The Illustrated History of Firearms: In Association with the National Firearms Museum Hardcover – September 25, 2011

I really wish I could give this book 5 stars, because the information and the photos are fascinating. However, I'm only about 35 pages into it and have found numerous typographical and layout errors without even trying! Not only is this annoying and distracting, it just shows shoddy workmanship. For example, "war of 1912," instead of 1812, on page 34, and the word "immediate" on its own line at the top of a column on page 36. My favorite is an approximately 5x7 image that's pixelated because of low resolution on page 21. What were they thinking? I could go on, but you get the idea.Please don't get me wrong -- as I said, I enjoy the book overall, and would still buy it. I'm not trying to nitpick, but the aforementioned errors (and many more that I didn't mention) are so amateurish and careless that they just detract from the overall quality of the book.Update 4/16/12: Yet another serious error. I'm no gun expert, but they have a gun listed on page 232, number 3, as a Bren Ten 10mm semi-auto pistol, but the image for it is in fact the Webley Fosbery Automatic Revolver; same exact image as on page 224, where it is correctly labeled as the Webley Fosbery!C'mon guys. You can do better than that. I hope that you can fix all of these errors, and others that I haven't discovered, since I'm not actively looking for them, in a second edition.

Beginning with a European hand cannon, circa 1350, and Matchlock muskets used by Colonial militia units in the late 16th century; Italian, French and German Wheellock muskets, pistols and rifles, Doglocks, Flintlocks- some plain and some highly decorated, these and hundreds of others are shown in color plates and described in some differentiating detail. The American Longrifle was produced until the Civil War and numerous other military, police, and hunting rifles, revolvers, pistols, and semiautomatic firearms have been produced around the world to this day. The Illustrated History of Firearms depicts this development over time using color plates and descriptive text for over 1500 firearms from the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, VA. Excellent color pictures and concise descriptions make this volume an excellent addition to any firearm enthusiast's library. Good introductory material for the novice, yet interesting details for more experienced collectors and shooters alike.

I bought this book and also 100 Greatest Firearms for my father in law who's both a history and gun buff. Great pictures and the book came in pretty good shape. It's like a visit to a gun museum. The cover was intact with just a little dogging of the corner and back side fold was off but I really think that was due to how the mail handled it. It was wrapped VERY nicely with good quality box, high quality tape and even had padding inside. Furthermore, it was shipped with a fragile label. The seller really could not have been more meticulous. Thanks so much for the TLC, I would recommend this seller.

I was looking for a book with a comprehensive photographic collection of World War II firearms, and the weapons that immediately preceded these firearms. This book contains much more than just the era in which I was interested, but it turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. To me, the photography is excellent and the descriptions are all I need. If I want to research a firearm further, I can do so from a number of internet sites, including wikipedia. This is one of the references that I'll bring along to gun shows and have in my car for reference. As someone else has mentioned, there is a good index in this book.

Purchased this book for my husband for Valentine's Day, and he loved it. Something he will have forever. It's a very nice, heavy hard back book with a slipcover.

The book contains an enormous quantity of small photographs of various guns, but not a lot of detailed information about the majority. My feeling is that it is primarily a catalogue of the National Firearms Museum and maybe a superficial guide for a collector. I hoped for more detailed discussion of various actions and operating systems, similar to the articles found in American Rifleman. On the plus side, the price at Amazon is better than the NRA price.

Very enjoyable book but like all books that try to cover everything, it can't be done in a single volume. Still, a very worthwhile add to the collection.

I bought this as a gift and the recipient was highly satisfied with the book, sat on Christmas and flipped through it for hours.