I was given the book for Christmas and am finding it very entertaining. It is written by a talented historian and story teller named Alexander Rose. It traces the development of the rifle and also how it affected the modern manufacturing. I am not finished yet but it goes all the way through the development of today's latest military rifles. Excellent reading if you enjoy firearms and history!

I've now finished the book and realized I forgot to mention one of the more important aspects of the history. The author did a great job describing how military battle doctrine was changed by the weapons of the time and vice versa. The basic conflict through time was between volume of fire and accuracy. American policy was unique with it's bent toward accuracy.