Ammo & Ballistics

Rating:
Summary: THE book for exterior ballistics data
Review: This book immediately begs comparison with "Cartridges of the World" by Frank C. Barnes. As Mr. Forker states himself in the acknowledgements of this book, Barnes' book is the one by which all other works on cartridges will be judged. "Ammo and Ballistics" is a great reference work in its own right, though, filling a slightly different niche than "Cartridges of the World." The writing, including cartridge history and current opinion, is better in the Barnes book. Also, the Barnes book has a full-sized photo of each cartridge, including obsolete cartridges. Barnes' work has a well-rounded, complete feel to it, and if the world of cartridges fascinates you, as it does me, you will find yourself reading Barnes' classic work for pleasure as well as for the wealth of useful information contained. This is why, for my uses, I prefer the Barnes book. But if you are a hunter, or for some other reason need the lowdown on exterior ballistics, for heavens' sake do yourself a favor and buy the Forker book as well. Mr. Forker supplies page after page of velocity, energy, and trajectory tables for each cartridge. There is a wealth of data here, well presented, covering factory loadings for each cartridge. Antoher useful tidbit of the Forker book is felt recoil factor of each cartridge, so a shooter can compare the felt recoil of each cartridge. No kidding, this book delivers the goods with regards to performance information. I also liked the guest articles by Graig T. Boddington, which are included. Anything Boddington writes, you can take to the bank.

Rating:
Summary: Factory Ballistics
Review: This book is great for someone looking for all the data on factory loaded ammo and ballistics tables on how it all performs out to 500 yds. But, if you are looking for lots of information on the science of ballistics and how bullets are affected by nature in flight and on target, this book will not satisfy your hunger. Overall, a great book for hunters/shooters/reloaders looking for bullet data.

Rating:
Summary: This book is a guide to factory ammunition ballistics
Review: This paperback, not hard cover book, is an excellent and very timely guide to factory ammo and factory ammo exterior ballistic performance. The book covers a very broad selection of cartridges.

The authors include listings for the .30-378, .338-378 Weatherby cartridges, as well as the .300 Remington Ultra Mag. The book goes on to offer data on the popular cowboy rounds like the .38-40, .38-55 and .44-40, and concludes with extensive listings on the big rounds up through the .700 Nitro Express.

The dimensioned cartridge drawing and brief history for each listing is very helpful and makes for more interesting reading. The velocity/energy and trajectory tables extend out to the extreme range of each listed cartridge.

The only negatives I found were some of the articles. For some inexplicable reason, the font size jumped from what looks like 10 points to 14 on the article pages, as though the publisher were trying to fill space. The authors are well known experts and the comments are certainly valid, but is there really a need to let people know the .30-06 is probably good for large deer, or that the .22-250 can cover a longer range than an almost obsolete .222 ?

I think it's worth the price, the information is accurate and timely, and it will be used frequently if you spend much time hunting, at the range, or are researching for a new firearm purchase.