I had read more than one incredible reviews about this book so I grabbed a copy to see for myself. Excellent texts, detailing every aspect of the cartridges and hundreds of drawings and photos. A perfect book for the gun nut, reloader, or for a reference reader. You won't be disappointed !

This book goes into such great depths when it comes to rifle, shotgun, and handgun cartridges. It contains virtually all of the information one would need to select a new caliber for purchase. It is a great place to start as it contains detailed ballistics and loading data for just about every cartridge ever made. This is the second edition of this book that I have now purchased. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Probably the most quoted source for cartridges, but has a great deal of obsolete and inaccurate information. To begin, the cover claims a "complete and illustrated reference for over 1,500 cartridges", yet there are barely over 900 and several of these have no illustrations. Statements like "turn of the century" refer to 1900 - not 2000. "Recent 6mm cartridges" refers to those developed in the mid 1950s - not the ones from the past 15 years. Much of the loading data is from the 60s and 70s. There are a number of factual flaws that continue to appear with each new edition and nothing seems to be done to correct them. For example one Russian military cartridge designation is 7.62x54R - not 7.62x53R (7.62x53R is the designation used for Finland cartridges with smaller diameter bullets). The 340 Weatherby brass is not soft and it would be a stupid idea to substitute 8mm Remington brass (does it even make sense that 340 brass from Norma would be soft when none of the other cartridge brass they produce for Weatherby is?). There is also a statement on the 243 Winchester that provides no value; "...reputation for erratic performance" (the actual issue is that reduced charges of slow burning power can produce high pressure.) A table of dimensions replaces cartridge diagrams that were in previous versions. Unfortunately they don't include critical dimensions like base to shoulder length or shoulder angle. Both the 11th and 12th editions prominently display Hornady on the front and back cover and identify some of Hornady's achievements like light magnums and LeverRevolution cartridges that greatly extend the capabilities of lever action cartridges. Yet they completely neglect to include this information with the actual cartridges. While a small part of the older content has been updated, most has not. It appears all that is done is they add a new special interest chapter of about 25 pages that replaces the one in the previous edition, add new cartridges when they go into production and call it complete.

VERY INFORMATIVE, WELL WRITTEN, SECTIONING AND GROUPING OF CARTRIDGE CLASSIFIATIONS WAS WELL DONE. THE ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH THIS PUBLICATION WAS THE FACT THAT NOT ALL THE CARTRIDGES LISTED IN A CHAPTER WERE MENTIONED IN THE DIMENSIONAL DATA SECTION AT THE END OF EACH CHAPETER. THIS BOOK HOLDS HOURS OF ENTERTAINING AND INFORMATIVE READING. I HAVE BEEN A SHOOTER FROM THE AGE OF SIX WHEN I WENT ON MY FIRST PHESANT HUNT WITH MY UNCLE. I STARTED RELOADING MY OWN AMMO AT THE AGE OF TWELVE. I AM 60 PLUS NOW AND I HAD NO IDEA THAT THERE WERE SO MANY DIFFERENT CARTRIDGES IN THE WORLD. I READ MANY ARTICLES AND MAGAZINES ON GUNS AND AMMO. I MADE A QUICK REFERANCE TO SOME OF THE MAGAZINES DEALING WITH OLDER ARMS AND AMMO. I COULD NOT FIND ANY ONE THAT WAS NOT COVERED IN COTW. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PUBLICATION TO ANY SERIOUS AMMUNITION RELOADER.

Frank Barnes's 6th edition of this book had photos of guns that used specific cartridges. Although this edition says it has photos of guns, it really contains none. Typographical errors are on almost every page. Some cartridges listings contain the wrong photo. For example, the 38-40 on page 77 has the same photo as the 378 Weatherby on page 76. Any time the .30 180 Scirocco bullet is mentioned, 3250 fps is listed as the muzzle velocity, no matter how ridiculous, like the Remington Short Action Ultra Mag on page 54. Layne Simpson is named as the editor and a poor job of editing it is, Mr. Simpson. You know, you trust people and then they sell this trash.

Don't get me wrong, this is a tremendous work and belongs in the book collection of any big bore rifle or double rifle enthusiast... any gun enthusiast or reloader for that matter.

A few incarnations ago this book was "IT". Since then the editing and information have become less accurate and that tends to lessen the quality of the book overall. That said, it is evolving and doing it's best to keep up with the very fast rate of change that we see in the world of firearms and ammunition these days.

I found inspiration and valuable information in the pages of this book (all editions) when writing my own book, rexGun by Templar Rexgun, which addresses safari and dangerous game rifles and how to select appropriate cartridges for any given game, up to T. rex.

I highly recommend this book (every edition of this book) to all shooters and gun enthusiasts.

If you have any questions about bullets this is a good book to add to your collection.

Updated and timely....I use this reference often in firearms business to help customers decide on purchases for specific hunting and target applications....it's the best !!!!

The book appears to provide an exhaustive listing of all available cartridges. This alone is very useful. Various detailed comments which show a great breadth and depth of related knowledge are extremely valuable, and would be hard to find anywhere else (for example, the commercial history of each cartridge, related products, and so on).

However, my personal preference would have been to omit some of the obscure or obsolete calibers in exchange for a little more data on the others. Of particular value to me in evaluating cartridges for a potential firearms purchase, even limited ballistics data (velocity and/or drop and/or wind drift at standard ranges) on some or preferably all of the loads listed, would have been very helpful.

EXCELLENT BOOK (AS ALWAYS). UP TO DATE IN ALL SUBJECTS. THERE SHOULD BE TWO IN THE HOUSE: ONE IN THE LIBRARY AND THE OTHER IN THE BATHROOM.

I gave away my 11th Edition of Cartridges of the World a few months ago, and was eager to get a 12th Edition. When it came, I was disappointed to discover that they'd discontinued the scaled drawings at the bottom of the page on the more popular cartridges.
One of the first cartridges I wanted to look up was the 8x60 mm Mauser, so I went to the index and found that it was listed on page 422. It didn't take long to discover that the copy that had been sent to me didn't have a page 422. It didn't have a page 423 either.
Without the drawings, there is no way to determine the length of the cartridges from rim to shoulder, and some of the newer cartridges do not have dimensions at all, the 400 H&H, for instance, and the 9.3x66 mm Sako.
I'm strongly motivated to get another copy of the 11th Edition before they become collector's items.