Which reloading manual to buy?

[adcoch1]

I bought the Lyman 49th, and there is a ton of info in there! Two things I noticed though, I couldn't find a load for H4350 anywhere, in fact it seemed that hodgdon powders weren't supported very well at all. Luckily hodgdon has a great website for that info. Second, I was disappointed in the coverage of 7.62x39. It looked like an afterthought compared to the info for other cartridges.

 

[herkyguy]

Started with the Hornady 9th edition. i like it a lot since I load a fair mix of rifle and pistol. Also picked up a Lyman and it's good as well, covering a lot of powders that Hornady doesn't. Just picked up the new Nosler and it's very rifle-centric. Lacks detail on pistol calibers, but that's ok.

 

[Nature Boy]

I'll bet that's because Nosler is a more rifle centric company.

 

[springer99]

I think the Lyman manual is one that I wouldn't want to be without since it covers many more generic bullets. The Sierra, Hornady, and Speer manuals, while very comprehensive, focus not unexpectedly, on their own line of bullets. The Lee manual seems to list most data just copied from other manuals and is less useful. The chapters that cover setup and use of their equipment however, is very useful, if you choose to use Lee equipment.

Also, once you choose the powders you plan to use, don't neglect to download reloading data from Hodgdon, Alliant, etc. It's free and very good info. Gun-shops in my area usually can give you hard-copies of the same reloading data .

 

[thump_rrr]

In my opinion most reloading manuals are overrated.
I prefer manuals from bullet manufacturers due to specific cartridge lengths for certain bullets.
I once purchased a box of .224 75gr Hornady bullets only to find out that they cannot be loaded to magazine length.
It was only in the manual that COAL was specified.

There is enough information on the Internet from powder manufacturers to get a good starting load to work up from.
The chance that I will have the same primers, cases, bullets, barrel length and twist as the test rifle are slim to none.

For rifles such as the M14 there is a write-up from Zediker which gives plenty of reloading tips.

I have a reloading log book that has a record of each successful load I have developed.

The longer you load and the further we go in this cyber information age the less I rely on old fashioned paper reloading manuals.

 

[dragon813gt]

The Lee manual seems to list most data just copied from other manuals and is less useful.

How is this possible? I can't understand why people keep saying this. If you don't like Lee, fine. But there manual has more data than the others which is good.

So it doesn't tell you which primers were used? You are going to use what you have. So it doesn't tell you the OAL? You are going to use an OAL for your particular firearm. You are going to develop a load w/ what you have on hand for your particular firearm.

I'm pretty sure most of us don't shoot test barrels. And when a company does use an actual firearm. The load is for that firearm only. I have yet to use a published load and get the exact same results. I'm guessing a lot of you haven't used surplus powders because you are on your own in that endeavor.

I can get by w/ the Lee manual and Quickload. The Hornady manual is nice because I use their bullets. This is my personal opinion. You can skip the Lyman manuals if you know how to reload already. Very little data in it. And a lot of the general reloading info is old and outdated.

Buy and download every manual you can. You can never have enough sources.

 

[kcofohio]

I have found the Lee Modern Reloading manual helpful. The same with Lyman's Pistol & Revolver Handbook. Both offer a good foundation for reloading practices.

Lyman offers lead loads in calibers 380 & 40, that nobody else seems to offer, besides RCBS.

I have purchased 6 of the most popular handgun calibers in the Loadbook, One Book, One Caliber. Good for cross referencing bullet to powder in one book.

Looks like I might have to get Hornady's 9th edition.

I would like to see Lyman come out with their 50th edition that would include BE-86, CFE Pistol & 223, and the new IMR powders.

I'm also a member of Ammoguide.com. They boast over 29,000 loads in 960 cartridges.

I don't think you can have too much good info.

 

[springer99]

How is this possible? I can't understand why people keep saying this. If you don't like Lee, fine. But there manual has more data than the others which is good.

So it doesn't tell you which primers were used? You are going to use what you have. So it doesn't tell you the OAL? You are going to use an OAL for your particular firearm. You are going to develop a load w/ what you have on hand for your particular firearm.

I'm pretty sure most of us don't shoot test barrels. And when a company does use an actual firearm. The load is for that firearm only. I have yet to use a published load and get the exact same results. I'm guessing a lot of you haven't used surplus powders because you are on your own in that endeavor.

I can get by w/ the Lee manual and Quickload. The Hornady manual is nice because I use their bullets. This is my personal opinion. You can skip the Lyman manuals if you know how to reload already. Very little data in it. And a lot of the general reloading info is old and outdated.

Buy and download every manual you can. You can never have enough sources.

As far as the Lee manual goes, I've checked a lot of their handgun data for 38Spl, 9mm, 38Super and 45ACP and many of the loads just duplicate what is listed in other manuals. As you've mentioned, they just don't include important details that I've come to expect.

I do have a copy of it, and I have nothing against Lee. On the contrary, all my reloading is done on Lee equipment, using their dies. I probably refer to about 6 difference manuals when working up a new load, it's just that I wouldn't want to rely on the Lee manual as my benchmark here.

As my IT guys love to remind me of......Having a lot of DATA does not necessarily mean you have a lot of INFORMATION.

 

[Master Blaster]

Lyman if just one as it has great cast bullet data. If you load bullets from a specific manufacturer then you should also buy that manual, Speer, Hornady, Nosler etc. The Hodgdon Annual is also a great source of data.

You can also supplement with data from the powder manufacturer's online manuals.

 

[rbt50]

I buy them all. have been since early 70;s

 

[LOLBELL]

I guess I'm an odd ball. I don't see the need for a library of loading manuals Most reloading manuals - the part you need to study to understand reloading - are all BASICALLY the same. I have Speer, Hornady, Serria and Lyman. The reloading section in those are pretty much the same. Where the difference comes is the data in each. Speer, Hornady and Serria are specific to their bullets. The Lyman is generic with different bullets and powders.

41 mag for example, a loading manual will have two bullets with 3 or 4 powders. The One Caliber Books will have most bullets from all major manufactures and most powder from most manufactures. 25 or 30 loads in one small book.

I use the One Caliber Books a lot. They have more useable data compiled from bullet and powder manufactures in one book. All tested loads. If all else fails I go to powder web sites.

If loading cast, Lymans Cast Handbook is a must. Nothing but cast data, but it has plenty of that. It has very good how to's on casting too

 

[savanahsdad]

I'm also a member of Ammoguide.com. They boast over 29,000 loads in 960 cartridges.

I don't think you can have too much good info.

agreed , loaddata.com has 305,525 loads !!!!

 

[300Whspr]

Buy as many as you can afford!

If you're just starting out, I think the first one I would recommend would be the Lyman manual... followed closely by the Hornady manual. Those 2 will give you more information about what's going on inside the gun than any of the others.