I am pleased with the book with one major exception. The book's promotional material here on Amazon shows large color pictures. Copy these for your viewing pleasure because that is all you are going to see. The book in a smaller format and everything is printed in black & white. The diagrams of the pistols parts, text in the pictures, etc are too small to see and be useful. The textural information however is VERY good. This is the only book I have found on the subject but it's presentation could be improved upon.

Well-written, lots of information about caplocks during their brief but important period of use. I was not disappointed in the reason for purchase which was the honest reviews of modern replicas. The only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars are the pictures and awful Old English font used. A 19th century one would have been better. Maybe in the 2nd edition they will make some changes.

This is a fun little book, obviously a labor of love by the authors. The coverage of performance is not all-inclusive, but the historical information is interesting and you can infer the authors' preferences for certain brands of reproductions. They missed the Rogers & Spencer revolver, though there aren't many of them around. I like the R&S grip and it's a solid design, so too bad they didn't cover it. The book does cover the Colts and the Remington New Army pretty thoroughly, along with a few others that were of less interest to me. It steered me away from the Walker and Dragoon Colts and convinced me I had to have an 1851 Navy Colt, though I bought a .44-cal version that's compatible with my other cap-and-ball revolvers. The authors didn't test the .44-cal, only the more-common .36-cal.

What this book needs more than anything else is copy editing. There are many consistent misspellings, which detract from the pleasure of reading it. That's why I gave it only 4 stars. Perhaps the authors can find a friendly local English teacher to clean up the manuscript before the next edition.

Nice little book, full of information about various types of handguns. I liked the opinion bits about various gun makers, the load charts for each gun, nice amount of information (including history)- even for a novice to the sport. I like the range test details and comparisons to modern weapons too.
At least one reviewer mentioned the poor photographs, I don't remember the technical term but they're printed newspaper style (too hard to look at) and would be helped if they were larger. The old English script(why use that?)on these pictures is very hard to read at this scale, in one instance it's impossible. Fortunately the real information is in each chapter instead of the pictures.
My biggest complaint is that while various gunmakers/ dealers/ parts suppliers are mentioned you don't get an address or website for any of them. Many of the readers of this book will already have these bits but they should be provided for the novice as well.

I had purchased this book to help provide information about shooting cap and ball revolvers but had the additional pleasure of finding excellent information on care, cleaning, tuning and background as well. While it does not cover all available reproduced models it is very informative, helpful and humorous about the models it does cover. The only negative I have is that the captioned photos are in very small print and difficult to read. I intend to buy a second copy for my reference library and use my 1st copy as a range and bench reference. I hope that Bates and Cumpston continue with another book covering other cap and ball pistols not covered in this work. A very useful book for Remington and Colt cap and ball shooters.

This is a great book, from a historical reading standpoint. It puts the technological progression of the percussion handgun in historical context.

I thoroughly enjoyed the practical information on how to use the various antique versions and modern replicas of these old guns. I also appreciated the candid assesment of build quality, parts availability and customer service from the various importers and manufacturers of replica black powder percussion guns.

My only suggestion is that the book be larger, with more pages, with lots of color and black & white photos, with more history, more gunsmithing how-to's, more custom black powder revolver modifications, more gun leather, and more field testing and hunting tales. The only regret I had on finishing this book was that there is not yet a sequel.

Buy this book, but be warned -

. . . upon reading this book you will find yourself awaiting shipment of an 1851 Colt Navy black powder revolver, along with a small box of shooting supplies. (make sure you try real black powder!)

I count this as one of my better acquisitions in the field of 19th Century firearms books. There is an awful lot of good, hard to find information packed within, including details on maintenance (including assembly/disassembly procedures), general use and loading instructions, specific load results with different powders, and observations on the quality of various reproductions. As the authors state early on in the book, they pull no punches when giving their honest assessment of the quality of the various reproductions out there.

One also finds valuable suggestions on improving the reliability of various reproductions, such as gunsmithing tips for the pocket percussion revolvers to prevent cap fragments from binding up the cylinder. Very useful stuff.

I also love the colour graphic on the cover - it immediately attracted my notice when I was skimming through the myriad "recommendations" on Amazon.

I do have some suggestions for improvement for a 2nd edition, in the highly unlikely event the authors ever read this droll review and actually want to go for a 2nd edition...:

1. There are a number of minor, but noticeable typographical and administrative type errors in the book, such as using "heals" instead of "heels." Basically needs a sharp-eyed editor to go through and insure proper word usage.

2. While the black and white illustrations are generally adequate, they are a bit grainy (owing to the resolution and also, I think, the paper used) and are often too small. Indeed, some are actually quite tiny. This is usually not a serious problem, but in some cases when they are used to illustrate an important detail (such as the LeMat pictures on pp 144-145 and some detailed mechanism shots on pp 92-94) it is hard to make out what is being shown. In such cases it is a bit of a problem.

I would suggest, then, that a 2nd edition of this fine work at least have larger and sharper black and white photos. Further, if possible, select illustrations should be done as sharp, full colour plates. One that comes to mind is the photo of an original Colt Walker at the beginning of chapter 12. I would have loved to see a full-colour, full-page plate of this wonderful firearm. Surely 6-12 colour plates, perhaps focusing on original firearms such as the aforementioned Walker, bound into the centre of the book should not be too great a challenge? At the least the cover illustration could be sharpened up a bit (it is great, of course, but could be a bit better).

3. If possible, an appendix that goes into more detail of the various reproductions and their manufacturers, with discussion as to reliability, attention to detail, overall quality, etc.

4. Also of great use would be an appendix that gave contact information for and brief descriptions of companies that make accessories, such as replacement springs, etc., for percussion revolvers. A further help would be a similar list of gunsmiths who specialize in repairs, tuning, etc. for these magnificent firearms.

5. Something that may or may be of interest to the authors (and, thus, may or may not be within the scope of this book) are certain experimental percussion revolvers. For example, one company (Big Iron Barrels) can bore out Dragoons and similar revolvers up to .58 (!!!!) calibre (reducing capacity to five shots). Such conversions are unhistorical, but interesting nonetheless. If the authors were interested in this, an appendix discussing it might be in order.

6. On a purely trivial note, it might be of interest to use 19th Century fonts (such as Baskerville Old Face) and formatting conventions on both the text and cover to give the book a more Victorian Era appearance. Not important, but it would seem to fit well with the subject matter of the book (and I did like the font used with the captions).

I hope the foregoing does not give a negative impression of this treatise. If you are a percussion revolver enthusiast I think you will find this book very useful, and really ought to procure a copy for your collection.