Favorite Reloading Recipe Book

sierra5

sierra5

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Picked up a Lyman and Lee reloading book, after buying those I ended up using the free info off the powder web site. Anyone have a book in mind that seems to cover all your needs? I'm tempted to buy the other books available but not interested if they are all the same.

Thanks
 
A lot of load data can be found on the net these days but I would only consider sites from the powder manufactures etc at this point if new to reloading. After you get some bench time I would look at other "non-published" sites. One thing I found valuable, especially when starting out, was the intro to reloading / explanation of all the terminology and factors that affect reloading that is usually the first 70 pages or so of the books. Hornady, sierra and nosler in my experience do a really good job with this part of it. Even after 20+ years of reloading now I still skim over the intros in the new manuals. As time goes on (keep all your manuals BTW) you can refer back and forth to compare load data and bullets used to perfect a load. The only other tidbit I can offer you is to maintain a detailed and accurate reloading journal. Often times the load you developed many years ago and works wonderfully in your gun is no longer published (the bullet / powder you used is not listed anymore or the load is significantly different etc).
 
I don't have a standard "go to book" for data, rather I compare data from multiple sources, including past experiences, and go from there. I guess if I had to choose a favorite it would be a tie between Swift's first edition, which I just like the layout of, and the A-Square manual which contains a good deal of information that's not available elsewhere. The same could be said for Ackley's Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders. Hatcher's Notebook is a good read, but its not a loading manual, and Ken Water's Pet Loads is a valuable resource for any rifleman/handloader, although the data is becoming dated.
 
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Don't bother with books (if you already know how to reload), everything you need can be found online. If you can't find it online just ask the forum members.
 
OP, the Lyman is likely the most useful but things change over time, especially powders.

If you purchase your powders one pound at a time, you will need current manuals.

Online is OK but it's a pain in the butt. A hard copy manual is much easier to compare loads, especially at the bench.

If you reload specialty bullets, such as Nosler/Barnes, you may want to get one of their manuals or go online download/print their information.

If you have older powders on hand, such as H450 or HS6, you will need to go all the way back to the Lyman #45 manual to find load formulas.

There is one other thing as well, if you load obscure cartridges, then the Hornady manuals get the nod.

Some folks live on their Ipods or cell phones. No, I'm not being negative, having that much information at your fingertips is wonderful. I'm just not as comfortable with these devices as I could be.
 
As far as information on reloading practices, the Speer Manuals (13 IIRC) is about as good as you can get. My reloading mentor refers to it regularly.

As for interesting write ups on the cartridges, I really like the Nosler Manuals. Since I favour Nosler bullets, AccuBonds and Partitions in particular, I use their manuals most.
Also use the Speer, Hornady and Swift Manuals a fair amount.
 
mbogo3 said:
The old Hornady ....... 3rd edition before they watered down all their loads.
Click to expand...

Pretty simple book to follow thru.
I sure enjoy reading up at the beginning of each caliber the story they have there.
I find the Lee book really cluttered.
The old Lyman is a useful book to flip thru for second opinions.
Nosler book I find snawbishee.
 
I have a shelf full of books but use the Lyman most and Lee manual least. The Hodgson and Alliant websites are goldmines for data.
 
I find that they are all good staring points, as with all the rifles I have had over the years they all have different MAX loads anyway I only concern myself with the starting load from there I keep a close eye on pressure signs every time I increase the powder charge.
 
I have printed off several versions of manuals and keep them handy in binders at my bench. Online is fine but I was happy to have a hard copy when the power went out in the middle of a reloading session!
 
Hodgdon puts out a reloading magazine every year (or maybe every second year?) that's great to have for the new powders on the market.
https://www.budgetshootersupply.ca/product/hodgdon-hodgdon-reloading-annual-magazine-2017/

Other than that I find I regularly pull out the Lee book because it's a compilation of data from several different sources. Some of the older Lyman books have powders, cartridges and cast bullet data that's not in newer books.

And the internet is good for oddball stuff but you always want to cross reference anything that isn't from an official source. Most is fine but there's the occasional thing out there that's dangerously out to lunch.
 
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For books, I use (in order) Lee, Hornady, and Lyman. I also use the web/PDF/magazine version of Hodgdon and Western Powders, and Speer and Nosler bullets. As historical reference, I have older PDFs of IMR and Winchester powder booklets. I agree that the amount of info available for free on the Internet is quite large, but as other have said, reading the first 1/3 of Lee/Lyman/Hornady is always good to make sure you know what you are doing.
 
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