Book tells the readers about machine guns, automatic rifles, handguns and revolvers, including both the official weapon models in service in the Russian Army in 1914-1917 and weapons not officially approved as weapons in service but nevertheless used by the troops such as obsolete Russian and non-Russian arms both supplied by the allies or captured from the enemies. A special highlight of this book is the part describing the experimental automatic weapons, without which the reader would hardly get the big picture of the state of the Russian defense engineering developments in the early 20th century.

For each model described in the book, there is a brief history of how it was designed and started to be used as an approved army weapon, also with the description of the key modifications made to it throughout the period of its manufacturing for further use as in-service weapon. The book contains a detailed and meticulous description of the field use, strengths and weaknesses of the weapon seen through the eyes of the soldiers. It is the first book written by a Russian weapons history researcher providing a detailed description of machine gun system parts such as mounts, carriers and pack equipment. This book also contains unique information on flare guns and special accessories.

Book contains detailed color photos of the guns preserved in different Russian museums.