1861 Muskets book

[johnnyo55]

Following the old dictum "Buy a gun, buy a book", to accompany my new Colt 1861 I'm looking at the volume written by James Whisker, et. al. on the various 1861 musket variations. There seem to be two editions; the first is available for less than half the price of the second. Is the second edition that clearly a better reference to make it worth the extra $$?

 

[johan_steele]

The second addition is the superior in that it corrects some of the glaring errors in the 1st that came w/ a poor editing job. Overall I was disappointed with the book. The Rifle Musket by Claude Fuller & American Military Shoulder Arms by Moller are by far the superior books and I would suggest the second because it is easier to get a hold of and brings more recent scholarship to the subject than Fuller's excellent, though dated work.