By Karl Fisher
Translated by John Baum
Hardback, 679 pages
$135 including U.S. Postage
Available from:
John A. Baum
5678 State Rt. 45
Lisbon, Ohio 44432
The title is somewhat misleading. This is actually the most comprehensive firearms book that I have ever read covering everything from how a simple iron sight picture should look to advanced internal and external ballistics.
Don’t think this is just another book about European guns for it is so much more than that. Karl Fisher sought to make a rank beginner into an all-round firearms expert competent in every aspect of guns and shooting. He approached this daunting task with characteristic German precision and thoroughness and succeeded in doing so.
Everything from how to shoot to proper cleaning and storage of firearms afterward is covered. He delves deeply into technical topics such as the effect of too fast a rifling twist rate on a bullet causing it to tumble instead of flying true and why this is so. There are technical details that I have not seen elsewhere including some I recognized as information U.S. Army Ordnance tried to keep secret in recent years. Even the experts can find things that they didn’t know in this book. After all, the intent of the book was to make a firearms expert out of raw beginner.
Of course the guns are not neglected. There are complete manuals on every gun the police might use, both German and foreign. As this was a WWII manual, the police were expected to aid in the defense of their cities from attacking armies so pistols, rifles, submachineguns, and machineguns were covered including complete manuals on some guns that I have never seen manuals available in English before.
It doesn’t stop there though as artillery and armored vehicles come next as well as related equipment such as telescopic sights, binoculars, and map and compass. The latter would benefit many people to study as it would prevent lost hunters in the woods. Every bit of equipment that a WWII German policeman might be faced with using is there right down to horse equipment for the mounted police.
As you might expect this is no small book. It weighs 3 pounds 2 ounces and is 2 ¼-inches thick. It is printed on top quality 70 pound paper and has over 400 clear illustrations with all that were originally in color reproduced in color. It is a top quality printing with a fantastic amount of knowledge crammed within its covers. If you were only to have one gun book you could not do better than this book.—Jim Dickson
