Book Review: Setting the Standard 

By Dean Roxby

The Vickers Guide team has managed to outdo themselves. Several months ago I had the pleasure of reviewing two titles from the Vickers Guide series (SAR, Vol. 23, No. 7). Back then I wrote that the two titles (WWII Germany, Volume 1, and Kalashnikov, Volume 1) were truly beautiful books, with more than enough technical insight to set them apart from the usual “coffee table book” fluff. 

Now that I have read both of the recently released follow-up books in the series, I can state that authors Larry Vickers and James Rupley, along with several guest authors, have set the standard even higher. The Vickers Guide team travelled to many countries, museums and private collections to study and photograph many unique firearms. These include pristine-condition examples of otherwise common guns or elaborately engraved presentation pistols, as well as extremely rare prototype guns. 

WWII Germany, Volume 2 

Vickers Guide: WWII Germany, Volume 2 

• Larry Vickers, James Rupley, and many guest authors 
• ISBN: 978-0-9965032-5-9 
• Copyright: 2019 
• Pages: 376 pages 
• Size: 13”x11” (approx.) 
• Publisher: Mott Lake Publishing 
• Nashville, TN 37215 
• Available on vickersguide.com 

The WWII Germany book begins with displays of several finely engraved presentation pistols, mostly Walther PP and PPK pistols. Also featured is a very ornate Luger P08. It is one of only six such pistols known worldwide. It would have been presented by Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, to Luftwaffe pilot aces. 

The section on semiauto battle rifles studies the progression towards self-loading rifles. The G41(M), the G41(W) and the G43 are shown and discussed. (The “G” prefix stands for “Gewehr,” German for “rifle” or “gun,” while the suffix in parentheses stands for the factory; Mauser and Walther in these examples.) Guest author Ian McCollum wrote a short piece on the change of name from G43 to K43, for Karabiner. McCollum and Maxim Popenker co-wrote an article on the Soviet SVT-38 and SVT-40 rifles and how they influenced German design. 

The Select-Fire Service Rifles portion features the FG42 paratrooper rifle (both early and late varieties), as well as the progression of the Sturmgewehr concept. Beginning with the Maschinenkarabiner MKb 42(H) by Haenel and the MKb 42(W) by Walther, and moving through the MP43/1, MP43, MP43 and finally the StG44, the Sturmgewehr (“storm rifle,” or assault rifle) is well covered. As with the other books in this series, James Rupley’s stunningly beautiful photography draws the viewer right into the page with overall photos from both sides, and often a 3/4 diagonal view as well, giving a complete view. A series of close-up detail shots are included. 

Guest author R.D.I. Weigt wrote articles on StG44 accessories and magazines. Larry Vickers offers a personal assessment of the StG44, based on his firing experience (heavy and quite controllable; probably due to the weight). The section ends with guest author Michael Heidler looking at the StG45(H) from Haenel. Never heard of the StG45(H)? That is not surprising, as only the one prototype is known to exist. It was captured when U.S. troops captured the Haenel factory. 

The Machine Guns section deals mainly with the MG34 and MG42 guns, but also looks at the MG15, MG81 and the Czech-designed ZB-26 and ZB-53 guns. Michael Heidler wrote an article on the MG30 titled, “MG34 Ancestor.” This study of the lineage of the MG-34 is quite interesting. Ian McCollum wrote about the General Purpose MG concept pioneered by the MG34, while Reidar Daae wrote several short articles on MG34/42 accessories. It is interesting to note that McCollum finds the MG34 pleasant to fire from the tripod, while Vickers considers the bipod somewhat flawed. 

The chapter titled, “Last Ditch Weapons” deals with the Volkssturm (“People’s Storm”) weapons program. Besides the crude looking rifles built at World War II’s end, there are improvised hand grenades made from glass and even cast from concrete! Also shown is the MP3008 submachine gun, a near copy of the British STEN gun. As crudely made as the STEN was, the MP3008 was far worse! I found it quite ironic that Rupley’s photography showed off every file gouge, hammer dent and pig-ugly, snot-weld with maximum clarity. 

The Appendix contains some real gems, including a pristine, unissued K98k with ZF-41 optics, a one-off experimental folding stock for the G33/40 (a shortened K98 variant) and a late-War mash-up of MP38 and MP40 parts, etc. Michael Heidler provided two more ar

ticles on the M.SS.41 and the Granat Busche 39 anti-tank rifles, as did R.D.I. Weigt on rifle grenades and the unique curved-barrel Krummlauf attachment for the StG44 rifle. The book finishes with an article on German cartridges by Jack Dutschke. 

Kalashnikov, Volume 2 

Vickers Guide: Kalashnikov, Volume 2 

• Larry Vickers, James Rupley, and many guest authors 
• ISBN: 978-0-9965032-6-6 
• Copyright: 2019 
• Pages: 352 pages 
• Size: 13”x11” (approx.) 
• Publisher: Mott Lake Publishing 
• Nashville, TN 37215 
• Available on vickersguide.com 

Volume 1 of the Kalashnikov books dealt with 7.62×39 caliber guns. Volume 2 covers AK-74 variants in the more recent 5.45×39 caliber, as well as some variants in 5.56 NATO. 

Beginning with the A-3 pre-production prototype, which eventually became the AK-74, the book studies the many variants of the basic design. Options include wood or polymer stocks and handguards, side folding or under folding stocks, short barrels, GP-25 or GP-30 grenade launchers mounted below the rifle barrel, and so on. 

Following that, the book then looks at the “100 Series” designs that arrived around the turn of the century. The AK-101 and AK-102 are chambered in 5.56 NATO, while the AK-105 is in 5.45 Soviet. The AK-107 and AK-108 rifles incorporate the intriguing Balanced Recoil System, in which a counterweight moves in the opposite direction of the bolt carrier group, to cancel out some of the felt recoil. Several pages worth of photos attempt to explain the inner workings of this system. If I have one minor complaint about this book, it would be the lack of a diagram to show the operation. 

The most modern AK is the AK-12. It has been chosen as the new Russian service rifle, and the first deliveries began in late 2018. The Vickers Guide team was given access to several versions of the prototype and trials guns. It is most interesting to compare the photos and note the changes over the years. At some point, the classic stamped-steel selector switch was done away with and replaced with an ambidextrous polymer switch. The fire control markings were replaced with HK-style pictographs also. Oddly enough, the final version of the AK- 12 has reverted back to the “classic” look. 

Following USSR/Russia section, other countries that produce small caliber AK system rifles are profiled. This includes: Bulgaria, Burma (now called Myanmar), China, Czech Republic, DDR (East Germany), Finland, Hungary, Israel (the Galil series), Poland, Romania, South Africa (the R4, R5, R6 series and the Vektor CR-21 bullpup). 

The book ends with an impressively large collection of magazines and an article on 5.45x39mm ammunition. The magazines are representative of numerous countries, materials, sizes, styles, etc. The ammo article is written by Maxim Popenker, N.R. Jenzen-Jones and Jack Dutschke. 

Three Versions of Each Title 

Each title is available in three different versions or editions, these being the Standard, Signature and Limited Editions. The Signature Edition is hand-signed by Larry Vickers. The Limited Edition of each title is also hand-signed by Vickers, along with a personal handwritten message of your choosing. This numbered series is limited to 250 books. 

Great news! The website vickersguide.com states that the AR-15 Volume 1 will be re-released soon. All three versions are currently sold out, so this is welcome news. I have no inside info about any future titles, but I suspect there may be more yet.