by John C. Krull | TheGunMag Production Manager
FIREARMS GUIDE 4th EDITION, by Impressum Media, Inc., DVD for both PC and MAC computer platforms.
Retail Price: $39.95. Go to firearmsguide.com to order.
This is a review of the 4th version of the Firearms Guide DVD, the second version that I have had to use and review.
There are several sections that make this DVD a helpful asset to both FFL dealers and gunowners in general. It covers information on not just firearms but also on airguns and also has an ammo guide. In addition, there are schematics of 4,300 firearms that can be printed out for aid in assembly/disassembly of your favorite firearms. All guns are not listed. I tried to find an H&R Sportsman’s Revolver in .22 caliber and it didn’t come up with any results for the schematics. Unfortunately, the computer I’m using the Firearms Guide on isn’t hooked up to a printer so I wouldn’t have been able to print it out any way.
On the jacket that the DVD comes in it says that it will work on Windows 7 or 8, Vista or XP. My home computer has a home version of XP and just didn’t want to run the DVD program, or it might have been the amount of ram that I have installed.
My work computer’s DVD drive has been non-functional for a couple of years now so I had to rely on my HP which is running Windows 7.
The MAC version will run on Mac OS X v10.6 or v10.7 or v10.8.
A feature that can be handy for both FFLs and individuals is the FFL locator. The locator is primarily sorted by zip code starting with Puerto Rico. I never really thought about Puerto Rico being part of the US and the needing of an FFL dealer there.
Additional fields that you can select on other than zip code are Type of FFL and State. In this day and age of so many guns being bought and sold online, locating an FFL dealer in another part of the country can be a real asset. Just to verify the program’s usefulness, I looked myself up in each category. The information given on each dealer is type of FFL, name, street address, city, state and zip, along with their phone number.
Email addresses would be nice to have also and I hope might be included in the future. This database has 65,534 records in it.
I did a search on semi-auto shotguns made by Remington. The search came up with 71 results starting with the Model 105 and going through the 1100 series to the 11-87s and ending with the Versa Max Zombie model.
The program gives you lots of information on the guns listed, such as all the specifications, and the MSRP.
Something that wasn’t included in this case was information on commemorative models, like my Remington 1100 Bicentennial model.
There are records on 1715 blackpowder firearms, including both long guns and handguns, both the modern in-lines and also many percussion and flint models.
This edition of the Firearms Guide has information on over 57,000 guns and ammo that come from 630 manufacturers from all over the world. While it is not as of yet totally complete, it is the most inclusive compilation of data in a DVD format that I have seen.
Another feature is its library of 500 printable targets. I did enjoy going through this section to see all the targets that they have available.
There are all sorts of game targets, mostly in black and white, of animals from around the world. These include the regular deer and turkey targets but also include mice to elephants, hyenas to hippos. The animals with crosshairs offerings show the ideal spot to aim for a one shot kill on the prospective target.
Other categories of targets include objects like balloons, cups, bottles and loads of other objects. There are 65 different types of bullseye-type targets included in the targets section.
The ammo section cross-references both pistol and rifle ammo with both the American designation alongside the European designation. An example of this is the .25 ACP (25 Auto) alongside the European 6.35mm Browning. I had just weeks earlier gotten in a Baby Browning for a customer and wasn’t quite sure what to put into the caliber field. It had been so long since I had heard .25 ACP being referred to as 6.35mm.
When you use the ammo section and you click on your specified caliber a new screen will come up with data on who makes that caliber today along with a small ballistic chart on its performance.
For its modest retail price of just $40 it is well worth the time it will save you by doing a computer type search rather than having to look the information up in a hard copy of other books available that contain similar data. I don’t see how you can go wrong.
So give this program a try. I’m sure once you learn to use it and become an expert at it you will be glad you made the investment.
