Bill CalfeeThe Art of Rimfire Accuracy

If you are considering having a RFBR rifle built this is a must have book before you start. If you are struggling with your current rifle and not an expert in building them, like most of us, this is a must have book. OK, Calfee is opinionated, he even says so. He's also a very good painter and that's important to understand. The man is an artist, on canvas and in the shop. And he's probably on the eccentric side. Well, maybe not probably. :) Having had the pleasure, albeit frustrating experience, to have managed such folks I can tell you it's not easy. They don't think like the rest of us. To them we are the strange ones. They're on a different playing field. But they are good at what the do so long as you don't interfere.Back to the book. Some complain it's rambling and story telling. Yes it is. But with a little open mind the stories are interesting and if you allow him he is talking about his life, nothing wrong with that. To me it was frustrating at first but soon realized some of the stories had no meaning to the subject of the book but were a good escape from the details he presents, and interesting. I found myself enjoying them and giving me some understanding of a much criticized person. But one can not criticize his gun building abilities and warranty on his rifles, if you don't like it don't pay for it. He does not build rifles anymore so don't ask him.He goes through the entire process he uses to assemble a rimfire match rifle. Yes, from start to finish. Every piece that goes into it. Now for the average person wanting a rifle for competition you will never be able to do this, period. You don't have the tools or in depth knowledge of machining etc to do this work. You have to rely on a gunsmith who does this for this purpose, not you down the block smith.So why read this book? Actually it's very simple. When I was in college in Engineering we had a prof who gave us manufactures pamphlets on designing a conveyor system. We had to design it from selecting the drives, belts, idlers etc etc. When we were done he asked about our designs as we worked in three person teams. We went through the whole sequence. He never checked our designs but told us to put our pamphlets down. He told us now you know what goes into the design of a conveyor belt. You're not experts by any means. He told us to turn over our books and said look at that phone number. You call them to do the design for you. BUT he said, now you know how to check his work and understand what to ask for.This is what this book is to me. When I get another rifle built by any gunsmith I will now know what to ask and have some understanding of if he is doing the best job. Not that all of Calfee's ideas are right, some disagree with him on some of those too, but he lays out a pretty concept of how one of these should work and what to look for. But I am now armed with the right questions and some knowledge of the process. Don't go out and spend $3500+ on one of these rifles without reading this book. If you don't like the stories then skip them. And yes, there are redundancies in the information because these chapters have been published individually in a magazine over several years. Reread them anyway.

I had never heard of Bill Calfee before and I bought this on an e-book.I soon ordered the Hardback with dust cover and it will reside with the best that I treasure. I had read about 20% of it when I decided that I had to have this in print. It is written as if Bill is jotting down his notes, thoughts and findings for you to read at a later date. He vehemently points out his writing limitations and it adds to the story as well as the information revealed. It is definately a must read ...... must have book for anyone interested in firearm accuracy. I have not finished more than 25% of it, but it seems to be more relevant to rimfire than centerfire. He gives a lot of facts about why he thinks the way he does and always points out that he is not an expert. I love this book so far as I have read it. It is not a high production book as Tony Boyer's book with fine paper and color pictures, but it is well worth the price for it's information and whatever else you get from it. I actually want to so badly build a 22LR benchrest rifle using the information I have gotten from this book .... and like I said .... I am only into it about a 1/4 of the way. Some information will be useful for even your off the shelf rifle, but if you want to build your own with a gunsmiths help ...... this is a must have/must read. As Bill Calfee points out the attention to detail is what seperates the top 5% from the other 95%. Disregard any negative feedback as this book is a treasure in it's own category. Well done Bill Calfee ........ and thanks!

I've been following Bill's writings for years through Precision Shooting magazine and the internet forums. Bill really thinks outside the box, which is how you learn new things so often. But even more important, he thoroughly tests his theories, which is so necessary to really find out if something is going to work or not.I've been building and accurizing rifles for over 25 years, and have been slugging and lapping bores myself for many years. So when I saw he was doing the same thing (with a few minor differences) and getting very similar results, I really started to pay attention to what he was doing. I understand very well what he is doing and why with almost everything he does, and I learned a lot from his thinking and testing. Some of what he has come up with I'm thinking "why didn't I think of that".I also really enjoy his reminiscing about his childhood adventures, and his early years learning how to build accurate rifles. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in accuracy rifles, and especially to those who want to learn how to build more accurate rifles themselves!

In this work, Bill Calfee demonstrates and communicates his extensive knowledge of how to extract the utmost accuracy from the .22LR cartridge. His experience spans over 30 years of rimfire sporter and benchrest rifle and pistol manufacture and perfection.Interspersed with the technical wisdom are personal anecdotes of his life. This, in addition to his conversational style, lends a pleasant autobiographical character to what could otherwise be a very dry technical manual...indeed, some other texts in the field are that exactly.The text has received some criticism in the past for its apparent lack of editing, and for the previously mentioned personal anecdotes (opinions being that they detract from the technical aspects of the book). Those looking for perfect Oxford english and sentence structure need not look here for example--but then, Bill doesn't make a claim to use such. It is clear to me that he writes as he speaks, and I found this style to be perfectly lucent.I recommend this for those interested in the topic described on the front cover. You will not likely learn more about rimfire accuracy in any other text...and I've read most of those I know to exist.

If you are an addicted target/precision shooter with .22RF rifles, this book will become your bible, your best friend !!!!. Bill Calfee is a real GENIUS, his book is very interesting from the first to the last page.

Its a long read...tells a story. Kind of a novel, instead of a textbook. which is fine. Self taught gunsmith Who built several Olympic gold metal winning .22 rifles. I am happy to have bought this book. Kind of entertaining.

Great if you want to know how an expert builds great shooting rifles.

I loaned my copy out and miss just picking it up to read , so this is that good ,the man is a genius and artist ,a refreshing read totally original .

Excellent book packed with useful information that is, to my knowledge, not available elsewhere! Information that has been gained 'and proved by extensive experimentation by the author.