Thanks everyone. The information is very helpful. I do understand and appreciate that investment in books will save money in the long run. Before being bitten by the Winchester Lever bug,  I spent most of my adult life collecting and studying Japanese Arms and Armor from the 13th century to early 19th century. The market for Japanese Armor and Arms is flooded with fakes and composite sets, pulled together to fool the unsuspected buyer. Without a treasure of trusted reading material, one could spend, and I know one collector who has, hundreds of thousands of dollars on fakes and cobbled together rubbish.

This was the basis for my request, I picked up some books to research my 1876, and found it to be lacking/missing data in some aspects, and wrong in others. While all books will contain some errors, having a wider library enables one to search across multiple sources to corroborate or find the error. However, knowing who these authors are that are more trusted than others can be shown from what other collectors read and trust.

Lastly, no books can take the place of actually handling hundreds of these rifles and learning this way. I have yet to experience this, so must rely on reading and photos to help fill the gap.

I appreciate the willingness you all exhibit to include the new folks. Makes learning a lot more fun.

Justin