Review by Larry S. Sterett
Contributing Editor
GUN DIGEST 2014, 68th Edition, edited by Jerry Lee. ©2013. Published by F + W Media, Inc., Dept. TGM, 700 East State St., Iola, WI 54990. Price: $34.99, plus shipping. Available in most book stores.
Billed as “The World’s Greatest Gun Book,” this 568-page softbound volume may be just that. It has definitely come a long way since the first quarter-inch thick softbound browncolored original of the 1940s era. With more than two dozen feature articles, with full color illustrations, reports on the newest rifles, shotguns, handguns, ammunition, optics, etc., five good guns, and seven “testfire” reports, this edition also has a couple hundred pages of catalog-type listings, all illustrated.
All the articles and reports in this 68th edition are good, but some of this shooter’s favorites include In a Class by Itself on Mannlicher-Schonauer rifles, Cute Little .300s on .300 Whisper, etc., The Norma Story on what else, the Norma ammunition manufacturer, Hodgdon on the powder propel, The Remarkable Ross on the Ross rifles, and The Care and Feeding of Wildcats on wildcat cartridges. All of these are amply illustrated, and in full color.
The sections devoted to new products—rifles, shotguns, pistols, revolvers, optics, etc.—are as complete as they can be with deadlines to meet. The majority of the new products are illustrated with black and white photographs, as are all material from page 257 through the balance of the book.
The five articles in the “…Good Gun” section feature Remington’s Model 721, Thompson/Center’s Dimension, the unique Breda autoloading shotgun, the Colt M1903, and the Winchester Model 71, successor to the Model 1886. The author of each of article expounds on what he considers the outstanding features of what he considers a “good gun.” It would be difficult to argue against their points-of-view.
Preceding the ballistics and catalog section of this edition, and at the end of the Testfire section, is an excerpt from the 13th edition of Cartridges of the World. Devoted to SAAMI, it includes maximum cartridge and minimum chamber drawings for four popular cartridges: .22 Long Rifle, .357 Magnum, .30-06 Springfield, and 12-Gauge—2¾”.
The ballistics tables list bullet weight, velocity, energy, trajectory, and estimated price per box for metallic centerfire cartridges from the 17 Hornet to the .50 BMG, rimfires from the 17 Aguila to the .22 Winchester Magnum (shot), and shotshells from the 10 gauge down to the .410-bore. Not all prices are listed, and some of the metallics listed are obsolete, but the information provided is still useful.
The catalog or directory of current arms begins with handguns and proceeds through rifles, shotguns, black powder arms, and airguns. Optics, iron sights, chokes, loading equipment, etc., are no longer featured as they were in many previous editions. It is impossible to include everything. New is a 19-page “web directory” beginning with A-Square and finishing with Wing Shooting USA. This directory is compartmentalized into 23 categories from Ammunition… through Major Shooting Web Sites and Links, and it does include listings for optics firms, reloading tool firms, gunsmithing supply firms, choke devices, and more.
This book is worthy of space on any shooter’s bookshelf. It may not be the ultimate gun book, but if not, it’s close. The final pages are devoted to a listing of the more than 100 related topic books published under the Gun Digest Books umbrella. If F + W publishes it and it concerns shooting or hunting, it is probably to be found listed here in “The World’s Greatest Gun Book.”
