The Illustrated Directory Of Guns

Written by a technical expert who has fired many of the guns featured, this book includes wide and varied assemblage of weapons from each of the world’s major manufacturing countries. The Illustrated Directory series provide readers with a fully illustrated, comprehensive reference book packed with timelines, historical facts, and images designed to inform and excite. At 512 pages packed with information and photographs, this book is a necessary addition to any enthusiast's library. Complete with full specification table with each entry including type, origin, caliber, and size, The Illustrated Directory of Guns is the most ambitious and lavishly illustrated history of guns for the collector and enthusiast. It shows in clear, detailed photographs and text over 1500 guns with separate sections on Pistols, Revolvers, Rifles, Shotguns (military and sporting), Machine Guns, and Submachine guns. A few featured include: Remington Smith & Wesson Winchester Glock Vickers Mauser Browning Colt Beretta And more Organized A-Z by country and gunmaker's name, the book clearly shows the different types of gun which the world has used to hunt, wage war, break and defend its laws, hone its sharpshooting skills, and fire purely for the fun of it. The book also features an introduction on each section, which gives a brief history of the development of that particular kind of firearm.

Profiles more than one thousand gun models, including antiques, military weapons, and others, providing color photos, technical specifications, and details on their origins, performance, and use.

This book gathers together more than 1,500 guns of all types, making it a comprehensive reference book for collectors, enthusiasts, and sportsman alike.

Discusses twentieth century guns with full color photographs, and includes military and sporting guns, revolvers, shotguns, and machine guns from 1900 to 1999.

This directory features over 420 firearms and variants that have been used in conflict since 1900, and in shooting sports from hunting to competitive target shooting. Great names such as Colt and Winchester are included along with lesser-known firearms.

A complete compendium of rifles and shotguns through the ages. A "rifled" firearm is one in which the projectile is made to spin as it travels up the bore. The term "rifle," however, was originally applied to muskets to differentiate them from the earlier smoothbore weapons and is used today to designate the infantryman's personal weapon, fired from the shoulder or the hip, or, in some modern weapons, from a bipod. The rifle has also been used by sportsmen to kill larger game and was also used as a working tool by cowboys and trappers during the period of Western Expansion. It progressed from being a muzzle-loader to a breechloading, bolt-operated weapon, then to a semi-automatic weapon, and finally to a lightweight "assault rifle." The emphasis throughout these developments has been in increasing the rate of fire, reducing the weight and making the weapons more accurate, simpler to fire, more reliable, and easier to maintain. The shotgun is a smoothbore weapon originally developed as a hunting device for killing fast moving, flying or running prey. Loaded with shot (many small projectiles) the chances of hitting a moving target was greatly enhanced. Like the rifle, the shotgun has undergone similar progression from muzzle-loader to breechloader, bolt action, and finally semi-automatic mode. The weapon has also seen military use in trench warfare and special operations as well as riot suppression by the police. The Illustrated Catalog of Rifles and Shotguns shows the reader over 500 longarms of all types form the early flintlocks of the revolutionary period, the percussion cap rifles and repeaters of the Civil War, the famous rifles and shotguns of the Wild West, the standard infantry rifles of two World Wars, to the present day with Assault Rifles, and combat shotguns, together with state-of-the-art sporting rifles and shotguns. Each entry has a color photo along with a description and a technical specification. It is arranged in alphabetical order within five historical periods: Historic, Civil War, The Frontier, Two World Wars, and Modern, plus a separate comprehensive Shotgun section.

This book provides a clear and concise breakdown of 500 handguns and submachine guns from all over the world, including early designs and those being deployed today. The weapons are grouped into two directories: pistols and revolvers, then submachine guns. Both are organixed by country of manufacture, covering the globe from china to CzechRepublic and the United States to Egypt. For each weapon, there is an expert summary of the gun's development, its use in battle or defence, and its subsequent popularity or phasing out. The entries each have a quick-glance statistics box, showing their technical information. Clear and vivid photography of the weapons completes each entry, giving fun enthusiasts a complete, illustrative guide for easy reference. - A colorful and expertly written directory of small arms, fully illustrated with more than 500 specially-commissioned photographs and diagrams - Specification boxes show the calibre, magazine capacity, action, length and weight of each weapon - Features well-known and more unusual weapons, including Demark's famous Walther MPK; the "world's most powerful revolver" from Smith and Wesson; and the Wild West's Colt 45 - Entries are grouped according to country of manufacture, with information about their development and use, and explanations for their popularity or decline

This fascinating visual account of firearms shows everything from the earliest cannons to modern weapons of war. It also highlights how gun technology and military tactics developed in tandem over time. Centuries ago, the Chinese discovered that if they put gunpowder and a projectile into a metal tube and ignited it, they could fire the projectile with enormous force. The first guns were born. Firearms: An Illustrated History showcases over 300 firearms including pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, machine-guns, and artillery, each with annotated close-up photographs and details of their origins, barrel, and caliber. It details the use of the firearms, not just in the military but for sport, hunting, and law enforcement. This comprehensive volume traces the history of firearms, highlighting "turning points" such as the rifle with its parallel spiraled groves that could impart a spin to bullets making them fly straighter. It also showcases iconic firearms such as the Walther PPK self-loading pistol popularised in James Bond films. With information on the great gunsmiths including Beretta and Kalashnikov and a detailed guide to how guns work, Firearms: An Illustrated History is an essential purchase for everyone interested in guns and military history.