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You can view the page at https://www.milsurps.com/content.php...an-S.-Hatcher)
A friend of mine bought an original hardcover at a swap meet, got me hooked. GREAT book.
I got a new, revised edition, all there plus updates, from Amazon, about $30
Here is the link if anyone wants a paper copy:
Amazon.com: Hatchers Notebook, Revised Edition (Classic Gun Books Series) (9780811703505): Julian S. Hatcher, Ned Schwing: Books
I have a 3rd printing copy dated 1967, it is, as described, fascinating reading. Everyone on this forum would likely find something there that grabbed their interest. All failures on 1903 Springield's that the author could find
were documented, it's full of photos of him trying out various machine guns and rifles. I found it fascinating how poorly we were prepared in terms of machine guns for WWI. There was still so much skeptical thinking
on behalf of the powers that be in the military regarding their value that we were sadly out-gunned at that point. French machine guns were a disaster, the Pancho Villa raid across the mexican boarder in 1916 makes for great
reading as we used the Benet-Mercie guns against him.. get a copy and read it. It's jammed full of stories that only someone there could tell. It may be the most important work relating to many of the guns we collect and
maintain in existence. Thanks for pointing it out Badger.
I acquired reprints of both "Hatcher's Notebook" and "Hatcher's Book of the Garand" which I was first aware of from library copies. Both of these books are very interesting first person accounts with illustrations, and I recommend the "Notebook" to anyone interested in firearms and ballistics. For those interested in the M-1 rifle Hatcher wrote his personal experiencs and observations (unlike the current herd of C&R writers), and is very interesting reading.
I have a Hatcher's Notebook, great read !..................