Bruce N. Canfield's Complete Guide to United States Military Combat Shotguns

This book is full of amazing anecdotes of shotgun use from primary sources as well as technical specs, distribution, and even the web gear issued with them.

I have the author's previous volume on this subject and decided to buy the new edition - This is fantastic!!!The book is an excellent description of the history of the combat shotgun in U.S. Military Service. It is very well presented and detailed but flows in a very coherent way (Though you do have to do a bit of back and forth in the book to keep designations of the weapons straight). The book contains a lot of detail for the shotgun collector. I am not one, but if you ARE ONE this book is essential. The book really stands out in the photographic coverage (a prior reviewer complained about lack of color, I do not feel this is a fault). The book contains many CLEAR black and white pictures of the weapons themselves and accessories and a large number of 'combat shots' of the weapons 'in action.' If you are someone with an interest in U.S. firearms history or if you collect (and admire) combat shotguns, this book will be a welcome addition for you. I have a number of MR. Canfield's books and enjoy them, this is one more.

Great resource!

HAD LOTS OF INFOR. NOT SURE ABOUT MFG. DATES. OTHER DATES I HAVE FOUND IN OTHER BOOKS DIFFER, A GOOD BOOK TO BUY FOR INFO IN IT.

Heard from a YouTube channel this was a great reference book for any collector who is looking to buy an authentic trench gun. I recently purchased a WW2 model 1897 trench gun at an auction. The book is very detailed on what to look for to make sure the gun is authentic. I used the book to check all the markings on the shotgun and was able to confirm it was 100% authentic! Highly recommended book!!!!!

Perhaps the previous commentor reviewed a different book? I found this work to be a thorough, comprehensive, and very well organized presentation, contra all the above reviewer's comments. I successfully reference it constantly as a collector, expectantly more so than Canfield's previous work. This is a collector's guide, not an operator's or field manual. Colour? Well, the book is about US military combat shotguns, mostly black and grey with some shades of brown? The picture portrayals were clear, accurate, sufficiently coloured when so depicted, all perfectly suited to a "complete guide." Excellent coverage of related accoutrements, as well. An outstanding resource for a collector (perhaps not suited for Kiwi coffee table display interests, however).

I've had Canfield's original edition for years. This one is leaps and bounds over that one, and is a Must Have for those that collect, or are just interested in, US military shotguns.The update is worth it.

This book is an excellent overview of past and current-inventory military-issue shotguns, with copious notes on serial-number ranges, issuance and accoutrements, etc.It should be noted that this is more of a reference-book than a collector's book: Canfield goes into some of the details of the rarer and more collectable shotguns, but avoids the minutiae of more exhaustive "collectors" books like Poyer's "U.S. Winchester Trench and Riot Guns..."

Everything you need to know about US military shotguns.

Covers the whole range of shotguns used throughout the history of us military conflict well illustrated with time line photos covering ammo types as well a very good guide well worth 5 star rating