Shooter's Bible Guide to Cartridges Paperback – Illustrated, October 1, 2011

Need to dig into this more!

I'm 60. I was given my first gun at "about" age 4 or 5, and it was a Stevens Favorite in 25 rimfire. My father made it inactive by filing off the firing pin, but I had great fun hauling it around, acting like I was shooting/hunting, with a real gun. I did not fire a gun until I was 8 or 9 and it was a .270 off a bench rest. The rest of my years have me owning upwards of 50 guns - rifles, pistols & shotguns. I reload for all & cast bullets.The point of my rambling, is that in spite of being around guns virtually my entire life, and seeing so much literature, new and old, it is refreshing to come across a book like this that I find thoroughly enjoyable.The book is of very high quality print, with glossy stock for print and pictures alike. The content is arranged by similar qualities of the cartridges and gives an excellent description of the pedigree of each. The content is also extremely accurate, which is very important for safety reasons.I would whole heartedly recommend the purchase of this book for anyone with just a passing interest in firearms & cartridges, up to those who approach expert status. It would make an excellent companion to "Cartridges of the World", or even to a book like Ken Water's "Pet Loads". It would be an excellent addition for novices just taking up reloading, along with books like one of the Lyman reloading manuals and one of the "ABC's of Reloading". It would pair nicely with any book on hunting, giving the reader an understanding of the ability of various cartridges.Simply, it belongs on the shelf of anyone at all interested in not just shooting a gun, but also understanding the mechanics of what is being fired.

The book is missing quite a few calibers that came out in the last 20 years.

You can find more, and better, information about individual cartridges online for free, if you know what cartridge you are interested in. Otherwise, a far better choice would be  Cartridges of the World: 10th Edition, Revised and Expanded , which provides excellent information on current and outdated rifle and handgun cartridges, however it does not have anything on the slew of new short and ultra short rifle cartridges which have recently come on the market. In any case, you can research those online, and it would be wise to question how long any of these will stay in production; you don't want to get stuck with a rifle that requires ammunition that is no longer available, or that you can't find locally when you are off somewhere hunting. As far as I can see, this book only gives you extremely brief, superficial information on each cartridge, and for someone new to the shooting sports, maybe it would provide for a starting point for further research, but I'm certain that years from now you will come to realize that most of what's out there on guns and cartridges is baloney aimed strictly at marketing and selling. The most significant change in ammunition in recent years is the technological advances made in bullets (the actual projectile of the cartridge), which has increased the effeciency and lethality of ammunition, and learning something about bullets is well worth the effort. I have recommended and earlier edition of Cartridges Of The World because I actually own it and have read it to a dog-eared state, and I have noted some complaints of the newest edition. I also noted that Guide To Cartridges failed to warn the reader of the importance of recoil with many of the magnum calibers, which should always be considered before deciding on a big game rifle. Conventional wisdom through the years has demonstrated that a .30-06 is about all the recoil most people can tolerate, and the .300 Winchester Magnum caliber and greater are distinctly unpleasant, or even painful, so I believe it is important for a book to educate the reader regarding the "shootability" of a cartridge for the individual, because after all, what good is a great and powerful cartridge if you can't shoot it well? How often you shoot also has a lot to do with how much recoil you can comfortably tolerate (to an extent, of course), so actually shooting a caliber before spending your money is a good idea. Maybe a friend can take you shooting, or find a range that offers instruction and can rent you a rifle to try out, to see if it suits you. As far as handgun cartridges go, you may find that bigger is not always better, and revolvers are easier to shoot than semi-automatics, and again, find a range that will rent you a handgun to shoot and try a few to get a feeling for what is best for you.

Really handy to have, lots of good info. Doesn't include much load data and glosses over "obsolete" rounds that should get more attention, but good overall.

i found this book interesting one time but unless you are anal about ballistics and a serious reloader as i am not the shooters bible is still the book for me this book has every measurment of anything you could measure not really the right book for me never be able to absorb all the imformation i don't regret buying it there are lots of history of shells that is interesting but this one should last me forever

Great info but it doesn’t have all updated cartridges like the 5.45 Russian. It came out in 2011 so it’s overdue for an update.

Tons of info laid out in an easy to read format

Good history of cartridges, not a lot of reloading info, more of a general reference. Well written and a good read.

Bom livro

If you are interested in ballistics and fire arms, you would find this book very useful. The author has written the articles in an easy-to understand way. So that you will be able to see what cartridges are in depth. And also by how each cartridge is configured, you can get deep understanding of how guns works in general.

This is an excellent reference manual, filled with illustrations, photos and ballistic data for anyone interested in obsolete & modern military and sporting cartridge ammunition, .

I was pleasantly surprised. The book is well written and the layout and format along with colour diagrams and fotos makes for an interesting read.