They say that tomorrow is the biggest on-line shopping day of the year. It won’t be for me; I’ll be deep in the Allegheny Mountains looking for a buck and a bear. For those less fortunate who might be looking to pick up a gift for their shooting or hunting friends, here are four suggestions. All are books but books are always good gifts, especially when you are buying for a hunter or shooter who is picky about the gear they might use or carry.
For Hunters and Rifle Loonies (Top Pick)
Many gun and outdoor writers are looking to the Internet to expand their reach. This is partly because readers are doing the same and partly because, in this modern world, if you are not on-line you are not real. Most write for various on-line magazines, a few like me do blogs and some just play around on Facebook. My gun writing mentor, John Barsness, took a different approach. Instead of relying on a magazine or blog advertisers to composite him, and his talented wife Eileen, for their on-line writing, they decided to put together a monthly news letter. They call this news letter. “Rifle Loony News.”
You can subscribe for a measly $ 8.00 per year – quarterly issues – and it will be delivered to you via cyber logic. (Hillbillies call it magic.) John and Eileen have been publishing Rifle Loony News for five years but the cool thing is that you can subscribe tomorrow and for an additional $ 28.95 you can get all of the pervious issues in book format.
What will you read? Stuff bout rifles for sure but you will also find tips and recipes for wild game from Eileen Clarke, who has published enough wild game cookbooks to fill a book shelf. My copy has been by my bed for about three weeks and has made for great hunting season reading. Of course, I’m a Barsness fan because I like to read stuff that has been written by real shooters and real hunters that have the ability to make something as boring as cleaning your rifle read like a Tom Clancy thriller.
Check out John’s and Eileen’s website to order your copy of the last five years of Rifle Loony News and subscribe to the same for the next year.
Common Sense Personal Protection (2nd Place)
Go to “books” at Amazon and type in “personal protection firearms” and see how many hits you get. Now, try to sort through all the reviews to figure out which book is best for you or the person on your shopping list. Good luck. What I can tell you for sure is that lots of the books on the subject lack a very important element and that’s common sense. Some authors want you to do as they do, others want to turn you into a ninja and some just ramble on aimlessly without providing in real world advice. In Firearms for Personal Protection you won’t get any of that. It is a straight forward and reasonable look at the guns and accessories for the common man who just wants to stay safe and keep his loved ones the same without becoming a tactard.
The book is written by Joseph Von Benedikt and he is a regular kind of guy who does not wear tactical pants to the grocery store or think that you have to carry pepper spray, an impact weapon, a knife and two guns everywhere you go. He cuts through all the bullshit and lays it out straight so that the concept and the tools you need to stay safe are clear.
As I expected, the book is selling well. Amazon was out the last time I checked so you might have to shop around. If you know someone who has just recently become interested in protecting themselves with a gun this is a great gift. And, I’ll bet you’ll learn something from it too. I did. Benedikt may not write with the flare of Barsness but his message is just as trustworthy.
A Shameless Plug (If you can’t find anything else.)
I could not offer up some gun book suggestions without including one or two of my own. My latest book, Shooter’s Guide to the AR-15, is in stock here at Empty Cases and signed copies are available for $ 15.00 delivered to your door. Alternatively you can purchase direct from Amazon for $ 12.44. If you buy from Empty Cases, my wife and kids get all the money, if you buy from Amazon we get about a buck, twenty for every book they sell.
If you are an AR guy this book is not for you but if you know someone who is just learning the platform, or who may be inserted in getting a AR, this is the book for them. It starts with some history, explains the proper application and operation and goes so far as to offer some shooting drills that are good training tools for new or seasoned shooters.
And yes, my previous book, Handgun Training for Personal Protection is still available. Empty Cases is and has been sold out but it can still be picked up at Amazon and other retailers, even Walmart. This 4.5 star book might best benefit the shooter who has been around for a while but needs some guidance. In fact, it might be the perfect next book to read after Benedikt’s Firearms for personal Protection. I’ll stop blowing my own horn for a bit and leave a description of the book to Gunsite instructor Il Ling New,
“This book belongs in every shooter’s library. Mann provides a practical, hands-on guide to working with you handgun and the equipment that odes with it. Along the way, common misconceptions are corrected, and often neglected topics are explained. This book will become your go-to reference.”
It is, as they say, the season and books always make great gifts. One of my favorite ways to gift a book, regardless of the season, is to buy, it read it, and then give it to a friend while saying, “This is a great book. I think you will like it.” To me that’s a much better approach than saying, “Let me know if that book is any good. If it is, I might want to borrow it.” Never lend anyone a good book, you’ll never get it back because they will find a friend to give it to while saying, “This is a great book. I think you will like it.”
On this matter, I speak from experience.
