I recently purchased a copy of Craig Boddington's updated Safari Rifles II.

I am not especially impressed by some aspects of it.

I know Col. Boddington is an AR member and sometimes posts on the African Hunting forum; if he sees this thread, I hope he won't be offended, as the material in his sequel is excellent. I don't have a problem with that at all--it's a plethora of great information.

What I don't especially like is the format and organization.

First--and certainly not of any great importance--the physical condition of the book puts me off. His first reference book on safari rifles was printed in the U.S. on the kind of paper most conventional books were printed on for years. Safari Rifles II is printed in China on slick, heavy paper, and has that "foreign" smell to it. Those of you who have bought some of the trophy room books know what I mean.

Boddington's earlier work had photgraphs, mostly black and white, collected in several sections, rather than scattered throught the book as is the case in the revised version. The new book's photos are mostly in color--a nice touch, but they may take up a quarter or half a page, and I found this distracting when trying to concentrate on the text.

Finally, it's more difficult to thumb through this book and zero in on a specific caliber. The caliber chapters are cataloged nicely, but unlike the earlier work, there are no sub-headings in boldface, so it's necessary to scan closely in the appropriate chapter if you want to read a discussion of, say, the .458.

Again, the information is wonderful, and up-to-date as of 2007, so it's a first-rate reference--I just wish the format and layout of the original had been followed in the most recent version.

Nitro: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I haven't bought the second version yet, but constantly refer to Boddington's first. Sorry to hear it isn't as user friendly.

It sounds like you are unhappy about having to read the entire book from cover to cover first in order to reference things.

I have both, and found the updated version very worthwhile, even though I had the original for several years. The 416 data alone is worth the price, IMHO.

A great companion piece is Gregor Wood's "Rifles For Africa."

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
It sounds like you are unhappy about having to read the entire book from cover to cover first in order to reference things.

I have both, and found the updated version very worthwhile, even though I had the original for several years. The 416 data alone is worth the price, IMHO.

A great companion piece is Gregor Wood's "Rifles For Africa."

Rich

+1 on Woods book. Wish Safari Press would come out w/ version 2!!

agreed...