Complete Guide to Service Handguns by Gene Gangarosa, Jr. Stoeger Publishing Company, 1998, Softcover,  320 pages  ISBN 0-8831-7204-6

This is most emphatically not the case with Gene Gangarosa's Complete Guide to Service Handguns (CGSH).   This book is a good, no- nonsense introduction to handguns in general, and handguns whose primary design purpose is to arm police or the military in particular.  Gangarosa deserves special credit for the logical and intuitive manner in which the book is organized.  CGSH is divided into  eight chapters, each of which covers a particular area of interest:  Evolution of the Handgun, Classic Service Revolvers, Service Revolvers, Classic Service Pistols, Service Pistols - 9mm, .40 and .45 Caliber, Emerging Technologies and Future Trends, Disassembling Walther PP-Type Pistols, and Handgun Safety.

The meat of the book, however is in the first five chapters, the last three being largely two to four page summaries that do little more than whet the reader's appetite for more information.  That being said, the book is more than worth the $22.95 cover price.  Over 120 pistols are covered in the book, each gun being given its own subchapter within the main chapter heading.  Each article is cleverly organized and written with a singular clarity that serves both the tyro and the veteran cruffler well.  The articles typically begin with the firearm's history, and then carefully weave in specific dates, ballistic data, interesting bits of trivia, and concludes, most satisfyingly, with the gun's relationship to its lineal descendants and/or other designs.  Each entry is provided with sample firing data, to include average group sizes and both mechanical and recoil characteristics, and the mechanical Gangarosa provides As a postscript, each article is followed by a table listing manufacturer information, production data, chambering, and physical dimension data.

All in all, CGSH is a wonderfully useful volume that provides a wealth of information in a well-organized, easily assimilated format.  Its shortcomings, if any, are that it provides more than enough data to whet one's appetite for more information, which may result in significant sums being spent on firearms and books.  The book should find a place not only on the bookshelves of die-hard firearms buffs, but in the hands of people just becoming familiar with the hobby as well.  In fact, the Complete Guide to Service Handguns makes an excellent choice for a "mid-winter's day" gift!  We recommend this book highly.
 

Complete Guide to Service Handguns is available from Amazon.com.  Click on the image to order:

 
 

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