Understanding Firearm Ballistics

Rating:
Summary: Good foundation book for understanding ballistics
Review: The book provides simple background and calculations that are useful for helping people develop an elementary understanding of ballistics.

Rating:
Summary: A fine book unjustly defamed.
Review: There is an earlier review that sounds like it was written by a crazy man and this is a rebuttal. I agree with the reviews in the magazines by the magazine writers. I think it is a very good book because as I read it I learned a lot about this difficult subject. I don't know enough to say if this earlier reviewer's vicious attack on two subjects he disagrees with are correct or not, but the book covers thousands upon thousands of ballistics topics and all in a friendly and easy to read style. Who cares if one or two items are not agreed with by everyone? The whole tone of his review is bad tempered and offensive. The book is top quality with me and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Teachnical Book in Plain Lanuage
Review: This is a great book for the average shooter who would like to know more about firearm ballistics.It is informative, technical, and yet easy to understand. Like most people, I had no interest in the mathematics, but it is written so the subject can be easily understood even if the math is skipped. It discusses all four areas of ballistics; interior, exterior, terminal, and just a touch of forensic. It is well worth the money and the time to read it.

Rating:
Summary: watch the math.
Review: this is a helpful book, but be careful of the math., especially the units

Rating:
Summary: Bad presentation, Great information
Review: While not a prose stylist, the author packs an incredible wealth of information about all aspects of ballistics in one place. I found the book fascinating. It is the best thing out there for understanding firearms ballistics, and anyone interested in the complex science of ballistics must have a copy on the shelf. Having said that, the book is presented terribly. The typeface is hard to read (and for information this densely packed, an agreeable typeface is important). The charts and diagrams are simply terrible. They look hand-drawn, and badly at that. Also, the author spends too much time defending himself from a badly recieved (in some math quarters) earlier edition and only manages to make it sound too personal. On the plus side the author is very encouraging to those of us that are mathamatically challanged. all in all, I learned and understood an enormous amount of information from this book, and consider it a classic in the field. There is nothing else quite like it.

Rating:
Summary: Great coverage of a vital topic
Review: Written by an engineer that worked on weaponry design, this book covers it all. Gyroscopic principles and their application to ballistics, twist rates, ballistic coefficients, bullet and cartridge design and performance - all these and more are covered with well-written explanations. Math is included for those interested, but it's not a math book. All of the "standard" things you'd expect to find in a book on ballistics are here, but this book goes MUCH further - covering topics you won't find anywhere else. Examples are discussions of what determines max range, ricochet performance and brush deflection, coriolis effect, barrel and rifling designs, and on and on. This book is all that is claimed by the author. This book should answer every question you can think of about ballistics, and win you some drinks in trivia contests about why guns shoot the way they do. It will also debunk some of the common myths floating around - some of which will cost you that game animal, or maybe even your life. This is one of the best book investments I've made in my shooting library. You won't be disappointed.