Cartridges of the World: 10th Edition, Revised and Expanded Paperback – September, 2003

I have owned a copy of Cartridges of the World for decades. I buy a new edition every 3 or 4 years since new cartridges are coming out very frequently. I have found this handbood to be an extremely comprehensive source for all things "ammo". This book is for shooters, hunters, collectors, law enforcement and anyone having an interest. It fun just browsing through the book. New, current, obsolete, foreign, military, proprietary, wildcat, rifle, handgun, centerfire, rimfire; it's all there. For those contemplating acquiring a rifle or handgun, it helps to know what rifle or handgun would be satisfactory for the intended purpose. All in all, it's a terrific book if the subject matter is one of casual or serious interest. Highly rrecommended, worth the price.

This is a great product but lacks info on such newer cartridges as 300 Blackout. Note that documentation on stuff like that, 6.5 grendel, 6.5 creedmoor, 6.8 SPC, and other newer possible "wildcats" cartridges may require a newer version. It also lacks significant ballistic analysis, but that's not what this book is for.

It's an encylopedia, basically. It has info on old, rare Japanese cartridges and other cool stuff. By that measure, it succeeds. If you fancy yourself a ballistic scientist or 1000+ yard shooter, try something else.

I have read most of the reviews here on this publication and two things strike me as odd. First are the reviews that complain about everything in this book and end up saying that it is basically trash. Second are the ones that bow to it as if it is the holy grail and praise it as the best thing since sliced bread. What is the truth?? Well, let me say this about that. We need to be aware (constantly aware..) that these reviews are opinion pieces. They are highly subjective in nature and as such must be read and assimilated with an open (and reasonable..) mind. If you are to have faith in a review it must be credible, and still allow for the possibility that another opinion may be different. As a writer and an editor, my mantra has always been "a reasoned response from a reasonable mind." And you, the reader, should take what is written and use it....along with your own reasoned thoughts....to form your own opinion. So,....the truth?? The truth is that both sides of this argument have merit, and a reasonable conclusion puts the "correct" rating somewhere in the middle between them.

I started reading this type of book in the early 1960's. I read a lot of them...every year. This book is definitely one that should be on your list of books to own...especially IF you don't already have a prior issue. If you have an earlier one, then maybe you should wait...I purchase this 'encyclopedia' about every third issue. I find that is frequent enough for my use.

Before I started writing this review, I went back and reviewed a couple of my earlier issues of COTW. I was hoping to find out where specific errors originated. What I found is a mish-mash of errors and editing boondoggles existed in the earlier volumes as well. So,...Is this one worse than previous issues?? I think the problems are slowly getting worse (or at least more visible..). The main reason for this, the more often something is read and written, and re-written, and re-edited, the more chances for additional errors to creep into the work. So, as some others have noted, things that in past issues were not notable have devolved into problems...largely editing errors. Some of these things do not really bother me that much. Misplaced photos, spelling errors, grammatical inconsistencies, and "lost" pages, all fall into this category. Sure, they detract from the overall experience, but in the larger context these are usually not fatal errors. The way I look at it is this: Imagine the time and effort required to get a book this large ready to go to press----and since it is largely fact based, not an opinion piece, the error checking protocols must be tremendous......To even imagine a complete re-write of this book boggles the mind.

What is needed here is an effort to re-write the parts that need it and edit carefully....the whole book. This would require the efforts of proof-readers for text and readability, and others familiar with the content for fact checking and inclusion. This would be a BIG, BIG effort!! Would it be worthwhile doing?? I don't know. But it IS needed.

Having said all of that, this book remains one of the authoritative works on firearms cartridges. This is largely because most of the work was done earlier and only "updates" have happened since then. This is also why this work needs to be renewed. I like this book. I always have. I enjoy reading it (even if it does give me a headache sometimes..). AND, there is a tremendous amount of useful information inside this binding. It is just getting a little harder to sort through it all.

So, if you don't already own one of these books, you should probably get one. If you already own the 10th or 11th edition maybe you should skip this one. If all you have is an early edition, then this new edition will definitely add some value to what you already have. As a point of general interest, I have recently taken to reading a new publication Ammo Encyclopedia, 3rd edition. I have found it to be a rather nice counterview to COTW and well worth reading. I notice now that there is a newer version available as well.. 4th Edition The Ammo Encyclopedia. If you own one of these in addition to COTW, you will probably have everything you will ever need.

So, 3 stars for the book COTW. With proper editing and more attention to detail would be 5 stars.

This book is a generally decent review of most of the commercially manufactured cartridges of the world, plus good sections on obsolete, military and wildcat cartridges. It's a good first resource for finding basic information about specific cartridges and serves as a starting point for further research.

The wildcat section is interesting and has tidbits about some of the most unusual cartridges but there was a total lack of discussion of the plethora of 20 caliber wildcats available. No mention was made of the 20 Tactical or 20 Vartarg, or several other fairly popular 20 caliber wildcats. Yet four major bullet manufacturers make a range of bullet sizes in this dimension and several quasi-custom rifle makers chamber rifles in these calibers. I found this annoying that while considerable space was "wasted" on 10 to 14 caliber cartridges, which virtually no one except a few individuals make bullets or arms for, no space was allocated to the 20 calibers which are rapidly gaining popularity. It's a pretty large oversight.

I'm sure the older editions of this book contained some unsubstantiated opinions here and there, but at least they were readable and reasonably well organized. This latest edition is screwy both for what has been changed, and for what hasn't been updated. As others have noted, some of the pages are out of order, and possibly missing. The handgun cartridges are now divided into "current" and "obsolete" sections, OK, but the "current" section lists such popular numbers as 8mm Rast-Gasser, 8mm Lebel and .455 Webley Automatic while the "obsolete" section has the ancient .221 Fireball and .357 Maximum.

I noted a few of the cartridge illustrations were wrong. Most astonishing was the .378 Weatherby Magnum photo heading up the .38-40 info.

It seems to me that some cartridges that were in my older edition are missing now... the Finnish 6.3mm rimmed sporting cartridge being one. I want MORE information, not LESS.

I think the time has come to honor Frank Barnes for his past service, fire Layne Simpson as editor, and totally re-write this entire book with a new author.

As a Owner of Revolvers mainly british. with a few colt's and french revolvers. this book
sit's on my Reloading table. very well written. and easy to follow.

I work with historic cartridges, namely those dating to the mid- to late 1800s up to 1930. This edition of Cartridges of the World is a grand reference for modern ammunition. However, it fell short for me as it did not have a complete listing of mid to late 19th century military and private issued ammunition.