[.ca] Gun Digest Book Of Assault Weapons (ISBN 0896894983)

Tons of Info:
This book has almost all the right things to be a hit. It has tons of pictures, gun tests, gun specifications, and hard to find information about guns never built. You can read it once and be amazed and then you can still pick it up and learn more. you can never stop learning from it. The reason I gave it four stars, though, is because of its lack in amount of guns. I understand it is the fifth installment in a series, so I can't wait for the sixth!

Not as concrete as the previous edition but still ok to read:
The author seems to like German firearms and hate Russian AKs. A lot more guns are covered in this latest edition, but the objective descriptions on many of the guns are less detailed when compared to the previous edition.

Limited M16 information:
As a builder and collector of AR-15's, I purchased this book in the hopes of getting some new info on the military versions of the rifle. The cover of the book certainly caught my eye, and perhaps that was the intention. However, I found myself getting a bit "depressed" as page after page of non-M16 info was thumbed through. Finally, after reaching nearly the end, there was one story on the M4 Carbine. It was just enough to make me keep the book. That's more than I can say about a few other books I also ordered.

I didn't buy this book for political opinion:
I really like books on guns and guns themselves but I was really disappointed with the ham-handed editorializing in this supposedly objective review of the world's assault rifles. I thought guns were inert but after reading this book you'll see that Soviet Bloc weapons were the evil tools of the commies. Thus only begrudging praise is given to what is by any standard the BEST assault rifle ever made- the AK-47 and its ilk. We learn that the Red Army put Ppsh41's into the hands of housewives at the Battle of Stalingrad because "international atheistic socialism" didn't respect the divinity of women. I don't know which of the two genius' who wrote this book researched that little factoid but I believe it is based on the early defense of one of Stalingrad's factory works by female workers which astounded and depressed the Germans. Why aren't German WW2 guns are called the tools of the "international fascist murderers". Its depressing to still have to deal with Cold War misinformation. Having to wade through the authors' political baggage made this a tedious read, although the illustrations and technical info is good.

A big disappointment with little real info:
I was really disappointed with this book. It was more of a outlet for the authors to brag about themselves and complain about their ugly guns that were never excepted and produced by the military. When you think "assault weapon" you think AR15, AK47, AK74, FAL, right? There was almost ZERO info on the FAL. How can you right a book on assault weapons and not dedicate pages to the arm of the free world, the assault weapon used by over 90 countries? There was little info on the AR or AK too. No real shooting techniques, cleaning ideas, or model info. If you are interested in reading about the authors home made guns and a UGLY 22 cal. machine gun, this book is for you. If you want valuable info on real assault weapons and there many variations look somewhere else.