Here's a gun question:

[DonP]

128. If you're ever interested in the internecine squabbling on the issue

There's a great book "American Rifle" by Alexander Rose that documents the internal squabbles on rifles from the War of 1812 right up to the adoption of the M4 and what's next.

32 pages of footnotes, it covers things like the ongoing reluctance to adopt any "newfangled" technology like breech loading or repeaters. Also gets into the practical impact of rifles, like Buford's Cavalry at Gettysburg using repeaters made the Confederates think they were a much larger force and that tipped Lee into stopping to fight, instead of going on to the Harrisburg Armory and Washington DC. Also the huge advantage of the M1 Garand in WWII against all bolt action rifles.

Interesting story about Lincoln test firing the new Spencer and Henry repeaters on the Capitol Mall and how he had to fire the head of Army ordnance for refusing to follow his orders to get the repeaters into the field

It's a history book that's actually interesting reading.