Machine Guns by Ian V. Hogg, 336 pages, sofcover, 500+ b&w photos and 16 pages color, $29.95 plus $4. P&H. Order this book online from: Krause Publications, Dept. BNP, P.O. Box 5009, Iola, WI 54945-5009 (800) 258-0929 (Please tell them Bullet 'N Press sent you!)
There are books to teach us almost anything we could ever want to know about Colt revolvers and Winchesterlever action rifles. From such books we can easily learn about any type of conventional hand held or shoulder fired sporting or military but outside of a precious few sources the public hasn't been offered a great deal in recent years on the formerly taboo subject of the machine gun, that is until now.
Machine Guns, written by the old master gun-story teller himself Ian V. Hogg, offers the reader a very complete look at this "wonder weapon" from its crude beginnings up to today's ultra-modern high-tech chain guns and revolving barrel cannons. The great thing about Ian Hogg's writing is that with this author you really don't have to be an expert in the field to understand what he is writing to you about. From the start you are gently guided through its origins and history, then shown how the various mechanisms work and why, as well as how they were actually put to use, this way the reader comes away with an understanding of the subject he may otherwise have missed. The soft bound book is surprisingly well illustrated and nicely categorized in chronological order by date and country of origin and comes with easy to understand specifications tables.
Short and sweet; whether you are a novice or a life-long student of machine guns this is an excellent all around book on automatic weaponry that you will learn from and enjoy, personally I think it’s the best thing to be published on the subject since Col. Chinn's classic work of the 1950s. Two thumbs up, this is a great book!