Third Party Press

Sturmgewehr book by Hans-Dieter Handric for sale again

rpf2697

Senior Member
Sturmgewehr! From Firepower to Striking Power, Revised Expanded Edition by: Hans-Dieter Handrail is for sale at CollectorBookstore.com. The book has been re-published and expanded upon apparently. They are asking $139.00 but I saw the first edition selling for more than $500. If you don't have one, you might want to buy one this time.
 
Great book!

Highly recommend.

Mine was new, but, I used it when restoring my MP44 and also as a reference for collecting Kurz cartridges, etc., so the pages are a little frayed and grease marked now - I don't mind, I'm not into selling books.
 
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I sold my first edition and bought the new one. I didn't have the two of them side by side to compare, so I'm a bit curious as to what the differences are.
 
I sold my first edition and bought the new one. I didn't have the two of them side by side to compare, so I'm a bit curious as to what the differences are.


the differences are my book is worth $500 and yours is worth $139
 
What year of printing is considered as "1st Edition"? $500 for a first edition, where and who is paying that. From the info on some of the on-line book sellers (Amazon, Abe Books, Ebay) what ones that were on those sites, used were selling for $125-145.00. Collector Grade in their website states it first came out in 2004, so would that be 1st Edition. If so, mine has a copy write date of 2004, is in 99.5% shape as when I bought it new. Have read through it several times, no dog ears, coffee spills, fly droppings. Good grief, if it's worth $500 and the 2017 edition has more info, I'll sell it and buy a new one. Great book, love that Stg-44 Sturmgewehr.

Bought one of the ATI German made GSG Stg-44 .22 LR versions just a little over five years ago. Fun shooter, no squirrel headshot tack driver, but a fun shooter. Just shooting a replica of the real thing makes liquids run down my leg. Well made, used to get a few jams on the second/third shots of a 25 round magazine once in a while. Polished up the feed ramp took care of that and found that when loading the mag, if I'd load five, then move the follower button up and down a few times, then load five more, followed by moving the follower up and down a few times, repeating that until loaded. Seemed to seat the 22 LR's a little better in the mag, promoting smoother feeding. Would love to see the real McCoy some time, just to handle one. Better yet to be able to fire one. Now that would be something to have dreams and memory's of.

Talked a number of times to a WW2 vet in a community I served as a LEO. He was a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne that dropped into Holland in Operation Market Garden in Sept of 44. He went through the Battle of the Bulge and some time after that he advised his platoon overran a German position. When they took the former German position, the Germans regrouped and tried to take it back. The vet said one of the guys in his squad found a Stg-44 in the former German position beside some dead Germans. He advised there were about 10-12 magazines loaded, so they took turns emptying them, firing back at the Germans with their own ammo. After they ran out of the Stg ammo, they returned to using their M1 Garands. The vet said the guy that found it, kept it and a half dozen of the empty mags, they took turns 'humping it', but with carrying their own rifles and gear it became to much of a burden. He said it was a 'heavy bastard', but "a great smooth shooter". The vet said a couple of Sherman tanks were nearby so they tossed it under the tracks so the 'Krauts' couldn't use it again. He said it's probably still buried in the mud somewhere in Western Germany where they tossed it. The vet said he was glad the "Krauts" didn't have more of the Stg's than they had as it was a formable weapon, not one they like going up against, he stated that a lot of the fire fights he was in would possibly have had a different outcome if the Germans had all been armed with the Stg's rather than the K98k's. One account from a Great American Hero---someone we all owe a debt of thanks to.
 
the differences are my book is worth $500 and yours is worth $139

I think you may be missing a big thing here, and that you may have missed the boat as well. The book was "worth" $500 because there were no other options out there. If you wanted the STG book, you HAD to buy the first edition, because it was the only one out there, and it was a seller's market. No one wanted it "because it's the first edition," they just just wanted the book. Now that there is a second edition with more info, and it can be bought cheaply, it doesn't matter what edition it is. So the first edition doesn't really have any special value now, I would say it has less honestly. I got someone to pay $100 for mine, and I was damned happy to get that for it. If I had to choose between paying $100 for a first, or $140 for a second, I would go that latter route.
 
nirvana; So your saying they "were' at the $500 level until Collector Grade came out with the 2017 edition. How recent is "were"? Can't be to long ago if they're saying new is 2017 edition. Just curious. I knew that they (Collector Grade Publication) weren't printing any more some time back, but haven't or didn't pay any attention to value of ones already printed. Guess I missed the boat too. Think I'll just hang onto the one I have unless I see/hear what the new has over the old and it would be worth the switch. Bought a new "upgraded" version on Colt's one time, only difference between old/new was upgraded serial and production numbers. Still go back and read my copy of 'Sturmgewehr' and learn something new each time, even though having read through it hard to absorb everything at once.
 
$500 would have been 2 or so months back. Like I said, I sold mine on eBay for like $100 recently and was happy to get that for it.


These aren't first editions of fiction books, it's a reference text, you know. When the new one came out, the old one became out date, sort of. It's still a great book of course, but it's not the only one now.
 
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First edition,---- "2004" 600 pages, 392 illustrations
Revised edition, "2017" 720 pages, 514 illustrations

So another questions to ya Rommel (or anyone who may know) if you've been able to determine yet-Is most of the new information on general history or geared to specific areas such as development, distribution, field results, information on surviving rifles. Just curious.
 
Yup, price was high for 1st edition because it was out of print and unavailable.

Now that it's in print you'd be naiive to think it's worth much more than the new edition.
 
I bought this book early in the summer when news just came out about printing. Overall it’s worth having, but am I the only one disappointed in it? Almost no information about specifics of each manufacturer, variations, detailed photo studies of examples etc. Hell, in 700+ pages he only spends 1/2 a page on how to ID who even made a given MP. Also at several points in the 400 pages of rambling I literally stopped to ask myself how what I’m reading is even related to the topic. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the k98 books but....
 
I bought this book early in the summer when news just came out about printing. Overall it’s worth having, but am I the only one disappointed in it? Almost no information about specifics of each manufacturer, variations, detailed photo studies of examples etc. Hell, in 700+ pages he only spends 1/2 a page on how to ID who even made a given MP. Also at several points in the 400 pages of rambling I literally stopped to ask myself how what I’m reading is even related to the topic. Maybe I’m just spoiled by the k98 books but....

It's more of a history book (including a history of how the Germans ended up with the intermediate cartridge) than a book for collectors of StG, but it is required reading in any case.
 

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