Great Reading Gratis

Sometimes the Internet is just too good. I’ve often found myself hunkering down in front of the monitor instead of doing more important things like shooting. But now you can spend your computer time reading about guns instead of gamely attempting to reach the Seventh Level of Zorcon, The Eradicator.

And these Internet shooting books are not just any reading. They are digital reprints of the good stuff from about the time of the birth of the modern game gun: the 1860s through 1910s. And it’s all for free. Gotta love it.

Thanks to all-seeing, all-knowing Google, you can go to http://books.google.com/, and then use the “Search Books” box at the top of the page. Unfortunately, not all of the books are there in their entirety. Some listings just give the title and author with nothing to read. Others print only a few chapters. But even just a taste can be interesting. I entered “shotgun” and came up with the following works in their entirety.

First there is the classic of classics, the complete volume of The Gun and Its Development, Eighth Edition, 1907, by William Wellington Greener.

Then there is a full reprint of The American Shotgun, by Charles Askins, 1921.

You might also like to read the entire Hitting vs. Missing with the Shotgun, by S. T. Hammond (Shadow), 1898.

And also all of Shooting Simplified, by James Dalziel Dougall, 1865.

Another great one is The Art of Wingshooting, by William Bruce Leffingwell, 1895.

There is a good bit on how Damascus barrels were originally made in Clark’s Illustrated Treatise on the Rifle, Shot-Gun and Pistol, Clark & Co., 1850.

There is a nice contemporary section on Joe Manton in The Shotgun and Its Uses, by “East Sussex."

I’ve just scratched the surface here. You’ll find many more books if you spend a little time rooting around www.books.google.com. I just did a limited search on “shotgun,” but you might try “shooting,” “hunting” or other key words. This list should get you started.

I think that this site is a find, especially if you are interested in the early days of wingshooting and shotguns. Things really haven’t changed all that much in the past 125 years, either. Pheasants are still armored, and today’s grouse are as devilishly devious and duplicitous as ever. It all remains wonderful.

Look about for interesting books and share what you come up with.

Boots off. Beer open.