Best Metallic Cartridge Manual

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Speers and Hornady. I seem to recall that the Speers manual came with RCBS Rockchucker complete kit I purchased.
I have the most current speer manual and I like the front matter just fine. They do advocate neck sizing a lot which I'm not really one for that.
 
Hard copy I've picked up Speer 9-11 & 13-15, Hornady 10, Lee 2.0, Accurate Arms #2, Sierra , and various smaller pamphlets from assorted manufacturers and years.

Digital all the matter available in those 3 Marvin Stuart directories, Accurate Arms # 2 (2000) and the 2002 & 2003 supplements, Shooters World 2020, Lovex 2019, ADI 2016, Cartridges of the World 14th, Ammunition Making by G. Frost, Norma 2006, Western 2020, and various pamphlets, downloads from vendor sites for a specific bullet & cartridge (examples - Speer online data among others), magazine special feature articles across assorted years, plus earlier versions of various manuals.
 
I have the following as it alleviates the confusion between data from a powder manufacturer and a bullet manufacturer. I use the manual for the specific bullet I am using at the moment. The manuals will already have done the research and the powders used for their bullets and its design.

Sierra
Hornady
Barnes
Nosler
Lyman Cast bullet handbook
Lyman Reloading handbook
Handloaders Digest
Hodgdon Annual Reloading Manual
 
Lots of excellent advice on modern reloading manuals.

I would add that I never reload a cartridge without referring to Ken Waters Pet Loads, a column that he wrote for Handloader magazine for decades, and a compendium of which is available from Wolfe Publishing.

And while not offering useful current data, Phil Sharpe's Complete Guide to Handloading is a most excellent read.

https://archive.org/details/Complete_Guide_to_Handloading_Sharpe_1937/mode/1up
 
I have Lyman, Hornady, Speer, and Lee.

Lyman has been the manual I reach for first for many years. Always good to have several titles, just make sure one of them is a Lyman.
 
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If you lean toward a specific brand of bullet, I would get that brand manual. (Hornady, Speer, Sierra, Nosler). Because you will get loads for those specific bullets in different calibers and weights.
I use Sierra, Hornady and Nosler bullets for different game and calibers (handguns and rifles), so those are the manuals I rely on. They have loads for the bullets I use.
More than one manual is a good practice.
 
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