I'm looking to find some research on weapons throughout the last sixty+ years up to now. Stuff like how they're made, what they look like, where they were made etc, etc. Anybody know of any decent books?
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Weapons. $30 on Amazon. Didn't take that long to find on Google... Plus Wikipedia will also tell you loads. It just requires a bit more running around than with a dedicated encyclopedia, but searching specific information is much faster and efficient.
The book suggested is good. If you need a quick preview of specific weapons history and/or some starting point for an online research, there is a website specialized in guns: worldguns. It's a russian website (it's in English though), very detailed and with a good amount of professional information. It's a sort of Wikipedia for every single weapon from WWII to now: take a look, maybe it can help you even if the timeframe is shorter than the 60 years you need. Cheers, Arbalest
Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson 3rd edition Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms 1st edition and 2nd edition. U.S Infantry Weapons of the first world war U.S. Infantry weapons of the second world war
Twentieth-Century Small Arms by Chris McNab. Check out your local library, there might be loads of books on the subject. Then, of course, search the webz.