Hatcher's Notebook; A Standard Reference Book for Shooters, Gunsmiths, Ballisticians, Historians, Hunters and Collectors

[14], 640, [2] pages. Illustrations. Index. DJ has some wear, scuffing, and small tears and chips. This edition includes new material on recent progress in military small-arms research, as well as some notes on commercial hunting cartridges that have appeared since the 1957 edition. There is also a new chapter on "How Far Will My Gun Shoot?" This work contains the observations and answers that made General Hatcher one of the top technical authorities about guns and how they work, about ammunition and its peculiarities, and about the accessories necessary for the complete gun interest. For 20 years, the workbench and armchair counselor to all who work with and use guns continues to provide the unusual in unchangeable details and all that's recent and important for safe and easy gun handling. Julian Sommerville Hatcher (June 26, 1888 - December 4, 1963), was a U.S. Army major general, noted firearms expert and author. He is credited with several technical books and articles relating to military firearms, ballistics, and autoloading weapons. His premier works are Hatcher's Notebook and Book of the Garand, along with Pistols and Revolvers and Their Uses and Textbook of Pistols and Revolvers. In the latter work he introduced the Hatcher Scale, probably the first attempt to determine the stopping power of a handgun round by a formula. He was also a pioneer in the forensic identification of firearms and their ammunition. Hatcher retired from the United States Army as a Major General. Afterward, he served as Technical Editor of the National Rifle Association's American Rifleman magazine. Hatcher graduated with honors from Annapolis in 1909 [he voluntarily transferred from the Navy to the Army's coast artillery. In 1916, the Hotchkiss M1909 Benét-Mercié machine gun was in general use with the U.S. Army and was seeing action during the Punitive Expedition against the bandit Pancho Villa. Reports of its use in Mexico indicated the gun was not functioning properly. Investigation revealed that the chief problems were the 30-round metallic feed strips used in the gun and inexperienced gunners. It was Lieutenant Hatcher who was sent to the border to solve the problems. He found that none of the soldiers had been taught the proper use of the weapon. He set up the Army's first machine gun school and was soon turning out trained crews. Soon, the Benét-Mercié proved to be an effective weapon. Hatcher was later instrumental in developing a solution to the vexing problem of brittle metal in early M1903 receivers built by Springfield and Rock Island Arsenals. His solution to the "grenading" of receivers when shell cases failed catastrophically was to drill a gas vent hole in the left side of the receiver adjacent to the breech. This hole would allow gases escaping from a ruptured case to be exhausted safely and away from the face of the shooter. Dubbed the "Hatcher Hole", the modification was typically added to receivers at overhaul. As Chief of the Small Arms Division in the Ordnance Department and the Assistant Commandant of the Ordnance School before and at the beginning of World War II, he worked closely with Springfield Armory as an engineering trouble-shooter in resolving early production issues associated with the early iterations of the M1 Garand Rifle. Starting with the '03 Springfield and '17 Enfield, this authoritative guide describes the development of automatic and semiautomatic weapons, explaining how they work, barrels and experiments with obstructions, strengths and weaknesses of military rifles, receiver steels and heat treatment, headspace, recoil problems, gunpowder, corrosion, triggers, and the Pederson Device. It also covers noted gun makers, tips to match ammunition, interior and exterior ballistics, velocity variation, measuring methods, weights, overloads, and ranges.…