George_Chabot's Full Review: Wilson - Textbook of Automatic Pistols
By R. K. Wilson and Ian V. Hogg
This book is a MUST for all pistol enthusiasts. I thought it was out of print but it is available in an updated version, dated 1990. The copy I have is only updated through the 1970s by Ian V. Hogg, as R. K. Wilson's excellent treatise was only updated through 1935-36.
Robert K. Wilson was born in 1899 and served in WWI and WWII, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After WWI he continued his interrupted schooling and became a medical doctor, but pursued his keen interest in small arms. The Textbook of Automatic Pistols is the product of that interest.
Textbook of Automatic Pistols details the various ingenious attempts to harness the power of the exploding cartridge to operate a self-loading mechanism and make a true semi-automatic pistol.
Pursuance of the automatic principle was hampered up until the late nineteenth century by the ammunition available. Only after smokeless powder was perfected in the late 1880s was it possible to build a practical self actuating firearm where the only work on the part of the shooter was each separate trigger pull. Once the smokeless metallic cartridges were perfected, a blossoming of inventive talent was lavished on the problem of making a workable self-loading firearm.
Beginning from the earliest days of the technology, about 1890, until 1930 when the John M. Browning designs had become firmly entrenched on both sides of the Atlantic as the best, most reliable, and most cost effective mechanisms, the Textbook gives a blow-by-blow account of the various ingenious attempts to market self-loading pistols of proprietary design. These weapons fell into two basic groups; blow back for low power pocket pistols, or locked-breech for more powerful holster pistols.
The data in this book is almost impossible to find anywhere else. Who has heard of a Schoenberger pistol? A Schwarzlose? A Mannlicher? A Bergmann? A Borchardt? A Mauser Broomhandle? A Mars? A Webley and Scott? Yet these were all viable designs, produced and marketed before 1900 by various arms manufacturers in Europe. Everyone has heard of the Luger, but did you know that it was produced first in 1900 and that it was a modification of Borchardt's design first produced in 1892? That the Borchardt pistol set the standard for the detachable magazine in the handle, as virtually all automatic pistols designs today observe. Or that the Luger introduced the push-button magazine release in the location where it is almost universally found today?
Many people know that the Colt 45 Automatic Pistol was the standard US Army pistol for over 60 years. But did they also know that the German Luger and US Savage 45-caliber pistols were also in the running before the Colt pistol finally was chosen?
The US Army Trials of 1907, in search of that elusive 45 automatic pistol are rendered in exhaustive detail, including all phases of the testing.
Textbook of Automatic Pistols is jam packed with technical details of all the aforementioned, and a lot more. Photographs, blueprint drawings, and cutaway views make the technology of these weapons accessible to enthusiasts and casual readers alike.
You'll read about turning barrels, dropping blocks, prop-up, blow back, and blow forward designs. You'll be amused to find that there really is nothing new under the sun: all mechanical possibilities have been tried and tried again, and all prior to 1900! :>
Cartridges are also exhaustively covered, with every known variation. Magnum pistols interest you? You'll be amazed to know that the Mauser pistol fired a bullet at the unheard of speed of 1,600 feet per second in 1896! Hard hitting? The Mars pistol fired cartridges in the same category as the world renowned 357 and 44 S&W Magnums, also before 1900!
I have spent many an evening poring over my copy of this essential book and always find something new to fasten my attention on. I find the whole subject simply fascinating!
Although the book sells for $54 over the Internet, at Am@z0n, it is worth every penny. I would consider it a college education in pistolry, well worth $1,000 in my case.
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