USED gun books and books on Western gun use and users

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FS: used books on classic guns used in the West and some of their users

ALL PRICES INCLUDE POSTAGE TO US ZIP CODES. I take cash and personal checks and MOs made out to me. I DON'T take credit cards, PayPal and similar electronic payments like applepay etc.

How it works: the only way to reserve a book or books is to put a "reply" like "I'll take book(s) #_____ " on this thread. Then I'll reply here acknowledging your order and reserving the book or books for you, mark the books sold on the ad, and send you a PM with my "legal" name and address for payment. I try to ship the books the next mail day after I get payment.

Please ask questions or make offers or comments only by PM. I try to answer them all, and fast.

TAKE $1 OFF THE PRICE OF ANY BOOK OR BOOKS THAT YOU ORDER AFTER THE FIRST ONE. I get a little break on multiple book postage, so I kick a little back to you.


Western "gun users"

1) SPF"The Log of a Cowboy" by Andy Adams. Adams' emigrant parents and seven siblings fled post-Civil War violence from Georgia to Texas after his father left the Confederate Army at the war's end. This book is from a "fancy" series ("Classics of the Old West") and it illustrates the complexity of life in the period that we call the"Old West." Full of action, but it's REAL action (more hard work than gunfights). HB 374 new cond illus w/repros of prints from the original first edition. $7

2) SPF "California Desperadoes: Stories of Early California Outlaws in Their Own Words" by William B. Secrist. CA hasn't always been "the land of fruits and nuts". Or at least many of our original nuts were violent criminals! (Certain areas of my own Orange County were "no-go zones" up until the late 1890s because of the bandit population....). This book is a very complete history of banditry in CA by a Korean War Marine vet turned writer, adman, and then regional historian. Much of it is the testimony of the convicted criminals, including their confessions of bloody crimes. PB 273 pp. new cond illus w/maps and many b/w photos. $6

3) SPF "Bad Men of the West" by Robert Elman. "The Lives and Times of the Renegades, Bandits, Rustlers, and Gunfighters Who Made the West Wild." A really complete national history from the roots of American banditry when the east slope of Appalachia was the "Wild West," thru the outlaws spawned by the American Revolution and Federalism up to the "The Last Wild Frontiers"--12 chapters on the various stages and causes of Western conflicts and criminality. Starts with a section of classic full-page color paintings that illustrate Western facts and fantasies. Includes a separate chapter on "Badwomen." I learned a lot from this book! HB 256 pp. 8 1/2x1" format exc. cond illus w/MANY b/w photos, full-color paintings, and repros of magazine and newspaper illustrations from the various periods. $12

4) SPF "California Gold Rush Glimpses I, II, and III" by Craig and Franklin MacDonald. These three volumes are the products of years of research by the MacDonalds, a family team of regional historians who have focused on the Gold Rush(es) and the Sierra mining districts. It's unusual to find all 3 volumes together. The "glimpses" are collections of short articles on various Gold Rush events, people, places, and issues, including narratives by actual "49ers," 82 "glimpses" in all. Volume III contains a section on California outlawry of the Gold Rush period. All three volumes are signed and inscribed by one of the authors. Softbound 336 pp. total. Vols II and III are near new cond; Vol I has some water spotting on cover. Illus w/many historic b/w photos, sketches, drawings and color paintings by noted CA artists Bill Anderson and Milford Zornes. $15

5) SPF "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee: The Indian History of the American West" by Dee Brown, with a new Foreword by Hampton Sides. This book, first published in 1970, caused a storm of criticism, which, as Hampton Sides, a prominent Western and Civil War historian, points out, diminished greatly when historians fact-checked Brown's research. Brown, who died in 2002, was the author of 25 books on the Civil War and the American West who insisted on explaining the place of Native Americans in that history. His book covers all the Indian Wars from the natives' side, including CA's own Modoc War, which is largely forgotten (even in CA, for "good" reasons...). PB 429 pp. exc. cond illus w/many b/w photos, maps, bibliography and index. $6

