Editor's Note: As of June 18th,
2007, all the Collector's Editions have been sold. Paco
estimates all the Standard Editions will sell out within a week.
You'd better hurry if you want to get your copy!
Boge Quinn
I first met Frank "Paco" Kelly
a few years ago in person, but he was one of whom I had read his
writings for several years prior to that. Mr. Kelly, as I
called him back then, is one of those characters who, while not
being an especially large person, is bigger than life. He has
squeezed more into his life up to this point than most of us
could experience in several lifetimes. Among other things, he
has been a game control officer in Africa, an agent for the DEA
back in its early years, a Virginia State police officer, and
served on the famous New York Stakeout Squad; he is a gun
writer, a bullet caster, an avid handloader, a machinist,
toolmaker, security guard, family man, preacher, inventor, and
has an insatiable appetite for experimenting. He is a hunter, a
Shootist, a patriot, and a friend. I now call him Paco.
Readers of Gunblast will know him as one of our guest
writers, who contributes a wealth of knowledge into any
project which he undertakes. This latest book of his is sure to
be popular with anyone who has even a little interest in
shooting and hunting. It is filled with first hand practical
experience from the many years that Paco has been shooting
rifles and handguns.
As mentioned earlier, Paco is an experimenter.
He doesn’t accept the "rules" that state that a
levergun is inaccurate, or that the .30-30 should be limited to
100 yards, or that a handgun is good for close-range only, or
that a .22 magnum is a pipsqueak cartridge. Tell Paco that
something can’t be done, and he will do it. Most likely, he
already has, and has written the results down somewhere.
In much of what I do with guns, I turn to
Paco’s work for tips and ideas to make the results better for
me and my readers. When working up loads for the .25-35 WCF
cartridge a few years ago, I researched every loading manual
available, with little information to be found. Then, I
remembered Paco. I dug out an old book of his, and found most
everything that I needed on the subject. Paco has worked with
just about every levergun and handgun cartridge known, and this
new book of his is a compilation of his wealth of knowledge and
experience using handguns and rifles over several decades and in
many countries around the world.
Without giving away too much of the contents, he
covers topics such as handloading, bullet casting, bullet lubes,
shooting, hunting, trapping, stalking, and a wealth of his
inventiveness in solving common shooting and accuracy problems.
The book contains many charts and pictures to
illustrate his thoughts. Many pictures are current, but many are
also old pictures from Paco’s youth. I apologize for the lack
of detail of the pictures in this review, but I was taking
pictures of pictures, and quality is lost when doing so. While
much valuable technical data is within the pages of the book, it
reads more like a story, with anecdotes and hunt details
spattered with his favorite handloads and recommendations of
factory ammunition. There is much practical information about
wildlife, hunting, shooting, and life in general. The book is
284 pages chock full of useful information. It is a very
entertaining book, and I highly recommend it to everyone.
To order Paco’s "Rifles and Handguns,
an American Freedom", send cash, check, or money order
to:
PACO KELLY
P.O.BOX 1170
CORTARO, AZ 85652
The first 100 books are a hard bound
Collector’s Edition, numbered and signed. It sells for $52.50
including postage in the US. After these are gone, the standard
edition will sell for $43.50 shipped to anywhere in the US.
Jeff Quinn
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