Peter M. Eick
Member
I sprung for the 20 DVD set of Handloader disks so I figured I would post a quick review. They are not cheap, about $400 to subscribers and $600 to non-subscribers. If you subscribe you get the disks and a free one year renewal as part of the package.
The basic package is 20 DVD's. Each one is basically "full" and has a lot of detail in it. They scanned ever page of every issue of the magazine back to 1966 and up to 2005. The actual data files are Adobe PDF's and cover the whole magazine including the advertisements.
They give you a searchable listing file for the complete set of disks or you can search each disk or even each issue/year. Searching is very very easy to do. I followed the enclosed instructions and copied all of the disks to my hard drive (53.5 gigs by the way). I then did a select and copied and put all of the PDF's in one directory along with the index file for searching. Now you can open up the index file and type any topic in and see where it was mentioned.
For example: One of my favorite topics is the 38/44 round (or the 38/44 Super Police as it is sometimes called). Searching on 38/44 give me 178 hits in 33 documents. Impressive to see some of the older comments and thoughts on the round.
General observations. I guess I was surprised at how much more "technical" the magazine was 20 to 40 years ago. If you just scan the 1960's/70's issues, and just page through them on the screen, you see a lot more formulas, graphs, and measurements then the current issues. I have not read enough of the older issues to say they were "better" or "worse". I do see that there is a lot more information to be gleaned from the magazine then just "pet loads" which is sort of what I was after.
I was also interested to read about the history. It is interesting to read about say the 25-06 in the pre-standardized days. Or reading up about the 788 Remington rifle when it first came out. Also it is interesting to look back at just the bullets that were offered. The Speer handgun line does not have many Hollowpoints back in the late 60's and 70's (which is what I remember as a kid). I also found it fascinating how the loads have changed over time. Go and look up in say Pet loads, or the loading bench what was recommended then verses says 2005 and it is quite and eye opener!
All in all I would rate this as a very good buy for a dedicated handloader. I know I will enjoy reading my issues as I get a chance, but in the mean time, the searches are GREAT!
The basic package is 20 DVD's. Each one is basically "full" and has a lot of detail in it. They scanned ever page of every issue of the magazine back to 1966 and up to 2005. The actual data files are Adobe PDF's and cover the whole magazine including the advertisements.
They give you a searchable listing file for the complete set of disks or you can search each disk or even each issue/year. Searching is very very easy to do. I followed the enclosed instructions and copied all of the disks to my hard drive (53.5 gigs by the way). I then did a select and copied and put all of the PDF's in one directory along with the index file for searching. Now you can open up the index file and type any topic in and see where it was mentioned.
For example: One of my favorite topics is the 38/44 round (or the 38/44 Super Police as it is sometimes called). Searching on 38/44 give me 178 hits in 33 documents. Impressive to see some of the older comments and thoughts on the round.
General observations. I guess I was surprised at how much more "technical" the magazine was 20 to 40 years ago. If you just scan the 1960's/70's issues, and just page through them on the screen, you see a lot more formulas, graphs, and measurements then the current issues. I have not read enough of the older issues to say they were "better" or "worse". I do see that there is a lot more information to be gleaned from the magazine then just "pet loads" which is sort of what I was after.
I was also interested to read about the history. It is interesting to read about say the 25-06 in the pre-standardized days. Or reading up about the 788 Remington rifle when it first came out. Also it is interesting to look back at just the bullets that were offered. The Speer handgun line does not have many Hollowpoints back in the late 60's and 70's (which is what I remember as a kid). I also found it fascinating how the loads have changed over time. Go and look up in say Pet loads, or the loading bench what was recommended then verses says 2005 and it is quite and eye opener!
All in all I would rate this as a very good buy for a dedicated handloader. I know I will enjoy reading my issues as I get a chance, but in the mean time, the searches are GREAT!
