Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Essential Must-Read Books

Just a Hunter,

In another of Keith's books, BIG GAME RIFLES AND CARTRIDGES (essentially a shorter, earlier RFLG published in the 1930's), he even says the .270 works on elk, but only when used by older, experienced hunters who could place their bullets precisely. But then he goes on a .270 mini-rant elsewhere in the same book.

Sheridan,

Hey, I'm almost twice as old as you are! You'll find that the rate of "getting stuff" accelerates to a certain extent as you grow older! Now I'm at the point where getting rid of stuff is starting to be appealing....

im also getting crippled up alot earlier than i had planned and my library is a nice diversion...the fact im a hard core book worm prolly doesnt help....ive got 3 different books im read at the moment ...you know where im at whenever your downsizing your collection

idahoguy101,

Yes, Gary was a fine writer. It's too bad he never found time to put together any books.

i hope Phil Shoemaker puts together a book, even if it is mostly past articles either as they were printed or revamped like you did with some of your chapters in your books....

A few of my favorites are. I could list a hundred

"Sporting Rifles and Rifles Shooting" by by John Caswell 1920 D. Appleton & Co.

"Wilderness Hunting and Wildcraft" by Townsend Whelen 1927 SATPC.

"The Rifle" It's Development for Big Game Hunting by 1947 S.R. Truesdell The Military Service Publishing Co.

'The American Rifle" by Townsend Whelen 1918, The Century Co.

"The Rifle" It's Development for Big Game Hunting by 1947 S.R. Truesdell The Military Service Publishing Co.

if you are at all interested in the history of hunting rifles this is a must......and it sent me off looking for other books Truesdell basically took a whole library of books by hunters between the end of the muzzelloading era through WWII and presents the info on what rifles they all used....from Baker to Roosevelt.....Bell to Sheldon.....excellent tome to have on your shelf....

MD - not a criticism, just a question: With your criteria for inclusion on the list why did P.O. Ackley's "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders" not make it? I have a couple of ideas why but wanted to ask before making assumptions.

First we should be clear, never count the number of books in your home�

I find myself sitting with Whelen�s The American Rifle and The Hunting rifle quite a bit.
The Kenneth Fuller Lee book is more about what makes a rifle a good hunting rifle, fit, sights and cartridge so it probably is a second tier book in this discussion.

Some good second level books to back up the top 10 are:
Small Arms Design and Ballistics Vol I and II by Whelen.
Rifles, A Modern Encyclopedia by Henry Stebbins. This book will generate further research as the discussions of the .50-100-450 and other fine hunting cartridges and their rifles does not go into enough detail. This book also has what may be the first written reference to the 30-30 Ackley Improved, again just a mention.
The Rifle and its Development for Big Game Hunting by Truesdell is more about cartridges than rifles but it will hold your attention.
The Encyclopedia of American Gun Design by Wallack in one of its several formats has some good points.
The Modern Gunsmith by James V. Howe Vol I and II should be on the list.
The Book of the Springfield and Military and Sporting Rifle Shooting by Crossman should also make the list.

These books may not be on the top 10 list but they should be in a Rifleman�s library.
If you run across a copy of Brownells Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms don�t pass it up.

Also, a personal thank you; your article got me to finally get off my butt and order some of these that I don't have - and one or two not on your list. Had been meaning to get "Finn Aagard - Selected works" for months and now will be reading it before Christmas.

Always liked Finn's no nonsense approach to things, and especially how he never took things for granted. I may be misremembering but I believe one of his favorite questions was, "and you know this to be true how?"

Jim,

Ackley's book is interesting mostly for the historical and technical info on wildcat cartridges. Though there's some information on hunting rifles, there's not much compared to most other books on my list, and some of the technical information is faulty or skimpy (including the loading data, much of which is probably dangerous), especially when compared to Hatcher's Notebook and Otteson's first book on bolt actions.

I got my copy of Ackley's book in 1973, if I recall correctly, a hardback that's now held together with duct tape, so obviously it's been read a lot. But as my collection of rifle books increased I found it far less useful than other books.

While this book is too new for the parameters of the article, I'd suggest it as one to add to one's shelf if you can find a copy.

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Either my memory of the title of google is failing but there was an older book of the 22 that I really enjoyed. I don't recall if it was a Roy Dunlap book, or he just wrote a few articles in the book. when I google book of the 22 I come up with more modern books.

Another vote for anything from Franciss Sell, a wonderful writer with opinions formed from been there done that life.

Philip B. Sharp's book "Guide to Handloading" is a real treat to read.

Which is why it was an honorable mention in the article. His other book, THE RIFLE IN AMERICA, was one of the 10 first choices.

No doubt about that, roomie.

kd

Charles Landis

kududude,

Good to see you posting once in a while, again....

kaboku68,

You should have been able to read the entire article by now, but Mr. Landis's book made the top 10.

I hate to admit it, but John has cost me several thousand dollars over the last decade or so. I'm 76, and it doesn't seem right that I should keep spending money on neat stuff that I may never get around to using. I have not renewed any of my gun/hunting magazines to help remove the temptation to keep on buying stuff that I really do not need. I know, what does need have to do with it?

Right now, I have four or five guns that I have never shot, and three or four that have only been scoped and tested for accuracy. My hunting days are numbered, so why keep on keeping on.

I must agree that John is THE premier gun writer these days and tells us like it is. I just must keep my guard up against my weak character. I was abused as a kid. We had one .22 single shot and a sometimes working 12 ga., and no center fire rifles until I was almost grown. Warped for life, jack

Jack,

Thanks for the vote of confidence--but sorry I've cost you so much money!

I can understand your compulsion, since I have a similar affliction. In fact I've cost myself a lot of money over the years!