Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best Finn Aagaard Books on Rifles & Cartridges?

I used to enjoy reading Finn's articles from the day he entered the US. But I never bought any of his books.

I plan to hunt down a couple. I am more interested in rifle and cartridge books than hunting stories. Which are his top 2 or 3 in this genre?

Not a gunwriter but I've got one published by the NRA Book service dated 1990 that I like. "Finn Aagaard on Hunting Rifles & Cartridges". At that time he was the Field Editor of NRA Publications. You might still be able to get it from the NRA.

It's a little over 200 pages with a lot of photos and covers a lot of different rifles and cartridges from the 22RF to the .458 Win. There's also plenty of interesting anecdotal shooting and hunting experience.

Aagaard's Africa is a great read.


ddj

I agree. I also just got "Guns and Hunting" and have enjoyed it tremendously, as I do nearly everything written by Mr. Aagaard. I don't think it's available in a cheaper copy yet, though...the one I got was signed by Berit Aagaard and was in a slipcase. I believe it came from Safari Press, though I'm not sure; it was a Christmas gift. I also have "Selected Works" and it has several articles pertaining to rifles and cartridges, as well as some hunting articles.

Finn Aagaard on Hunting Rifles and Cartridges is great. Unfortunately, it seems to be something of a collector's item, judging by this listing in Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Finn-Aagaard-...UTF8&qid=1328085147&sr=8-1-spell

It's not currently in the NRA Library.

I think this is the one I'd like to find. I don't think most of the others mentioned have enough rifle and cartridge info. More hunting stories.

Jack-
That's a good collection of Aagaard's writings from the 1980s and early 1990s in American Rifleman. However, the NRA compiler made a number of errors, and Finn was understandably upset with the quality of the book. The NRA mailed out errata sheets to individuals who had purchased the book from their book service.

If you find a copy of the book without the correction sheet, send me a PM and we can arrange to get a copy to you.
--Bob

Thanks BullShooter,

If I can find an affordable copy, I'll take you up on that.

Bullshooter - I might need to pm you on the error sheet. Never had heard that before.


ddj

It's an excellent book, even with the errata sheets.

A similar book that is also quite good is Clay Harvey's Popular Sporting Rifles and Cartridges, which is available used at a reasonable price.

http://www.amazon.com/Popular-sport..._1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328127621&sr=8-1

Clay Harvey???
That is a dirty word around here.

You're entitled to your personal opinion and it may even be justified, but it doesn't change the fact that Popular Sporting Rifles and Cartridges is exactly the sort of book the OP is looking for.

+1. The guy may be a scuzz-ball, but that is a well-written and informative book.

Safari Press has just published a book of Finn's writings: "GUNS AND HUNTING, Two Decades of Thoughts on Guns and Calibers." Finn's sweet widow, Berit, who was involved in selecting the articles, kindly autographed my first edition at Dallas Safari Club.

The foreword to the book is written by our very own Mule Deer. There are 36 chapters, and many of them are dedicated to an individual caliber. Here are some: .470 Nitro Express, .416 RemMag, .338 WinMag, 9.3x62, 7x57, .223 Rem, 6.5x55, .458 WinMag, .375 H&H, .30-06, .280 Rem, .35 Whelan, etc.

Here's a link:
https://www.safaripress.com/product.php?productid=1187&cat=316&page=1

Bastid! You are going to cost me 70 bucks!

John

And worth every penny! Especially if you can get an autograph out of delightful and eloquent Berit.....

After reading your post, I just ordered Finn Aagaard on Guns and Hunting from Safari Press and also ordered a used copy of Popular sporting rifle cartridges by Clay Harvey off the net.

Safari Press said that the new Aagaard book was limited to just a few hundred copies and all would be signed by Mrs Aagaard-Pace. I used to shoot BPCR with Bill Pace and his previous wife before she died. She had a really nice US made replica of a Stevens 44-1/2 that I was envious of. I don�t remember what Bill shot. Just that neither of them had any trouble out shooting me.

I�ve only met Berit once, when the Columbus, TX cowboy action shooting club dedicated a fort that was one of their permanent shooting stages to Finn back in 2002 or 2003.

Should I keep looking for an affordable copy of Finn Aagaard on hunting rifles & cartridges or does the new book have most of the same material in it?

Jack-
The newer book is a collection of 34 of Finn's articles, along with two wonderful essays by Berit about Finn and his tracker Kinuno. Ten of the articles appear in the NRA's earlier collection; nine of these are devoted to specific cartridges.

The earlier 1990 collection has 46 articles.

--Bob

Thanks Bob,

It sounds like the older collection has more articles that aren't in the new collection than the new collectoin has articles. So I guess I need to try to find a reasonably priced copy of the 1990 collection.

Hi everyone,

I am Berit Aagaard Pace and just discovered this link. Charlie Sisk, custom rifle maker introduced me to the site. It has been gratifying to see the interest in Finn's writings. I might be able to answer some of your questions.

The 1990 "Hunting Rifles and Cartridges" was published by the NRA and has been out of print for many years. My sons and I have a copy each, but of course have no intention of selling them.

The "Aagaard's Africa" with a slip cover and Kilimanjaro with a lion in the foreground and published by the NRA in 1992 is also out of print; it is sometimes available through Amazone or Safari Press.

The first part of "Aagaard's African Adventures" published by Safari Press in 2007 is a reprint of the "Aagaard's Africa" with corrections; the NRA never let us see the manuscript before it went into print and Finn was very angry when he discovered a number of mistakes. The second half is what I wrote after Finn died using his diaries, letters and my own memories.

There is also a collections of stories professionally recorded that Finn narrated shortly before he died, three hours worth of wonderful listeninjg while commuting or on long drives. Except for the Mau Mau story, none of the stories on the CDs are the same as those in the books.

I recently was given permission by the NRA to reprint some of the articles that were published in the American Hunter and the American Rifleman magazines in book form, resulting in the volume "Guns and Hunting". Safari Press had done a good job of putting together a well-made book with 34 of those articles.

I have for sale these last three items and personalize every book with a special dedication to everyone that buys a copy.
The "Aagaard's African Adventure" is the trade edition and is $35 plus $5 for shipping, + $4 sales Tax in Texas.
The CDs are $25, + $3 in shipping and $3 sales Tax in Texas.
The Limited edition of "Guns and Hunting" is $70 + $5 shipping and $6 sales tax in Texas. There are only about 20 copies of the limited edition of 500 left at this time.

If anyone is interested, my email address is:
bnbshooterssbcglobal.net Please write in the subject something like "Finn's book" so I will know it is safe to open.

Happy hunting - Shoot straight
Berit Aagaard Pace