That being said and which I fully agree with you--on what criteria do we judge them on?Mike OTDP wrote:That being said, a prioritisation list would be useful. I'd start with Plaster's The Ultimate Sniper.
Some of the 1870 books are quite dry--read dull--but the information within is priceless on doping wind or estimating distances by eyesight alone and they would be considered the sniper manuals of the Plains Indians Wars and into the Spanish American War.
Do the techniques of WW1 British trench marksmen vs. the German Jaeger (Hunter) squads both equipped with receiver sights (many off tournament rifles) have any bearing on Afghanistan and future wars? Wars where new equipment is being introduced since the shots are getting farther and farther away 1,000M+ being the norm and having to use the Barrett .50 BMG (12.7x99mm) and the .338 Lapua (8.59x70mm) since 7.62x51mm NATO just isn't cutting it at those ranges but the Designated Marksman program using semi autos is performing far better then anyone anticipated with it in the <600 yd ranges.
Should we prioritise to learning to stalk and reading cover and escape then to shooting prowess? Do we include all the other training i.e. artillery spotting?
Is a shooting manual a better read then say history of sniping from Ferguson's R'mnt of Rev War fame or the likes of Sgt. Dan Mills' tale of being under siege in a British stockade in Iraq?
If you can come up with the criteria or parameters and orders of preference I'd be more then happy to contribute since I have had a first hand knowledge of the books but I sorted them into groups, which was hard enough and I knew the order.
I thought that The Ultimate Sniper was a fairly decent book when I read it when it first came out, even splurged on the autographed first edition (I think it was an additional $5) even with all the technical errors in it--The New (2nd) Edition is supposed to have corrected them but I don’t think it should be at the head of any category list, problem is also that I can’t readily name one that should be up there…They’re good books, well written and researched but I don’t think they’re the elite, the omega.
I haven't bothered to acquire a replacement copy as of yet as there are lots of new books coming out that I want to get first and wanting to find some of the destroyed titles, especially the 1800 books before anything--only missing four or five and have replaced the rest.
I found at a friend's, a fellow firearm reader's estate sale and got the complete Bakers, Greener and the Whelan in near mint condition and a number of assorted (total sixty+ hardcover and forty+ trade paper books) with lots of the African hunting titles a few days before the sale had even started as I helped with the cataloguing, sorting, sale day and disposal and clean up afterwards--as I said a friend's and sorta/kinda family sale...Cost me nearly $1,700 but replaced eighty two destroyed titles.
He also had a lovely collection of Winchester and Ballard (including five Pope (barrel) variants) and a couple of Irish single shot rifles--yes, those Irish rifles and in .303 Brit--primarily set up as Schuetzen and varmint rigs that his sons and daughters [amiably] fought over long before his passing...One of his daughters (of three) is married to my nephew's wife's brother and one of his sons (of three) is married to one of my cousins--so I'll still get to shoot them occasionally.
