An accessible encyclopedia of military weapons represents a collaboration with The Army, Navy, and Air Force Times, and covers each weapon system, its evolution, development, and combat experience.
A visual historical reference to over 500 military, law enforcement and antique firearms from around the world with a fascinating history of small arms from the 14th century to the present day, comprehensive directories of small arms, full technical specifications and is illustrated with more than 550 photographs and artworks. This book features world's most important small guns from the medieval hand cannon and the matchlock handgun to the Luger P08 and today's FN P90 as well as famous small arms including the Colt .45, the Browning High-Power M1935, the Lanchester and the MP38 submachine gun. Included are specially commissioned color photographs and artworks, including cutaway diagrams to show internal components and gun operation. This complete guide is expertly written by leading professionals in their field.
The World's Assault Rifles is a definitive, comprehensive reference book covering the militaries of 50 countries in 71 chapters. Comprising more than 1,900 photographs, this book includes extensive assault rifle history, operating and locking systems, ammunition types, individual specifications and much more. With the 1200-page hardcover version weighing 9 pounds and now selling for hundreds of dollars, The World's Assault Rifles, as an eBook, offers convenient transportation and comfortable reading pleasure in the office, at home and during travel, not to mention the low cost. Now used by hundreds of military scholars and agencies world wide, The World's Assault Rifles in eBook format will provide instant fingertip access to information unavailable from any other source at an unbeatable price!
For nearly fifty years the hard-hitting, mobile Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, served in US infantry units as a light squad automatic “base of fire” weapon, providing quick bursts of concentrated fire. Designed in World War One, it didn't reach the front until September 1918. In the interwar years US forces used the BAR across the world, from China to Nicaragua. It also became a favorite of notorious gangsters like Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, who prized its ability to punch through police armored cars. At the outset of World War II the US armed forces decided to adapt the BAR for a light machine gun role. The BAR was not without its flaws; it was heavy and difficult to dismantle and reassemble, and it didn't cope well with sustained fire. Nevertheless, the BAR saw action in every major theater of World War II and went on to be used in Korea and in the opening stages of the Vietnam War. Featuring arresting first-hand accounts, specially drawn full-color artwork and close-up photographs, many in color, this lively study offers a vivid portrait of this powerful, long-lived and innovative weapon that saw service with US and other forces across the world for much of the 20th century.
The author, a New York Times reporter, traces the invention and mass distribution of the AK-47 assault rifle, and its effects on war. He traces the invention of the assault rifle, following the miniaturization of rapid-fire arms from the American Civil War, through World War I and Vietnam, to present-day Afghanistan, where Kalashnikovs and their knockoffs number as many as 100 million, one for every seventy persons on earth. It is the weapon of state repression, as well as revolution, civil war, genocide, drug wars, and religious wars; and it is the arms of terrorists, guerrillas, boy soldiers, and thugs. From its inception to its use by more than fifty national armies around the world, to its role in modern-day Afghanistan, he discusses how the deadly weapon has helped alter world history.
The Encyclopedia of Modern Firearms, Parts and Assembly is, as its name implies, an encyclopedic collection of all information available from American arms manufacturers pertaining to the parts for, assembly and disassembly, repair and maintenance of the firearms of their manufacture as of January 1, 1959. Its purpose is to supply, for the first time in history, to those associated with guns, either professionally or as an avocation, a single source of authoritative information covering the technical and mechanical features of a firearm?s physical components, its repair, replacement, manufacture and care. And, now that most of the firearms covered are no longer in production, the information is even more valuable. What little information was available is out of print, original manuals have been lost, the Encyclopedia is the only place to find information. The Encyclopedia also offers two additional unique advantages to its users. First, it contains the complete specifications of the hundreds of pins, screws and helical springs shown in the many parts lists throughout the book. This information has never before been available in printed form. Second, The Encyclopedia contains in their entirety the four Department of the Army Technical Manuals covering sporting shotguns, the Springfield rifle and the .45 Cal. Automatic pistol. These are replete with precisely written service and repair instructions and accompanying pertinent illustrations of every phase of the work.By combining The Department of the Army Technical Manuals with factory information on the same guns, a complete and rounded picture is given of all phases of service for the gun being discussed.