Good reloading manual for 308 Winchester

I have 2 manuals, but find a lot of data at several sites like nosler. Hodgens and shooters reference.. I compare data between sources and use safe loads. Manuals are a great source of information other than load data. I have a Lyman 49th edition and a Speer manual from the early 90's, I don't use data from yhis ancient relic but will often compare old data to new.

If all you need is data: Buy the Loadbooks USA One Book/One Caliber “book” for 308win. It’s a compilation of data from several bullet and powder manufacturers, all copied (sometimes relatively crudely) into one spiral bound booklet.



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Any of them. They all, for some strange reason, have plenty of data. After all, it is one of the most popular cartridges in use.

Download the ramshot manual for free off Google. Nosslers manual data is free for download. Barnes also has free caliber downloads. Hogden also has free data. If you want a paperback I recommend a lyman.

Varminterror said:

If all you need is data: Buy the Loadbooks USA One Book/One Caliber “book” for 308win. It’s a compilation of data from several bullet and powder manufacturers, all copied (sometimes relatively crudely) into one spiral bound booklet.

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I bought this book. Somewhat useful but full of older data taken from various sources you can find out yourself. It's cheap, but nothing current within at least a decade.

algaeguy said:

I bought this book. Somewhat useful but full of older data taken from various sources you can find out yourself. It's cheap, but nothing current within at least a decade.

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I have not found that to be the case for all those books. I have one for every caliber I load for and some of them have Hornady 10th edition data

The one I bought from Cabelas 2 years ago had a copyright date of 2004. It was 6.99 so I bought it anyways, as I like multiple references, and it was cheap. Well, free actually with cabelas points. And I scanned into a pdf for easy reference.

Speer also offers all their current data online for free. I have a nice collection of manuals dating from Speer No. 10 up through Nosler No. 9 with lots of various options in between. I really like the Sierra No. 6 and while Hornady is a decent manual, it seems like they tend to be somewhat on the conservative side on charge weights compared to others.

Is there something wrong with ...
https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
?

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Lee has a manual that has data from different sources. It's about the size of a dictionary. It has 12 pages of .308 loads. I have a stack of manuals that go back to the 70's, You usually have to check several to find your powder and bullet combination. For cast bullets you can't beat the Lyman Cast bullet manual.

MEHavey said:

Is there something wrong with ...
https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
?

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I just tried it, worked for me.

frogfurr said:

I have some Sierra bullets but not sure how much 308 load data the Sierra manual has in it.

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Given the .308 bullet is likely in the top 5 most popular bullet evarrrr, I'll bet the Sierra manual has a fair amount of data.

If you really want a book (and I do... I prefer reading books over internet screens...) you can always look at other sources for used books on the cheap... eBay, Half Price Books (if you have one) or other used book retailers. There is also a tremendous amount of data available online, both from reputable sources (bullet or powder manufacturers...) and hoary internet data (that can have some value, although I would compare it to what printed data I have. Just because you read it on the internet doesn't mean it's true...)

Reloading Data Center | Hodgdon (hodgdonreloading.com)

Nosler Load Data

Alliant Powder - Reloader's Guide

Load Data « Ramshot

Load Data - Barnes Bullets

I have hardback books but haven't used them in years. Lots of online data that is free and updated.

Generally all the 308 data you need is varget, imr4064, RL15 and h4895.
Any manual should have those.
There are other great options as well.

I like the Sierra manual. Has many pages on 308. They list their most accurate loads and my guns usually agree. Also has a page of history on each caliber. Also has many pages on reloading tips.

Lyman manuals have a lot of load data for a variety of bullet brands. Sounds like Lee may also, I've never see the Lee manual. Manuals by bullet makers often have only their brand of bullets. The Hodgdon site is great as they have so many powder lines and provide data for a variety of bullet brands and you can select which bullet weights and powders you want displayed. As has been posted, many are available online, but I'm one of those that likes hardcopy, so I have many books, which I've scanned and printed the pages I want and put them all in a 3-ring binder for easier, more focused use. When I access online data, I print it and add that to the binder.