Complete Guide to Service Handguns

Rating:
Summary: A very good reference book for every handgun shopper
Review: Gangarosa's book is a good source of information for those who seek reference material on standard-issue service hanguns (Glocks, Sigs and etc.) as well as more exotic, yet highly functional handguns (Astra, FEG and etc.). Complete with very good pictures, the book provides fairly detailed explanations of a very wide variety of handguns. This is definitely a must for those who are interested in handguns other than (or in addition to) the garden-variety found in local sports stores.

Rating:
Summary: Good book, very comprehensive
Review: This book appeals to two groups of people: the nastalgic, who want to read about the pistols of yesterday, and the people who want to know about the latest plastic sidearms. It covers all well known revolvers (Smith and Wesson, Colt, Tarus, etc) and semi-automatics (Colt, Beretta, Glock, Sig, Browning Hi-power, etc), plus numerous less-expensive copies of said guns. It also covers less known guns, like the Nagant, Tunulov, and Broomhandle. The only downside to this book is that some guns (like the Browning) are reviewed several times in the different sections, making it a pain to quickly access information.

Rating:
Summary: A great reference source that does it all
Review: This is one of the best reference works out there for information about service handguns. It is a great combination of both factual data about subjective, expert opinion about a very large selection of standard handguns. The author gives the history of the weapon, the technical data, and shooting impressions. This is one of the few resources that give all three. The photographs are very good (not glossy but still very good), and the writing is clear and concise without being dry. The information is well organized with an excellent index. Finally, the author includes "classic" service handguns no longer in production as well as current models. Every gun I have been interested in has been in this book. I have read it from cover to cover just for pleasure reading. It is that good. If you are interested in firearms, I highly recommend it. The only downside is that it only comes in paperback, and I had to buy a second copy because I wore out my first one!