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An event of the utmost importance in the field of firearms investigation'is how Julian S. Hatcher, Technical Editor of The American Rifleman, greets the publication of this monumental work. Here in two volumes is assembled the greatest mass of authoritative information on weapons investigation and identification ever brought together in one place. PART I consists of a comprehensive discussion of the principles involved and the laboratory procedures used in the identification of guns from fired bullets and fired cartridges, including descriptions of methods of rifling, instrumentation (both conventional and the newer instruments devised by the author), firearms photography, methods of restoration of serial numbers, and a chapter on'Pitfalls for the Unwary.'PART II is a very extensive research report, which gives the results of measurements of rifling characteristics of over 2300 guns originating in 23 countries, a task that took twenty years. PART III is devoted to'Miscellaneous Notes on Automatic Pistols,'including much previously unpublished information. PARTS IV and V contain nearly 3000 photographs of handguns representing arms made in 23 countries and numerous makes and models, many of them uncommon. PART VI consists of trademarks and other identification marks photographed from the guns examined. Very few have ever been published before. In addition, eight appendices give other tabulations of data, techniques, lists, including photographs of firing pin impressions and a translation of the most important part of a German article on class characteristics of shell markings, by Mezger, Hees, and Hasslacher. This storehouse of dependable and authoritative information is indispensable to police departments, firearms investigators, crime detection laboratories, lawyers, gun dealers and collectors, museums, and libraries. Fred R. Rymer of the Texas Department of Public Safety has summed up the book as'the result of exhaustive research, and excellent presentation, but of greatest importance, a non-prejudicial and scientific appraisal of the use of this material.'