Andy Morriss writes: >I'm looking for some good technical references on the characteristics of >modern weapons that make them desirable for military, hobby, & criminal >use, in part to assist a student with a paper and in part to educate >myself.
Jane's "Infantry Weapons" is the best single reference I know. It is an annual and includes handguns, rifles and also machine guns and other arms. It has history, discussion and lots of pictures and technical specs. Because it covers the arms of many countries, including less developed ones, it includes many arms which aren't extremely modern. >For example, criminals surely prefer weapons that are easily >concealed for many crimes; Yes. They are also in great demand by the increasingly many law abiding citizens who are obtaining CCW permits. >automatic firing capability is not that valuable for non-military uses I agree. >(including in the definition of "military >use" the "civilian" use in resisting tyrannical governments, of course). I don't particularly agree with this - I think that "irregular forces" have less need of the "area fire" and related capabilities. Note that the US has limited the auto firing capability of its main rifle to a 3 shot burst (in the M16A2 - or something like that) and has one person per squad (at most?) carry a "squad automatic weapon" (SAW). Another good reference is the slightly dated Handguns of the World by Ezell, which only covers (of course) Handguns. On the civilian side, Gun Digest puts out an annual and lots of other books which survey the handgun/rifle/shotgun areas - with emphasis on what is available in the US. -- --henry schaffer _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
