The Complete Encyclopedia of Pistols and Revolvers
A. E. Hartink grew up with firearms; both his father and his grandfather were in the Royal Dutch Navy.  In his youth, he graduated from his first Diana air rifle to a small bore carbine, and then to large caliber handguns.  During his military service, he was a sergeant weapons instructor.  He later joined the Dutch state police, where he soon became a detective, extending his already vast knowledge of firearms.  Following the reorganization of Dutch police forces in 1994, Hartink became a specialist firearms detective with a regional police force, and since 1995 he has worked for a regional firearms department, where his main activities are related to the control of legal and prevention of illegal firearms.  In addition to being a regular contributor to various publications, he has written extensively on weapons of every kind under a variety of pen names (as well as his own), and has translated books about weapons, ammunition, and the reloading of cartridges.