Peterson - Standard Catalog of Military Firearms: the Collectors Price and Reference Guide

Sign up for our newsletter and receive special offers, access to free content, and information on the latest new releases and must-have firearms resources! Plus, receive a coupon code to use on your first purchase from GunDigestStore.com for signing up.

or visit us online to sign up at

http://gundigest.com/ebook-promo

In Memory of Daniel Mark Shideler

Gun Digest Publishing

Firearms Books Editor 2005 - 2011

Courtesy the collection of John Adams-Graf, editor Military Trader magazine. The photo features the WWII M1 Garand Rifle and relics. It was the first standard-issue semi-automatic rifle. General George S. Patton called it, the greatest battle implement ever devised.

Many of the full-format photos appearing in this book were taken by photographer extraordinaire Paul Goodwin.

A special acknowledgment to Kris Leinicke, curator of the Rock Island Arsenal Museum, for providing full access to the museums outstanding firearms collection.

Karl Karash supplied photos from his personal collection of Colt 1911s.

Jim Rankin shared many photos from his vast personal collection.

Robert Fisch, curator of the museum at the United States Military Academy at West Point, was most generous in sharing the museums treasure trove of historically significant firearms.

Blake Stevens of Collector Grade Publications shared numerous photos from his outstanding and comprehensive books.

Roberty Segel supplied many beautiful photos of his superb collection of vintage machine guns.

Charles Kenyon lent outstanding Luger photographs, many of which appear in his landmark book, Lugers at Random.

Chuck Karwan shared many photos from his extensive photo archives of military weapons.

Ricky Kumor, Sr., went out of his way to photograph many of the fine military firearms that pass through his shop.

Tom Nelson of Ironside International Publishers kindly allowed us to reprint some of his photos of rare weapons from his outstanding series of books on automatic weapons.

John M. Miller helpfully supplied photos of early military firearms.

Paul Scarlata was generous with photos not only of military firearms but of other fascinating historical subjects.

Ryerson Knight was most helpful with photos of pocket pistols.

And, finally, thanks to Dr. Leonardo M. Antaris for the use of the outstanding photos from his book, Star Firearms.

Welcome to the 7th edition of Standard Catalog of Military Firearms. This is my fourth time as author of this title, although I tend to see myself as more of a reporter or compiler.

The layout and format of this book were pretty much established in editions one through three. Each time out I have attempted to add some new information and pricing that expands the scope and usefulness of this book, to give the readers something new that makes buying the next edition hard to resist. Since there are few new models of old military guns to add to the listings, I decided to branch out to include data and values for firearm-related items that many collectors and firearms owners encounter.

With the fourth edition bayonets were added to the listings. This was the first time since the 1970s that a book published in the U.S. had identification and value information for bayonets. Of course there is not enough room in this book to give full coverage to bayonets. There are other books published that are as big as SCMF that focus solely on bayonets. We recommend Bayonets from Janzens Notebook. While not every bayonet variation can be included, we do try to give collectors an idea what might have been issued with their rifles as well as collector pricing.

For the fifth edition we added images and value data on magazines from the vintage handguns listed within. To our knowledge there had never been any reference published that featured the magazines of collectible firearms. This is important as one will often encounter guns with a non-original magazine installed. This certainly affects the value of a firearm as many vintage magazines are nearly impossible to find and cost many times what an aftermarket replacement does.

The sixth edition added pre-cartridge era rifles as well as military holsters. The long gun additions included many muzzle loading rifles and muskets in use through the 1860s. Many of the foreign-made guns had never been listed in any price guide. This included percussion smoothbore muskets and rifles in addition to a few flintlock muskets. We tried to go back to 1800 or so for those listings; however it proved difficult to gather information and images for some of the firearms.

Holsters are a very popular accessory item for military handguns and are virtually ignored by other firearms reference and value guides. There are a few reference works available that go into far more detail than we can include here, but they do not feature pricing. What we do provide are examples of common military holsters including a price range. Now an owner of a 1917 Luger with holster and spare magazine can get an idea what his magazine and holster add to the value of his piece.

For the seventh edition, we have now added a section of color images highlighting some of the collectible firearms sold by Rock Island Auction Company and Cowans Auctions, Inc. These beautiful images, taken from their auction catalogs during the last year, show the kinds of prices that can be achieved for historical military firearms.

As always, if you have comments or suggestions concerning this edition of Standard Catalog of Military Firearms, I invite you to contact me at the address below.

Until next time, happy collecting!

Phillip Peterson

0771 S 500 E

Avilla, IN 46710

Here are some details to observe when examining a magazine:

• The shape of the follower and feed lips.
• The number and placement of holes or slots in the magazine body.
• The shape of the floor plate and how it is attached to the magazine body.
• Blued, phosphate, nickel, or a combination? Some original magazines have a different finish than the gun they came with.
• Condition. Look for dents in the body that might interfere with filling it, or inserting it in the gun, and for damage to the locking slot. Also check the feed lips for any bends or cracks.
• Markings. Many original issue magazines have no markings. Some military issue magazines have added markings that are not present on identical commercial examples.

BLADE BAYONET