Reloading manual

[jag22]

Great job on collecting that many manuals. Didn’t know there were that many. I fear I would lose too much time trying to remember where I saw something. In fact, I do that with just four.

 

[mikld]

I've been reloading for a very long time, and know that I don't know everything about reloading, so I keep my manuals and I can refer back to the "front half" when I feel the need (refreshing some process I haven't needed info on for a few years). I cannot commit to memory burn rate charts, alloy data or specific load data/charts found in the "info section" of my manuals.

BTW; while I have a Lee reloading manual it is the last manual I'll look at for any load data. I did enjoy the "front half" as it was very entertaining and informative, but I found the load data to be sketchy and lacking (yes I know they just use data from others' testing). Not a "Lee Hater" just my experience...

 

[scattershot]

Another vote for the Lyman manual. Great cross section of powders and bullets. They even publish a cast bullet handbook, if you want to stick strictly with cast data.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

A real hold in your lap and read it reloading manual is the most important piece of reloading equipment you can have, that is, if you actually read it.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[raljr1]

I have these in several calibers. They list dozens of loads and bullets. now I can't seem to find them for sale.

MidwayUsa LoadMap 9mm.pdf - Google Drive

 

[mikld]

The Midway "LoadMap" looks interesting, but I only found some in pdf downloads. I googled but was sent to the "one book, one caliber" load books. The ones I've seen are just cheap photo copies of reloading manual pages and of unknown age...

 

[rockquarry]

A real hold in your lap and read it reloading manual is the most important piece of reloading equipment you can have, that is, if you actually read it.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Very true, but many today will continue to argue against facts.

 

[Warren Sear]

Lyman also has specific cast manuals of which I think #3 is head and shoulders above #4. Accurate listed cast loads in it's manual #1 but said it had made errors and asked all users to destroy theirs. RCBS had a cast manual they couldn't give away for a while that now sells for big $$$.
In general if you need a place to start with a cast load look in a manual for a bullet with similar bearing surface and a similar speed you want.

I happen to have a copy of the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual #1.
It is my least favorite manual, and I have hardly ever used it. Why would anyone want one of these?

 

[rockquarry]

I happen to have a copy of the RCBS Cast Bullet Manual #1.
It is my least favorite manual, and I have hardly ever used it. Why would anyone want one of these?

I also have the "RCBS #1 and only" and probably bought it when it became available thirty or more years ago. It's thin with limited data and certainly not the best cast bullet book, but I still refer to mine occasionally. For me, it remains another reference source when comparing data or maybe looking for data no one else has.

 

[gwpercle]

I also have the "RCBS #1 and only" and probably bought it when it became available thirty or more years ago. It's thin with limited data and certainly not the best cast bullet book, but I still refer to mine occasionally. For me, it remains another reference source when comparing data or maybe looking for data no one else has.

30 to 40 years ago there was one source of cast bullet data ...Lyman ...that was it , the RCBS manual offered at least some additional data and it had data on bullets cast from RCBS moulds ...Lyman wasn't about to publish any information on the competitions products !
I use RCBS #1 just as much as any other manual . It has loads with some powders that Lyman doesn't give .
Cast bullet shooters had to get info where and when it was published ... it wasn't exactly growing on tress for the taking .
And no internet web site load data centers back then either, it was a printed manual or nothing !
Gary

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have my copies of Lyman #45, #46, #49, & #50, along with Hornady 7-10, several Speer, Lee #2, Berger #1 & Nolser #2, #3, &#4. Every one of them has some piece of knowledge in them that I have found no place else!

Then there are specialty manuals:

Elgin Gates had 3 or 4 for Silhouette shooting (one being "Accuracy for Handgun Shooting")

Hodgdon's hard bound shotgun Manual

SPG's Black powder cartridge manual

Hodgdon's No 24 was their last hard bound for metallic cartridges, and has a ton of info about Pyrodex & Black powder

Any Edition of Cartridges of the world by Franck C. Barns is worth its weight in silver.

And the greatest of all is P. O. Ackley's: "Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders Volume 1" any edition!

Like computers, every manual is obsolete before they were done making it! New powders come out every year (sometime every week) other great powders are discontinued all the time (one man at our club had several hundred pounds of "Red Diamond", discontinued after the first batch in the mid 60's, and he still used it until he died 2 years ago!)

This is why you use the computer web sites and Hodgdon's yearly magazine.

Ivan

 

[rockquarry]

I've had the Ackley handbooks for a long time, #1 and #2 plus the one he did before those. There is much information in these books and they're great to read for those with a real interest in handloading. They contain information unavailable elsewhere.

As for the dated loading data, there is none I would use without comparing with current sources. Little, if any of it was pressure tested, and I've seen more than a few loads I'm pretty sure would be potentially dangerous in some guns.

When wildcatting was popular and few had chronographs, cartridge creators would send Ackley their data which he often included in his books. While interesting to read, much data is of questionable worth and some velocity estimations are greatly inflated.

Regardless of shortcomings, I wouldn't be without the Ackley books. However, those handloaders that don't experiment with a variety of loads or load only to save a dollar (never figured out if that was really possible), wouldn't find the Ackley books very endearing.

 

[carpriver]

All the manual I have list case bullets, I would look at the list of abbreviations at the beginning of the reloading data. that will tell you about bullets and other interesting stuff.