James D. "Jim" Brown, a native of Davidson, North Carolina, was born in 1949 and has been a shooter and collector of military weapons for most of his life. He volunteered for the draft in 1968 and served with the Fourth Infantry Division in Vietnam, attaining the rank of sergeant and earning the Bronze Star, Air Medal, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and Combat Infantryman's Badge. He utilized the GI Bill to earn a BS degree with honors from North Carolina State University in 1974, followed by two years of graduate study. In 1978 he joined the US Forest Service, working as a forester on five national forests and as a specialist in the Southern Regional Office in Atlanta, Georgia, until retiring in 2008. He developed skills as a writer-editor through years of data analysis and reporting and has contributed numerous articles to firearms-collecting periodicals. In 2003 he coauthored Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns, 1893-1945 with the late Harry L. Derby III, followed by the Collector's Guide to Imperial Japanese Handguns, 1893-1945 in 2007.

In 2009 he published Cold War Pistols of Czechoslovakia and has continued the study of Czech arms through today. Jim Resides in Buford, Georgia, with Sue, his wife of 49 years.