Review by Larry S. Sterett | Contributing Editor
GUN DIGEST 2015, edited by Jerry Lee. ©2014. Published by Krause Publications, Dept. TGM, 700 East State Street, Iola, WI 54990. Price: $34.99, plus shipping. Available at most bookstores or online at: gundisgeststore.com.
This latest softbound edition, the 69th, of “The World’s Greatest Gun Book,” contains 568 pages and tips the scales at just under 2½ pounds. Within are 33 feature articles, seven “reports from the field,” four “good gun” articles, and five “test fire reports,” in addition to the seven-part catalog section. This latter includes ballistics tables, coverage of new handguns, rifles, shotguns, blackpowder arms, and airguns, plus a references section and a listing of Gun Digest publications.
As always, this latest Digest is amply illustrated, and most of the photographs in the featured articles are in color, with only a few black and whites. The balance of the illustrations, in the reports and catalog section, are black and whites.
Among the featured articles are ones devoted to hunting, collecting, shooting, history, and even investing, with The Machine Gun Investor being the last mentioned. (MG investors need to have plenty of “green,” as the $200 NFA transfer tax is only the beginning. Among the arms illustrated in the article was a FG-42 which sold at auction in October 2013 for $143,750. Even more plentiful or common “cheap” subs or machineguns are priced in the $10,000 neighborhood to start.)
Other articles which caught this reviewer’s eyes included “The 10/22 Turns 50,” “Why Not The Webley?” “Evolution of the Beretta Military Pistol,” “Snubnose Specials,” “The Guns of CZ,” and “The 3 Deadliest Gunfighting Pistols of all Time.” The other articles were good, but the articles mentioned were just a bit more interesting to this reviewer. It’s difficult to believe the Ruger 10/22 has been around for half a century, but it has, making it probably the most popular rimfire autoloading rifle of all time. The Browning autoloader has been around even longer, but it has never had the following of the 10/22. The Remington variation M241 was better than the original Browning, but it went out of production a year ago, and the Chinese even produced a copy of the Browning that was available in the US for a brief period of time.
Anyone contemplating the purchase of a new sporting arm—rifle, shotgun, handgun, air, or black powder—would do well to browse the catalog section of this 69th edition. If it is in production, it should be listed in the appropriate section, with a representative illustration, and with a suggested retail price. This section may also present some models not previously known about or considered. (If a reader can locate a copy of the first edition of the Gun Digest, and look in the catalog section for centerfire rifles-autoloader, there should be at least a Remington model and a Winchester model. In the 69th edition there are nine pages of centerfire autoloading rifles, the majority based on the AR-15 concept, or some variation.)
If you are interested in a new bolt-action shotgun, the catalog section lists only Browning and Tar-Hunt brands, with three models each, all designed for slug use. And, they’re not $49.95 each, or less, anymore. Think $1,150 to $3,000, all drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Break- or hinge-action single-shot shotguns are more common and readily available from a number of manufacturers.
The 69th edition of the Gun Digest is definitely the “gun book” to have for general reference and enjoyable reading. The catalog section does not contain a listing of every sporting arm currently available to shooters—this reviewer could not locate any Blaser or Rock Island arms, although maybe they were listed somewhere—but it doesn’t miss many.
