What’s the story on the Speer Reloading Manual #14?... UPDATE

Kelly Green · Feb 15, 2013

My most recent Speer Reloading Manual is the #12 and I would like to update to the #14. I don’t want to spend a lot of money and Midway, Cabela’s and others sell them for around $27.00 to $33.00 but they are out of stock. Cheaper Than Dirt has a note on their page saying they cannot be backordered. Others state that they are no longer available. This seems to be the pattern wherever I look.

I checked ebay and they have one listed that sells in 2 days with 5 bidders, the highest bid is currently $71.00.

I also checked Amazon and found they had two used at a price of $228.79 each.

I know that this is a crazy market right now but I didn’t realize it had affected the printed material too.

Update: Monday February 18, 2013

I spoke over the phone with Speer customer service this morning. The #14 manual is currently being reprinted and will ship sometime in April. There is no plan to release a #15 at this time.

Rule3 · Feb 15, 2013

That is weird. Probably one of the most popular manuals out there.

If you need any data just let me know.

Calaveras Slim · Feb 15, 2013

Truth be told, I don't really see too much difference between #13 and #14. Try and get 13 and if you need info from 14, let me know.

rwsmith · Feb 15, 2013

Two months ago

Two months ago before tshtf I was in my LGS looking at the shelf full of all types of reloading manuals and noted that I really needed to update my old Speer manual. When I went back later to pick one up everything was gone. Fortunately for me there was a guy standing off to one side that was trying to glean material from a #14. I asked him if he intended to buy it and he said 'No' so I took it. It was a little rough around the edges but I was glad to get it.

Kelly Green · Feb 15, 2013

Rule3 and Calaveras Slim

My most recent Speer manual is the #12. I’m looking for current load data for Speer shot shell capsules.

.44 Special
#11 lead shot
Hodgdon Universal or AA#5
CCI primers

Won’t be long before the snakes are out again. Last year we had a big water moccasin problem on the creek and I used all the factory shells I had. This year I bought the empty Speer capsules and plan to load my own.

Thanks for your help guys.

riverrat38 · Feb 15, 2013

I think there has been a run on reloading manuals out of fear that they will be banned, or limited to one per reloader. Background check, of course!
Actually, I got one today at Cabela's for my 70th birthday, compliments of my daughter. It was about $32. It is heavier than my old #12. Some new data for short barrel loads. Also, has plus P data for some lead .38 Special, something that was missing from #12.

Best,
Rick

Jim Tom · Feb 15, 2013

My guess is there are no backorders for the #14 manual because it is out of print and they are about to release a #15 Spear manual. With all the new powders being released, it seems like new editions are being released at a faster pace.

Just my opinion!

Rule3 · Feb 15, 2013

Kelly Green said:
My most recent Speer manual is the #12. I’m looking for current load data for Speer shot shell capsules.

.44 Special
#11 lead shot
Hodgdon Universal or AA#5
CCI primers

Won’t be long before the snakes are out again. Last year we had a big water moccasin problem on the creek and I used all the factory shells I had. This year I bought the empty Speer capsules and plan to load my own.

Thanks for your help guys.

Remind me tomorrow, it's late and I have go dig it out

rwsmith · Feb 16, 2013

No data

Kelly Green said:
My most recent Speer manual is the #12. I’m looking for current load data for Speer shot shell capsules.

.44 Special
#11 lead shot
Hodgdon Universal or AA#5
CCI primers

Won’t be long before the snakes are out again. Last year we had a big water moccasin problem on the creek and I used all the factory shells I had. This year I bought the empty Speer capsules and plan to load my own.

Thanks for your help guys.

There is no data for either of these powders in the .44 Special shotshell loads

A complaint I have about #14 is the scanty number of recipes. They have:

HP-38 5.8 grains

231 6.3 grains

HS-6 8.2 grains

700-X 5.3 grains

Unique 6.7 grains

rwsmith · Feb 16, 2013

In my LGS

Jim Tom said:
My guess is there are no backorders for the #14 manual because it is out of print and they are about to release a #15 Spear manual. With all the new powders being released, it seems like new editions are being released at a faster pace.

Just my opinion!

In my LGS ALL of the manuals - Barnes, Hornady, Sierra etc were all GONE. I lucked up and they had one Speer #14 that was in kind of rough shape. I had gone in undecided on Sierra or Speer and that made up my mind for me real quick.

fredj338 · Feb 16, 2013

old manuals are great if you load old powder & calibers. I like to get new manuals often. They update powders & add calibers. The Speer #14 is the one I always recommend.

k53 · Feb 16, 2013

rwsmith said:
There is no data for either of these powders in the .44 Special shotshell loads A complaint I have about #14 is the scanty number of recipes. They have:

HP-38 5.8 grains

231 6.3 grains

HS-6 8.2 grains

700-X 5.3 grains

Unique 6.7 grains

5 grains apart for HP38 and 231???

blujax01 · Feb 16, 2013

I just went to Amazon.com and put "Reloading Manual" in their search engine.

Holy Moley! Quite a few of the old stand-bys being offered for $100 and up.

I guess there is a sucker born every minute!

If anyone is looking for a particular manual, PM me and I'll make a trip to my LGS to see what can be done. As far as I know, they're selling for the same price as always but availability may be an adventure.
And who doesn't love a good adventure?

blujax01 · Feb 16, 2013

k53 said:
5 grains apart for HP38 and 231???

Verified his statement as true. Page 940. Weird, huh - especially since it's the same powder!

358156hp · Feb 16, 2013

rwsmith said:
In my LGS ALL of the manuals - Barnes, Hornady, Sierra etc were all GONE.

Does this mean that some of these guys who always ask for loading data on the boards are finally buying manuals?

A good thing!

Price scalping...
A bad thing!

k53 · Feb 16, 2013

blujax01 said:
Verified his statement as true. Page 940. Weird, huh - especially since it's the same powder!

Ya strange. I've seen some list a 10th or so different... never that much

SMSgt · Feb 16, 2013

Most likely it's out of print, and unless there was a huge demand it will not be reprinted. I'm surprised though that is hasn't been made available for download for some of these newfangled electronic gagets.

bgrafsr · Feb 16, 2013

k53 said:
5 grains apart for HP38 and 231???

That's not a 5 grain difference, it's a 5/10ths of a grain difference.

Kelly Green · Feb 16, 2013

Thanks rwsmith

rwsmith said:
There is no data for either of these powders in the .44 Special shotshell loads A complaint I have about #14 is the scanty number of recipes. They have:

HP-38 5.8 grains

231 6.3 grains

HS-6 8.2 grains

700-X 5.3 grains

Unique 6.7 grains

Unique and Universal are about the same on the burn rate chart and I find that I can use them interchangeably at less than max load.

I used Unique at one time but switched to Universal because I found it burns cleaner in my handguns.

k53 · Feb 16, 2013

bgrafsr said:
That's not a 5 grain difference, it's a 5/10ths of a grain difference.

My bad. Yes that it correct. I was still asleep

Still strange to see

What’s the story on the Speer Reloading Manual #14?... UPDATE

Member

Member

US Veteran

Member

Member

US Veteran

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

US Veteran

Member

Member

Similar threads