Testing The War Weapons: Rifles And Light Machine Guns From Around The World [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

~ Timothy J. Mullin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This encyclopedia of war weapons contains all the critical details about more than 150 of the world's best, worst, most effective and most surprising rifles, sniper rifles and LMGs of the 20th century. The author was an infantry officer in the army, so he knows what to look for in a combat rifle - and so will you after you read this classic reference.

About the Author

Timothy J. Mullin is a former infantry officer in the U.S. Army and deputy U.S. marshall. He is a life-long gun lover and fervent defender of the Second Amendment. His well-regarded series on combat weapons also includes volumes on handguns and rifles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Paladin Press; illustrated edition edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873649435
• ISBN-13: 978-0873649438
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #788,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, August 17, 1999

By A Customer

A must have for serious students of history. This book is a no nonsense tresis on standard infantry weapons from an "operator's" viewpoint. The book helps the student to understand the advantages, disadvantages and quirks of each weapon. The remifications of these instruments upon history can then be more fully appreciated. This book is not a "scholarly" work. If the details of the development and deployment of these weapons are needed, then other sources would need to be sought. It is thick enough as it is! This book should be considered a reference of overview and not an in depth analysis of each rifle or machine gun. The text is excellent and the photos appropriate. It would be a worthy addition to any library. I highly recomend it.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Of Limited Value, February 11, 2001

By	Fuzzbean (Nangoku, Japan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

I'm not sorry I bought this book, yet I was a little disappointed by it.

First the good news:

This is a nice thick book that really does cover a lot of weapons from many different countries. The author appears to have begun shooting and collecting military firearms shortly after birth and has actual military combat experience, so his opinions ought to be considered carefully. And he certainly deserves credit for rounding up so many oddball guns in shootable condition. Except for the ordnance museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground, I'd have no idea where to find so many even to look at them in glass cases.

And now the bad:

1) This book contains a lot of silly errors. Words spelled wrong, sentences that don't make sense, photographs mislabeled or printed in reverse.

2) The book's "testing" didn't really amount to much. I had imagined - perhaps unrealistically - that these guns were going to be dragged through mud, submerged in water, buried in sand, and frozen in blocks of ice. In reality, Mr. Mullin seems to have borrowed many of the weapons from his rich collector buddies and couldn't treat them so badly. And uniform accuracy testing procedures would have been nice. Most of the test firing appears to have consisted of informal plinking on warm sunny days, leaving many questions unanswered.

3) The overall organization of this book leaves a lot to be desired. I would have liked to seen separate sections for combat rifles, sniper rifles and light machineguns, with tables in each section comparing such vital statistics as length, weight, magazine capacity, caliber, bullet weight, muzzle velocity and accuracy test results. This would be handy for comparing the different designs intended to fulfill the same role. Instead, Mullin goes by country, jumbles the different types together, gives no tabulated information, and if you're lucky he might happen to mention in the text how much the gun weighs or how long the barrel is.

4) In the absence of any real testing, this book basically boils down to one guy's opinion of how these guns "felt" in his hands, or how they measure up overall to his personal concept of what a fighting rifle ought to be. In many cases I tend to agree with his opinions. I never felt that French and Italian guns were total junk. I never was all that impressed with the M1903 Springfield. And the original M60 surely was about the most stupidly designed machinegun ever. On the other hand, Mr. Mullin repeatedly places great importance on rapidity of fire with bolt actions while not seeming to give any special credit to the semi-auto designs. My own personal idea is that the semi-auto's ability to fire multiple shots without attention-attracting arm movements is a priceless advantage for grunts and snipers alike. Opinions are like bellybuttons - everybody's got one.

Anyway, I think the reader should regard this book more like a stoveside chat with a respected buddy than the last word on combat rifle reliability. And I highly recommend getting the book "Cartridges of the World" along with "Small Arms of the World" or Smith and Smith's "Book of Rifles" to fill in some of the missing vital statistics.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hands on testing yields some surprises, October 2, 1998

By A Customer

Mullins tests all the major rifles of WWI, II, Korea, and Vietnam. His rifle skill and military experience combine for a unique insight into weapon performance and what it must have been like to use them in combat