Deane's Manual of ... Fire-Arms, London 1858

[cannonmn]

Here's a book with some good textual info about firearms and artillery development.

However once again, Google has p____d me off by failing to open the plates of the book when they digitized it.  You'd think one of the world's richest companies could get it right, but no, this is the way they butcher find old volumes when they do their work.  Why even bother if you aren't gonna do the whole job?  On books like this, the plates are one of the most important parts of the item for people coming along 150 years later.

If anyone has any contacts at Google, please let them know they have p____d off the cannonman, who is having fantasies about lobbing some large shells close by to remind them to pay more attention to their business.

http://books.google.com/books?id=0lIBAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=quickmatch+artillery&source=web&ots=0_mdnKGAMS&sig=gSgc2kxScVqThkwyPvCeJLxedBk#PPP5,M1

[MikeR C]

cannonmn, Try this on for size, I really hope you don't already have it. They are presenting the information to laymen. Has info on a 36" mortar built of hoops, just the thing for seacoastartillary to make. Cool looking Russian iron carriages. Plates seem to be intact and are towards the end of the document. I'd sell my grand mother to have all the documents they brought back with them...

http://books.google.com/books?id=rt48AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA122&dq=carriage&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA3,M1

Thx
MikeR C

[cannonmn]

Thanks Mike, I'm familiar with that book but it seems like I don't have a hard copy, thanks for the link to it.  I always wanted one but the price of an original was always about $50 more than I wanted to pay.  If it had only been on artillery it wouldn't have been as costly, but all the small arms info in it makes it popular with some antique gun collectors.

Google has f___d that one up too unfortunately, there are a lot of large plates after the last text page, pp. 232, which are folded.  Google hasn't bothered to unfold and digitize them, just as with the other books I'm complaining about.  Like I said, if anyone knows how to get hold of the Googlers, tell 'em I'm not happy about their butchering the books they put online.  The big problem is that now Google has put them online, no one else will ever digitize them, leaving us forever with Google's sloppy products.