Some comments on Brassey's Essential Guide to Military Small Arms

Here's my review of the book Brassey's Essential Guide to Military Small Arms at Amazon:

"Good overview of small arms design, lots of formulas, August 8, 1998"

As a broad treatise on small arms design this volume generally succeeds. It does not include every possible design, but has good coverage of the important ones. Since the main contributors are Czech it's particularly strong on East bloc designs including a few obscure ones, which is an interesting contrast with most Western writings.

This book may have origins in a collection of articles but has been well-edited to create a relatively coherent whole. The writing and grammar are generally clear. There are a few places where the language (translations?) is a bit garbled, but the meaning is usually discernable.

Arms design generally moves so slowly (compared, say to computers) that I'd say the content is reasonably current. For example, the coverage of modern Gatling designs is probably fresh enough to provide insight into current models.

My overall impression is that the scope and background are reasonably broad and technical information is strong. There are lots of detailed formulas describing the physics involved. Given all this and the general difficulty in obtaining good information on small arms design, I recommend this title highly.

Some more comments of mine about this title, from correspondence

Is it exhaustive?

It does not include every possible design, but has good coverage of the important ones. It's particularly strong on East bloc designs including a few obscure ones, which is a nice contrast with most Western writings.

Is it clear?

Generally yes. The grammar is generally good. There are a few places where the language is a bit garbled, but the meaning is usually discernable.

Is it up to date?

Arms design generally moves so slowly (compared, say to computers) that I'd say it's reasonably current. For example, the coverage of modern Gatling designs is probably fresh enough to provide insight into current models.

Is it well organized or it is just a collection of articles?

It may have started as a collection of articles but has been well edited to create a relatively coherent presentation as a whole.

What do you think about it?

Good technical information and background; lots of formulas.

Your comment at Amazon's is dated 05/26/98. Would you still recommend it after a deeper analysis?

Given the above and the general difficulty in obtaining good information on small arms design, yes, I would recommend it highly.