good coverage of Curio and Relic firearms, how you can take them apart to clean them, how they operate, pictures of individual weapons, interesting diargrams of some popular guns, and just simply the most information you are going to get on semi-automatic and full automatic firearms, at least that I can find. Seems that especially machine gun technology is some kind of restricted information somehow, at least in newer books, but at least these Small Arms books can help a former U.S. Army machine gunner like myself understand a little better how the guns I was checked out on,actually worked in principle. So, if your quest for knowledge is machine guns, then I defintely recommend these books. And if your quest for knowledge is Curio and Relic classified firearms, then especially the older versions of the Small Arms books are what you need. The newer ones kind of water down really old technology, while paying special emphasis on what was hot technology at the time, like a early seventies Small Arms will talk in depth on current American small arms like the M16, but will have minimal space on bolt action rifles, for instance.
I definitely recommend the 1969 9th edition as a good all around "get you by", if you just wanted one edition on older Curio and Reic Firearms, if you are a collector of Curios and Relics like me.

I am an individual who has worked in the realm of the governments and military's of the world. This is the one and only unclassified guide to small arms of the world, outside of Jane's defence publications. Ezell and Smith have published the only book that is widely used by small arms enthusiasts and people who rely on small arms information in their daily work. I only regret it is out of copy.

For the person interested in modern military small arms, this book is the place to start. It presents the material well, with good photographs, understandable diagrams, and interesting text. Hopefully an updated version will come out someday, but I don't think anyone will regret buying this one now. In fact, I have an older edition from the 1960's that I treasure for it's better coverage of now-obsolete firearms, special emphasis on World War 2 German designs, and more complete history of firearms through the centuries. This edition, on the other hand, gives more attention to weapons developed during the 1960's and 1970's. No doubt, after some future edition finally brings us up to date on modern high-tech weaponry this book will still be a valuable snapshot of the variety of arms in use throughout the world during the final decades of the 20th Century.

I highly recommend this book as the starting point for a good understanding of the small arms field, or as plain old good reading for the relatively technical-minded gun enthusiast.

Edward C. Ezell (deceased) update of W.H.B. Smith's classic work. As the Curator of Small Arms for the Smithsonian Institute, Dr. Ezell was this nation's foremost authority on small arms.

The book is organized by nations and one may find several entries for the same firearm (the Mauser 98 or FN-FAL are good examples). Dr. Ezell preserved W.H.B. Smith's format of discussing the historical development of the particular firearm, the functioning of its parts, operating it and naturally, basic field stripping and reassembly.

Unfortunately and probably because of space and cost, Smith's first chapter covering early firearm development was deleted and Dr. Ezell substitutes it with his update on submachine guns, handguns, rifles & carbines, machine guns and special purpose weapons (sniper rifles and suppressed weaponry). The final chapters discuss various ammunition and sporting firearms (mostly American).

It is no empty boast that the jacket proclaims the book as, "An Encylcopedia of Global Weapons" and for a strictly budgeted reader, this is the ONE book to have. While this book won't make you an expert on the Garand, Mauser 98 or Lee-Enfield, but you'll know how to operate, disassemble and reassemble every one of them by the time you finish this book.

Since being published in 1983, many newer firearms have been developed both here and abroad. Unfortunatley no substitute for Dr. Ezell has stepped forward to update this work.

Small Arms of the World: A Basic Manual of Small Arms
is a classic. it is one of the best fireames books ever made, it is a real pity that it is out of print. they realy should rerelease it, I know I would buy it.
But until that happens I'll just have to keep getting it from the library.

If I could only have one firearms book I would choose this book hands down.

My Dad bought this book when I was a kid over thirty years ago. He never got as much out of it as I did. I'd spend hours looking at the many firearms listed in this large volume. It got me started in collecting old military arms and I refer to it still to this day.

This was purchased as a gift for a person that had been looking for it for several years; he is very pleased with it!

This encyclopedia of small arms and light weapons is a very useful guide. It is organized both by countries and by military blocs and provides both technical and operations details on more than 3000 entries. Glossy plates of each weapon is provided in both assembled and disassembled views. When appropriate, further diagrams are provided to assist in better understanding the mechanics of the gun and in how to better operate, assemble and disassemble it. It also tracks the recent history in design development of carbines, machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and pistols. As well one of the bonuses of the book is the attention given to antique and historical weapons. They too are given the same comprehensive treatment as the main entries.

It pulls together all of the information known to date on both technical aspects and on the latest operation capabilities and experiences of all guns used in combat since 1945. At just short of 900 pages it is also a hefty tome. But for those looking for information on small arms, this is "the" indispensable guide. Five stars

I had an earlier copy of Small Arms of the World (the blue dust jacket) which I lost in Hurricane Katrina. That book served me very well for about 30 years.
I am a firearms buff as well as a target shooter of older military arms. This book is an excellent replacement for my older book except that it has been "moderised" somewhat. I still use this book often and highly recomend it.

Great book with weapons from all countries from Australia to Israel, to Denmark and Egypt. Very complete and shows how to break down the weapons.