Standard Catalog of Military Firearms
By Joseph D'Alessandro Editor | RealGuns.Com

I do not have extensive military weapon experience, but I do have a collection of the more common firearms from: Germany, Russia, Sweden, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Prior to acquiring any of the firearms I purchased the accepted, popular historical reference for each and researched production numbers and dates as well as originating arsenals and reworking arsenals. Based on this limited experience I found the book to be incomplete in many ways, inaccurate in stating market value of many of the firearms and just incorrect in some listings.

I understand these are only catalog listing but, as an example, the Model 1895 Nagant revolver is listed at twice to three times the accepted market value and without discerning the price difference amongst Milsurp models based upon production date, arsenal and configuration. These revolvers were not only made at the Soviet arsenal Tula, they were also made at Izhevsk and marked accordingly. The cartridge for the gun is listed as only the 7.62mm, a label that applies to several cartridges, when it is the 7.62x38mmR. The same general types of mischaracterizations or omissions carried through to the Nagant rifles where little attention was paid to markings in determination of value and milsurp imports, the most common source of these guns, was kind of waved off with "There are lots of them, the market is stagnate and they are mostly pretty good.

I spot checked Swiss, Turkish and Czech model listing and found pretty much the same. The huge supply of reworked Turkish Mausers designated the M1903/38 was given a couple of sentences for a firearm that comes from many production sources from many countries in both small and large ring action configurations. Additionally, the price noted at $250 is just silly. They can be purchased in Very Good condition from chains like Big 5 or from Aim below $100 routinely. British Enfield models fared better with more complete model separation and further description, but prices were still way out of line with the market. Not just today's market prices, but even two years ago.

If there is a saving grace for this catalog, It is probably for model identification. In that regard the labels under pictures seem correct and there is enough detail to be of use in finding out what rifle you are holding in your hand. What the book won't do is research markings or configurations for closer research. As an example, my Turkish Mauser is a refurbished large ring German 98 Mauser, but variations were made from 1890, 1893, 1903, 1905 carbine, G 98 and the Czech 98/22 Mausers. Obviously some are much better than others and some are in high demand while others are better as scrap metal. For the price it is OK. For assessing the value of a military firearm? Not so much.