Reference Books on Military Surplus Rifles? What's some good titles?

B

bedbugbilly

New member
I figured this would be a good place to ask . . .

I have a friend who is retiring who likes to collect military surplus rifles (and antique rifles in general). He's a Viet Nam vet and has everything from a Brown Bess to a Civilian M-16 - a couple of M1 Garands as well as quite a few of the usual military surplus rifles - Nagants, Mausers, etc. I'd like to get him a nice reference book as a retirement gift.

I've cruised Amazon.com and while there are some excellent books there, most are pretty specific (in regards to a particular rifle, etc.). I'm sure he already has the many price guides, collector's catalogs, etc. so I've ruled those out. I'm looking for something that is nice, helpful as far as information and one that can be used over time and not just read and then put away never to be looked at again.

My budget is $50 - $60. Can somebody possible suggest some titles of general reference books on milsurp rifles or related? I'm kind of at a loss as I'm not really up to date on what is out there on milsurp as my shooting interests are in other areas. Even a book that is a combination gun/military history that would be appropriate. He isn't limited to one time period - so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. What do you fellas who love milsurp have in your reference books that you find really helpful? Book titles would be fine as I can then search for them by title. Thanks for any suggestions - greatly appreciated.
 
Standard Catalog of Military Weapons by Phillip Peterson. If you have a Kindle it's only $15. Many otherwise spendy reference books are cheap as electric books, some are even free.
 
The best I've seen, and I have a lot of them, is "the Book of Rifles" by WEB and Joseph Smith.

It's an older book but for surplus military rifles it can't be beat.
 
Thank you all for your great suggestions. Enjoyed looking them up and they all are excellent books! I'm checking with his wife to make sure he doesn't have any of them already and then will order for him. I know he's been collecting a variety of bolt actions so I'm leaning towards the book on Mauser Military Rifles.

Thanks again for your help - greatly appreciated! One of the great things I like about this forum is that help and advice is there when you need it! Thanks to all of you!
 
"Bolt Action Military Rifles of the World", by Mowbray and Puleo, published by Mowbray Press. It runs $70, but worth it. Nice jacket, lots of great color photographs, and historical information.
 
I recently picked up a copy of "U.S. Military Bolt Action Rifles" by Bruce Canfield. I really like it. Goes beyond just the '03 and M1917, covers Lee-Navy, Krags, Mosin-Nagants, the French Berthier rifles...and others that US Armed Forces used at one time or another.
 
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