Battle of the Books

[eastman]

My copy of "Know Your Czechoslovakian Pistols" arrived yesterday. It is a smaller format book, and at only 96 pages, I read through it this afternoon while cooking a pot roast for dinner.

So how does the R. J. Berger book stack up against the more common "Cold War Pistols of Czechoslovakia" by James Brown?

In my opinion, the books are very complimentary. KYCP is primarily discussing the pistols of the WWII-era and previous.

Yes there is mention of the vz 50/70, vz 52, CZ 75 and vz 82/CZ 83, but in total, those pistols account for less than 10% of the book. The CZ 75 gets a page and a half. The vz 82/CZ 83 gets less than half a page.

The book does cover the earlier military pistols (vz 22 and vz 24) and a number of smaller producers in Czechoslovakia at the early days of independence from Austro-Hungary (e.g. the Little Tom, Skoda, Mars, etc). The vz 27 has probably the longest chapter in the book. The book describes many of the variations and has decent (for the time it was published) B&W photos to show features of the pistols. There is a good explanation of the proof marks and other types of markings common to different eras.

CWPoC is a bigger hardcover book. It has a lot more pictures and the photo quality is much better. It starts with the 6.35mm pistols (Duo, 45, Z) and works its way through the 50/70, 52, 75/85, 82/83 and a variety of single shot and target pistols. The level of detail is higher in CWPoC. But its scope leaves out everything before the Soviet occupation.

KYCP is an expensive book. I've been looking for a copy for about a year, and usually only see it priced ridiculously high ($300+). Thanks to a link posted here, I bought a copy for $44. That is a lot of money for a little book. It was published at $12.95. In comparison, the same author wrote a similar format book about the C96 "Broomhandle" Mauser pistol, and I bought one for $18 (incl shipping) off eBay.

CWPoC is readily available. If someone was only going to buy one, they would be better off with CWPoC unless a new edition of KYCP is released. I would love the author/publisher of KYCP to produce an eBook (PDF for example) with the photos at a higher quality.

I'm glad I own both now and can stop searching.   

Anyone else want to comment on the books?

[rdcinhou]

I have both books and agree that they are complimentary to each other.

I don't remember paying a lot for the Berger book, but when I went looking for it I do recall that some people online were asking for way too much.

Several threads on the forum have revealed  serial numbers outside the ranges reported in CWPoC, so do not take them as gospel truth.

[david s]

Books?    Troglodyte!   Have not read either of yours but I still like books. Still buy the latest and greatest reloading manuals. But your age is showing.

[motorcyclist]

So... how did the pot roast turn out?

[Tyerone]

So... how did the pot roast turn out?

Slow reader = well done
Speed reader = raw
hopefully somewhere in betwen!

[eastman]

So... how did the pot roast turn out?

Absolutely delicious

I started with a good piece of chuck roast (not too much fat, but enough to keep things juicy), lightly floured the outside (black pepper and a little salt in the flour) and browned the sides and edges in a little olive oil. Added the meat to the covered roasting pan. Remaining flour went into the frying pan with the oil, a couple cloves of chopped garlic and a sliced onion. Cooked that for a bit and stirred in a cup of dry red wine (Cab/Zinfandel/Merlot blend). Added the wine and herbs to the meat, added more black pepper and a light touch of a "Bavarian" seasoning blend from Penzey's. Baked at 325F for a little under 2 hours, then added quartered potatoes, baby carrots and another onion (and a splash more wine). Gave it another 2 hours to cook.

And when that was done, took my CZ 455 Varmint apart and adjusted the trigger to the lowest weight (based on the retaining detentes). Dropped it from about 3.5 to 2.25 lbs and feels a lot crisper. Good conversion to know -->  3 N-m = 26.5 in-lbs (for the stock screws).

[motorcyclist]

Next time with 3 or 4 whole garlic cloves, use a small knife poke deep cuts into the roast, then push the garlic clove in with a finger. Really adds to the flavor!

[eastman]

Next time with 3 or 4 whole garlic cloves, use a small knife poke deep cuts into the roast, then push the garlic clove in with a finger. Really adds to the flavor!

I've done roasts in the past where I quartered the garlic cloves and stuck the pieces into pockets cut in the meat. I'll give it a try next pot roast.

And I also need to cook another pork pot roast with onions, peppers (bell, habanero and maybe a few serranos), tomatillos and lime juice.

[bang bang]

wow,

someone actually still reads.

i got my books for reference so i rarely read all of the pages in them.