Volcanic Firearms: Predecessor to the Winchester Rifle by Edmund E. Lewis, Stephen W. Rutter

Table of Contents Finally! An Easy-to-Understand Collector's Guide to Volcanics! Widely regarded as "The Gun that Won the West," Winchester repeating rifles occupy a special place in the hearts of the American public... not to mention audiences of Hollywood "Western" movies worldwide. But without the lesser-known Volcanic Repeating Arms Co., none of that would ever have happened. This book tells us the story of five men who would become giants in the history of arms manufacturing (Hunt, Jennings, Smith, Wesson, Henry and Winchester) and illustrates the best surviving examples of the pistols and longarms that were produced when their creative and business talents briefly intersected, commingles and then separated. Without risk of exaggeration, what you hold in your hands is a veritable explosion of brilliant color photography, showing some of the most beautiful guns ever made. However, more than a coffee-table book, it is an indispensable guide to the identification, authentication, categorization and historical legacy of these intriguing weapons and their accoutrements. Nothing like it has ever appeared before, and we are confident that the publication of this book will change Volcanic collecting forever. Until now, even prestigious dealers and auction houses were often confused by the seemingly senseless tangle of variations, models, frame sizes, company names, markings and features that are all part and parcel of the complex Volcanic story. The time to end this confusion is now!