Looking for old reloading handbooks

gun shows are a good place to find them, i saw may this weekend i wish i had the money to buy them all lol.

There is nothing for that cartridge in my Ideal #30 (1931) or Belding and Mulls from '34 and '41.

eBay

Phil Sharpes book may have that.

Sharpe's Handloaders Guide probably doesn't have loads either and if it does it will be for a powder that is no longer available.I'll check the book when I get home.There aren't many powders still available that were used in the older manuals.

The powders you will find in those old manuals from before 1938 will be obsolete all but a precious few. And the ones that aren't obsolete, by name only, have been reformulated over the years.
The only powder that I know of that hasn't been reformulated is the second version of Bullseye pistol powder that came out after the turn of the last century according to The History of Laflin and Rand.

If you find reloading information, it won't do you any good because that powder in that recipe won't be available any more in it's original form.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?250809-Loading-the-Vetterli-10-4-x-47r

You may have already read this thread from cast bullets but I put it out here in case you haven't seen it. Are you looking for Black powder or smokeless powder loads?

I have a lot of Italian friends (in Italy), I will inquire if they can find any info on the reloading recipes of a 10.4x47R Italian Vetterli. This may take a while.

"Cartridges of World" may have something in one of the older editions. They have some limited loading data for various cartridges. That is where I found some starting data for 6.5x54 Kurz Mauser that had been discontinued by the ammunition companies a long time ago.

Try here, never used their services but they look like a good source.

http://www.cornellpubs.com/old-guns/historic-ideal.php

I would also suggest writing Hodgdon and other powder suppliers and ask them for that data. Sometimes they have the data for older obscure cartridges but don't post it or include it in their books to save space. Try Lyman too.

Here is another thread on castboolits.com

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?355957-10-4x47R-Italian-Vetterl

In the 12th edition of Cartridges if the World, It has one listing of a 250gr lead bullet, Lyman #429251 with 42gr of IMR4198. I would definately start low and by very cautious in any load. It was a black powder loading originally. Be careful and cautious. It would be prudent to slug the barrel in that the bore diameter seemed to vary.

6th edition of cartridges of the world
10.4x47R
313 gr bullet - 62 gr Fg for 1345 mv
250 gr bullet - 27 gr 4198 for 1300 mv
313 gr bullet - factory load at 1345 mv

Hummer70, I am in Hawaii this week and next. When I get back I will check in with my dad. He collects old reloading manuals and has a good support. Doesn't mean that he has what your wanted, but we will see what we can find. Let me know.

schnarrgj said:

In the 12th edition of Cartridges if the World, It has one listing of a 250gr lead bullet, Lyman #429251 with 42gr of IMR4198. I would definately start low and by very cautious in any load. It was a black powder loading originally. Be careful and cautious. It would be prudent to slug the barrel in that the bore diameter seemed to vary.

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Also the military load was a 313gn bullet ,, 62gns of BP FG,,,, Also speeding along at 1345 fps.

If you can find them, P.O. Ackley's two volume set, "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders" has a wealth of information on older cartridges.

Hummer70 said:

Specifically I am looking for loads for a 10.4X47R Italian Vetterli. From what I have found out so far it was last loaded by Winchester about 1938 with a jacketed bullet with Ballistite Propellant and that is as far as I can find out.

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You know there are a few powders still around from 1938, but semi smokeless, which might have been used, is not. I recommend using AA5744 for those old, big cased, black powder cartridges, and, as for powder data, I am of the opinion that you can make some correlations between 45/70 cartridges, AA5744 data, to come up with loads that won't blow up your rifle. I develop loads over a chronograph, and if the velocities are too fast, or too slow, I adjust the charge. That is what i would do with the Vetterli. I would have low confidence in any reloading data from 1938.

I don't have any experience with that cartridge, but Trail Boss powder would seem like a good option if you aren't interested in using black powder.

Does quickload include it maybe someone has that?

Hummer70; I looked in my copy of Phil Sharpe's book, the 2nd Edition. Not listed.
Not listed for loading in P. O. Ackley's Handbook of 1959.
I did find it - as others have - in "Cartridges of the World" (15th Edition). List 62 grains of Black Fg with 313 (unspecified) bullet as the military load. Also shows the 250 grain Lead (unspecified) with 27 grains of IMR 4198 powder. Nothing new.

Loads for a trapdoor Springfield could give you a safe starting point for working up loads

Archie said:

Hummer70; I looked in my copy of Phil Sharpe's book, the 2nd Edition. Not listed.
Not listed for loading in P. O. Ackley's Handbook of 1959.
I did find it - as others have - in "Cartridges of the World" (15th Edition). List 62 grains of Black Fg with 313 (unspecified) bullet as the military load. Also shows the 250 grain Lead (unspecified) with 27 grains of IMR 4198 powder. Nothing new.

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I looked in my Sharpe's Handloading, no data. This was not exactly a popular cartridge in the United States.

Ken T said:

Sharpe's Handloaders Guide probably doesn't have loads either and if it does it will be for a powder that is no longer available.I'll check the book when I get home.There aren't many powders still available that were used in the older manuals.

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No, it doesn't, I checked my copy.

I have used AA 5744 with my Vetterli* loads. I still have all 10 fingers and both eyes!

In addition to finding the right powder, one of the big challenges is finding a bullet that is long enough to feed from the magazine. If you load something that is too short, you'll get portions of two rounds on the lifter at the same time, and it will tie up the gun (not hard to clear, but will happen every single shot).

*ETA: Mine is a Swiss Vetterli, not Italian.