While Mike the Musicologist and I were on our way to the hotel for NRAAM, we stopped by Collectors Firearms in Houston.
Collectors has a section of books for sale. Books aren’t a big part of their business, but they have some. And the section had a “20% off” on everything sign.
This was on the shelf.
The Custom Revolver. Bowen, Hamilton S. Bowen Classic Arms Corporation, Louisville, 2001.
I have a copy of this, and have read it, but in a Kindle edition. The original hardcover is long out of print.
I think this is a wonderful book. Mr. Bowen starts out with a detailed analysis of the famous Keith #5 and goes forward from there, covering things like “Basic mechanical detailing”, “Cylinders & Cylinder Conversions”, finishing, grips, and pretty much every aspect that goes into building a custom revolver, based on his extensive experience building custom revolvers at Bowen Classic Arms.
(Fact that I think is fun, and I’m probably the only one: Mr. Bowen mentions at one point that you can take a spare .22 LR cylinder from a S&W Model 53 Jet, and bore it out to .218 Bee.)
After reading Mr. Bowen’s book, I wanted to send a gun off to BCA for work. But I needed both a gun that was worth it, and the money to do it. Those things came together in mid-June of last year, and I emailed BCA to get the process started…
…only to be informed, politely, that Mr. Bowen retired effective June 1st, and they were no longer accepting custom work.
They were very kind about it. I even got a personal email from Mr. Bowen himself, thanking me and stating that he plans to work on some book projects, including an updated edition of The Custom Revolver. (BCA is still in business, but just sells parts.)
I’d call this “almost fine”. There’s one tiny little white spot on the top front cover, but you have to squint to see it. Other than those, the book is in fine shape.
Collectors had a $65 price tag on this. I confirmed with them that this was correct, and that the 20% off discount applied. So I got this for $52, plus tax.
The cheapest copy currently on ABEBooks is $274.95 in “good” condition, and it goes up from there.
I’m telling you, books in gun shops, especially gun shops that have been around for a while, are your best bet for the gun book collector.