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Book Review: America's Rifle by Christopher Bartocci



A few months back I read America's Rifle written by Christopher Bartocci. Christopher spent a little time in the Army. He has worked for Lasermax. He then received a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. He has been a Forensic Firearms and Toolmark Examiner for the Wisconsin Department of Justice State Crime Lab. Christopher has worked with Colt Defense as a Technical Specialist. Christopher has also consulted for LMT. He has worked for Otis Technology. Now, Christopher has his own company, Small Arms Solutions which educates and trains civilians and law enforcement in many weapons and ammunition. America's Rifle was just published at the end of 2022 and is an updated version of Black Rifle II which was published in 2004.


This book covers the history of the M16 to the M16A4 and the development of the M4 and M4A1. He covers the history of the ACR Program and the Colt ACR. The Colt Submachine Gun history is also covered. He then leads into the history of the SPR and other special configurations. He talks about the Mini Assault Rifle System (MARS Program). It was a new cartridge in 5.56x30 to outperform the 9mm and 5.7x28 with effective range out to 300 yards instead of 150 yards with the other two calibers. This then leads into his discussion of the 6.8 SPC cartridge. He covers the history of the AR-10 and SR-25 extensively. The name SR-25 came from Stoner Rifle. Eugene Stoner was the creator of the AR-10. The 25 came from adding the number 10 to 15 from AR-15. Christopher even covered the history of the Canadian Diemaco Rifles.


The book is just under 400 pages and has lots of pictures and they are in large enough scale to follow along with what Christopher is trying to describe to the reader. There was a lot of new information and Programs that I read about in his book that I was not aware of. Even the stuff I was aware of I learned more detail and it was great to see pictures of the actual components and rifles that he was covering. I think that this will be a great reference to refer about specifics as I have questions about the M16 and M4 weapons family and ammunition for them. This book was definitely worth the read. Hard copies can be found on his website at Smallarmssolutions.com and electronic copies can be read on Amazon.com.


Have a great and safe weekend!

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