The book (pair of books, actually) we're looking at today is a bit less rigorous than our usual material, and more humanistic. It's a pair of books entitled Veteran Bring Backs and Veteran Bring Backs Volume II, by Edward Tinker. Both volumes are compilations of firearms (and a few other related ...

Gary Paul Johnston and Thomas Nelson's The World's Assault Rifles is always one of the first books we turn to for information on automatic rifles. At 1200+ pages, it's a huge tome and a massive amount of research went into it. Mr Nelson previously published two volumes on submachine guns and a bo...

James Paris Lee began designing and patenting firearms in 1862, but it was not until 1875 that any of his designs were put into limited manufacture. He would ultimately see four of his rifles adopted by the US military (M1879, M1883, M1885, M1895), plus a large royalty from the British government...

The Whitney Wolverine (aka Whitney, Lightning, or Hillson Imperial) was a very space-age looking .22 automatic pistol designed by Robert Hillberg in the 1950s. It made novel use of materials (aluminum castings) and many clever design subtleties, and was a remarkably good pistol. However, the comp...

The Sterling submachine gun is one of the better submachine guns ever built - a lot of throught and engineering work went into its design. It is light, compact, ergonomic, very durable and reliable, and uses one of the best magazines ever made for submachine guns. It may be a gun overlooked by a ...

The final chapter in our continuing Luger series is today's book, The Parabellum is Back! While Sturgess' three-volume encyclopedia covers the pistol through 1918 and Simson Lugers takes us through Weimar, that leaves a lot still to learn. Luger production continued in World War II, and afterward...

Today we have a book with a wider appeal than most, as it covers a broad range of different gun designs and has lots of good information for both the very technical collector and the casual pistol enthusiast. It's Gordon Bruce's new book, The Evolution of Military Automatic Pistols: Self-loading ...

In the 1880s, the Dutch decided that their single-shot Beaumont rifles were obsolete and needed replacement. They started a program to modify them with 4-round magazines, and simultaneously set about finding a more modern rifle to adopt. After trying with some difficulty to test out new designs (...

Today we're looking at John Potocki's excellent reference work, The Colt 1905 Automatic Pistol. Not much doubt what the subject is, right? The development of John Browning's iconic 1911 pistol is generally not much discussed, and Potocki's book is a good way to learn all the ins and outs of the p...

Today we're looking at a new book by Maxim Popenker and Anthony G. Williams, Sub-Machine Gun. It should come as no surprise that a collaboration between these two folks results in an excellent reference book (we previously reviewed their work on WWI aircraft guns). This book includes both a detai...

To go along with the week's focus on self-loading Enfield conversions, we have a copy of Ian Skennerton's Small Arms Identification volume #13, Special Service Lee-Enfields: Commando and Auto Models. It's only about 47 pages long and predominantly on the silenced de Lisle carbine, but also includ...

We've been on a bit of a Luger kick recently, and it continues today. A few weeks ago we looked at Geoffrey Sturgess' three-volume tome on Luger and Borchardt development, which takes the story of the Luger through the end of World War I. Today, we have ​Simson Lugers​ by Edward Tinker and Graham...

Today we're looking at one of the earlier books printed by Collector Grade, Thomas Dugelby's Modern Military Bullpup Rifles. It's a good resource on the EM-2 rifle (and others), but unfortunately is very much out of print. You can find a couple exorbitantly priced copies on Amazon, but beyond tha...

Since we looked at a couple French revolvers yesterday, it seems only appropriate to have a resource on them (and later French automatic pistols) today. Specifically, Military Handguns of France by Eugene Medlin and Jean Huon. You might recognize Jean Huon's name from a previous review we did on ...

One of the areas of rifle collecting that is easy (and cheap) to get into and very difficult (and expensive) to master is that of Mausers. Literally dozens of countries used Mausers in scores of variations. A great many of them are still available for very affordable prices, including commonly se...

We really liked the last book we reviewed by Paul Scarlata (German Gewehr 88 "Commission" Rifle), and so we decided to grab another one off the shelf. Today, it's Mannlicher Military Rifles, and Scarlata does another excellent job. Mannlichers have been very cheaply available here in the US in th...

The M1907/12 heavy machine gun was the standard mounted MG of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the First World War, and saw sporadic use clear through the end of WWII. The design is unusual among heavy machine guns because it is actually an unlocked, delayed blowback system. A combination of a ...

Today we're taking a look at William Easterly's booklet "A Comprehensive Study [of] Japanese Submachine Guns: 1920 - 1945". Talk about a subject with very little written coverage - Easterly has photos, data, and descriptions of at least a half dozen really unusual experimental Japanese SMGs form ...

If you need a resource on the incremental changes to the major Japanese rifles over the course of WWII, Japanese Rifles of World War II is just the thing for you. Focusing on the Type 99, Type 38, Type 44, Type 2 (paratrooper) and sniper Arisakas, this book is ideal for beginning and intermediate...

We just got in a copy of Russ Arendell and Steve Woodrum's new book on the Carcano, Italy's Battle Rifle: Story of the Mannlicher-Carcano Series of Rifles. It's the most useful reference book on the Carcano series that we know of, although it does have some shortcomings:

If you'd like to pick ...

By request from a reader on the Forgotten Weapons Facebook page (where we post upcoming teasers, among other things), we are looking at W. Darren Weaver's book on the G41 and G43/K43 rifles, entitled Hitler's Garands: German Self-Loading Rifles of WWII. It was published by Collector Grade, so you...

Today we're looking at two books on the subject of Nepalese firearms. The video goes a bit longer than usual, but the story behind these books is a really cool one -- a lost time capsule of thousands of firearms showcasing 150 years of arms development.

We have probably out most specialized book yet for you today, entitled History Writ in Steel: German Police Markings 1900-1936. As the title suggests, it is about firearms (and to a lesser extent bayonets. rifles, and holsters) with German police property markings. The structure of German police ...

The Glock isn't a forgotten weapon by any stretch, but Paul Barrett has written a very interesting book on how the company got into gun manufacturing and how it grew so quickly.