Advice on reloading books

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normanrd

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Hi All,

I am an experienced reloader, and am looking to buy a few new reloading manuals to supplement my "older" versions. I have a newer Lyman, Hornady Handbook set, and Hogdon Data Manual, and older Nosler and Barnes manuals.

Just wondering if you folks could recommend a few of your favourite manuals! Thanks in advance,

Norm
 
I have many new ones, the only one I don't care for so much is the Swift reloading manual,very limited information.

Other than that they are all about equal to me.

The Hodgdon/Winchester on-line info is actually pretty good, they are constantly updating and you can single out powders, bullet weights, etc............

Also have a pretty wide selection of chamberings also.
 
My vote is for hornady manuals. I have #2 and #7 love them both. looking forward to owning #8. I love hornady bullets though, cheap and accurate cant beat that. It would be nice to see one from Berger, love their stuff to :D
 
I think that Lyman and Sierra reloading manuals were and are still the 2 most useful reloading manuals on the market since they're both honest and contain lots of great information:
How often do you expect to reload a belted cartridge, a non-belted one, 30-06 brass for M1 Garand and 223 brass for AR15...
Sierra manual contains recommended accuracy and hunting loads (incredibly useful).

I find that other companies like Hornady and Nosler recommend some pretty hot loads and don't have much information compared to Lyman and Sierra manual.

If I could have only 1 reloading manual, it would be the Sierra manual.

Alex
 
AlexF said:
I think that Lyman and Sierra reloading manuals were and are still the 2 most useful reloading manuals on the market since they're both honest and contain lots of great information:
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I like the Sierra manual EXCEPT that it hasn't been updated for quite a few years.

Nosler is good too I think.
 
Hi. How 'newer' is your Lyman book? Their latest is the 49th Edition. It's far more versatile than any bullet or powder maker's book. Nothing wrong with 'em but they only have data for their stuff.
 
i reload only a few calibers, and know what i'm doing; therefore , a new reloading book can, and often is,a disappointment- the charges these days are somewhat reduced and the rest, aside from new calibers , is just a re-hash of information i already have- anything i don't have is usually available from sites like reloader's nest, or the powder manufacturers, , and i'd sooner put the money into consumables like powder, primers and bullets .
 
All great stuff guys, thanks for the input! from what I am hearing I am in the same boat as a few of you already, that of being "disappointed' somewhat with load data from various books as being tayored only for their product, or on the weak side. I also find that the list of powders for any particular load in any given book is kind of "skinny", thus the need for more loading manuals (at more expense). I too really get a lot of use out of the "Hogdon Data Centre", I agree that another great place is the "reloaders nest".

Norm
 
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i also load only 3 powders- ww 231, 748, and imr 7828- the 231 for pistol, and 7828 for the 338 WIN MAG ONLY- and that's b/c i haven't recipe for 748 in 338 win mag- i', coming up on 41 YEARS of reloading, done my research, and the only thing i'd halfway consider trying might be varget- most of everything else is covered by 748 and 231
 
I agree that the Lyman book is good, lots of info.
Modern Reloading by Lee has more specs (ie-more powders/bullet weight) than some of the others. I find that I'll check a few books, but usually end up using the Lee manual.
 
t-star said:
i also load only 3 powders- ww 231, 748, and imr 7828- the 231 for pistol, and 7828 for the 338 WIN MAG ONLY- and that's b/c i haven't recipe for 748 in 338 win mag- i', coming up on 41 YEARS of reloading, done my research, and the only thing i'd halfway consider trying might be varget- most of everything else is covered by 748 and 231
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OK. Then why on earth do you need newer manuals if you are still going to use the same 3 powders?:confused:
 
First, to my mind, none of them are bad. Second, they all look at the subject from slightly different viewpoints. I buy a new one every so often and deliberately try to buy something different each time, or at least one from somebody I haven't bought from recently.
 
joe-nwt said:
OK. Then why on earth do you need newer manuals if you are still going to use the same 3 powders?:confused:
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never said i did - i'm still using my 1991 speer 11- the only reason i ever acquire new information is for some caliber that intrests me- like i don't have anything on the 40 short and wide- i also buy my powder by the 8 pound keg, which tends to"tide me over' until i get a new one- most reloading places are more than happy when you buy a keg or canister rather than those silly little 1lb cans- i used to get the 25 pound kegs, but they represent a sizeable investment these days
 
I have books from Lee, Lyman, Speer, Hornady, Norma, Sierra, Barnes and various powder manuals downloaded from the internet. I find I look at them all because I have found slight differences in powder charges for the same weight bullet from book to book.

Also find that although each book as loads for the same powders for the most part some books have load data for powders that don't offer data for the same projectile.

Both the Speer and Sierra books provide recommended powder and accuracy and hunting loads. I just like the ability to scan all the books when I am trying to use up powder I no longer load the caliber for (what else can I load with it). I also find I reference the Sierra book the most. Just my preference.
 
I don't know if anyone here has ever used this site

abebooks.com , I got the abc's of reloading off of it for 11$, some of the books are used or just old stock sometimes brand new, sometimes in rougher shape, but always cheap, used to get my super expensive text books off of here for less then half price
 
Awesome stuff Guys, I too like to have a few different books so I can compare data between the various books and kind of "fill in the blanks" so to speak. I will definitely check out Abe books.
 
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