ARS Mechanica Book Review - Carbine Content - FN

This post is intended as a book review of "ARS Mechanica - The Ultimate FN Book," by Auguste Francotte, Claude Gaier, and Robert Karlshausen, published in 2008. The 3 photos included in this review are low quality example illustrations used under the limited use rule, and are intended to promote sales of the book to M1 Carbine enthusiasts. The photos in the book are of much higher quality, and deserve to be seen in person. I recommend you buy the book.

I've seen this oversized, coffee-table style book at gun shows, but never really looked through it until I recently purchased a copy at an amazingly low price of $12.00, plus $9.99 shipping from CDNN. The book is still available at that price as I write this. To say this is a great deal is an understatement. Apparently, CDNN is closing out their book inventory. The book is 576 pages long, and I think it weighs around 10 lbs. The print quality is very high.

Here is the CDNN link to the ARS Mechanica book.

https://www.cdnnsports.com/ars-mechanica-fn-536-pg.html

Now, why would an M1 Carbine enthusiast want this book? Besides its excellent coverage of FN products, centering around firearms, but also including FN motorcycles and cars, it has some M1 Carbine coverage. Specifically, it adds some content to the limited coverage of the FN rework of U.S. Carbines in the immediate aftermath of WWII. FN was hired as part of the "redeployment" effort by the War Department, to repair and rework arms that were to be returned to stock in the United States. They repaired, packed, and crated small arms of all types in this program. Essentially, they were an arsenal rework station, but were not allowed to mark the guns as having been reworked, since they were located outside of the U.S..

Larry Ruth provides some coverage of this contract in War Baby II, and the following web link also contains coverage:

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/postwar.html

I don't recall seeing photos with quite this many Carbines before. FN performed stock repair, and disassembled and reworked Carbines as necessary, as was done in other U.S. based arsenal rework locations. FN packed and crated them into units of 10. Chances are, many of us have M1 Carbines that were reworked by FN.

Here are some photos (I am only including 3) that may whet your appetite to acquire the book.





In summary, I think this is a great book if you like FN products, and the price is amazing. It should also be of interest to the Carbine collector community, and that is why I have posted this review.

If you enjoyed this post, and/or ordered the book, please feel free to click the "Thanks" button in the upper right hand corner. BTW, I have no connection to CDNN...They just have an excellent price for the book right now.

Thanks!

David Albert
dalbert@sturmgewehr.com