6) SPF "Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon" by Edward Dolnick. The huge Grand Canyon of the Colorado was as remote as Mars to most Americans until the late 19th Century. Powell, an unemployed geologist who lost his right arm in the "Hornet's Nest" at the Battle of Shiloh in the Civil War, took a crew of "mountain men" down the first transit of the Grand Canyon by whites. The canyon, the river, and the natives were implacably hostile, but he got the task done and "opened" a huge area to the rest of us. PB 378 pp. ecc cond. illus w/maps b/w sketches and photos, notes, bibliography, and index. $6

Gun Books

7) "Colt: An American Legend" by R.L. Wilson. Classic Colt collector's volume that shows the iconic Western handguns in full color from worn working guns to "works of art." A beautiful history of Colts-- the manufacturer and their history-making products from the 1830s to the present--not just six shooters, but ALL the products. HB 415 pp. exc/new cond 8 1/2x11" format w/over 300 beautiful full-color photos and 165 b/w photos , text that explains the history, timelines of models and DOM charts, index and bibliography. $25

8) SPF "Winchester: An American Legend" by R.L. Wilson. The "companion volume" to Wilson's Colt book above, just as Winchesters and Colts were natural companions in the West! This has all the same features as the Colt book with the addition of details of the other Winchester products besides guns--AMMO and hardware tools and cutlery. HB 415 pp. ex/new cond w/over 300 full color and 165 b/w photos, timelines, DOMs, index and bibliography. $25

9) SPF "Special Warfare Special Weapons: the Arms and Equipment of the UDT and SEALS from 1943 to the Present" by Kevin Dockery. A publication of the UDT/SEAL Museum that covers special operators' knives, pistols, submachineguns, shotguns, rifles, and grenades, each category with its own chapter. Some of these weapons became "mainstream" (MP-5 , CAR-15); some I never heard of until I read this book (Remington 7188 12 guage full auto shotgun). And now I know why special operators don't mess with captured "ChiCom grenades"! HB 192 pp. 8 1/2x11" format exc/new cond illus w/MANY b/w photos of weapons close up and weapons in action, spec blocks for all major weapons, index. $12

10) SPF "Weapons: An International Encyclopedia from 5000 BC to 2000 AD" by The Diagram Group. This big book begins with wooden clubs (Neanderthal to NYPD) and ends with "The Thinking Battlefield" which we are now seeing in Ukraine--intelligent weapons from anti-tank rockets to pilotless bombers, sea mines, boats, and torpedoes. Covers naval, ground, air, space, police and security weapons of all ages, eras, and cultures. Also has sections explaining the groups of weapons that are associated with major historic conflicts from the ancient Greeks to Vietnam. Softbound 336 pp. 8 1/2x 11" format exc, cond illus w/literally hundreds of excellent diagrams (they aren't called "The Diagram Group" for nothing!), drawings, photographs, and action graphics that illustrate the weapons of man from his beginnings to our times, and their use. An education between two covers. $12

11) SPF "Choosing Handgun Ammunition: the Facts That Matter Most for Self Defense" by Patrick Sweeney. Sweeney is the author of 5 other Gun Digest Books on handguns and 5 more on the AR-15. This one is about what you must consider when making decisions on what calibers and ammunition types you choose for self defense with a handgun. He explains what he considers marginal calibers and what you should feed them if you HAVE to rely on them. Examines all the available ctgs for these and of course for all the more "mainstream" calibers in detail--data and explanations on ctgs. from .22 LR to .500 S&W! Great examination of the place of the ".32 revolver" as a defensive weapon. Gives his criteria for "stopping power" and shows tests to prove his conclusions. Softbound 285 pp new cond 8 1/2x11" format illus w/many b/w photos, charts, diagrams and tables. $9



Thanks for reading my long gassy post! Don't forget to take a buck off any book or books you order after the first one!

Mike Armstrong
 
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