Kevin Dockery has been working with the printed word most of his adult life, having written or collaborated on 39 books, numerous magazine articles, and having appeared on The History Channel, Discovery Channel, and the Military Channel in a number of shows. These television appearances include: The PBS Ground War Series; Discovery’s Somali Pirate Takedown: The Real Story; and Weaponology (2nd Season) appearing in multiple episodes.
The balance of Kevin’s work has been hands on with weapons, first as a custom gunsmith, in the U.S. Military. He served in Company A (The President’s Guard) of the Third Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) where his duty was to maintain a very wide variety of modern and antique military weapons, including 77 Brown Bess flintlock muskets. The latter weapon resulted in him being the last armorer in the U.S. Army qualified to knap flints after training at the Smithsonian Institution and Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
Kevin Dockery’s further military career included time as a Designated Marksman in the President’s Guard, a Mechanized Infantryman, squad leader on an 81mm Mortar, and Platoon Sergeant in an Infantry Company. He spent time during the first Gulf War as a support contractor on the Fox chemical/biological/nuclear scout vehicle.
Since that time, Kevin Dockery has written several reference books on small arms as well as worked professionally as a custom gunsmith for a number of years. His specialty as a gunsmith was the production of customized pistols with particular expertise in the Smith and Wesson revolver lines and the M1911A1 as well as rebarreling and rebuilding military-style weapons including the AR-15, M-14, AR-10, M1903A3 rifles as well as performing work on a wide range of law enforcement weapons. His gunsmithing skills have allowed him to help maintain several museum collections of small arms throughout the country and he has developed a wide range of contacts with manufacturers and private collection owners. He has become a noted military historian specializing in Naval Special Warfare (the SEAL Teams) and military ordnance. He is the only writer who holds a patent on a new round of 40mm ammunition. He has also written a number of popular magazine articles.
Written Weapon works include:
The M60 Machine Gun, Osprey Publishing; Future Weapons, Penguin Putnam; Stalkers and Shooters; A history of Sniping, Penguin Putnam; Weaponsof the Navy SEALs, Penguin Putnam; Special Warfare – Special Weapons, Volume One, Emperor’s Press; Compendium of Modern Firearms. R, Talsorian Games, Inc.; The Armory, Volume One, Firebird Ltd.,
