Reloading Manuals

Travel240z

Travel240z

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I have been looking into purchasing a reloading manual but from the ones that I have seen so far I did not find what I was expecting. I was thinking that the manual would have multiple different powders, loads, bullets, brass under each section to allow a person to chose their own combination. The manuals that I looked at used one manufacturer of brass, one manufacturer of bullet, one manufacturer of primer, and multiple manufacturers of powder. Is this typical of reloading manuals?

I was looking at the information for 40 s&w. I have multiple different types of brass for 40 s&w. I was planning on picking up primers, powder, and bullets this weekend as my press should be in this week. Can you assume that the brass from different manufacturers can be loaded the same? bullets? primers? Or do you search for a manual that matches what you have?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
you could order a loadbook. they cover most every publicized load for a particular caliber and they have one for 40s&w. data is taken from many current manuals from bullet makers, powder companies etc... they are only about $12 to your door also! but they dont have reloading instruction like you will find in a real manual.

www.Loadbooks.com

Edit; i dont worry too much about brass so much, i mix my brands but some people dont. but i try not to mix primers in a batch of reloads because it can cause inconsistant accuracy .
 
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my Speers #13 has TMJ and GD-HP, 3 different gr with up to 15 powders. Nosler #6 has 2 different gr HP with 10 different powders. You can also check data.hodgdon.com
peace..
 
If your looking for handgun info I suggest Lymans Pistol and Revolver Handbook 3rd Edition. A very good read. Plenty of load information in every handgun caliber. It's my bible for 40 and 9mm.
 
Speer #13 and Lyman Pistol and Revolver Handbook 3rd Edition are the ones I use, anything else would be thru various manuf. sites.
 
Most of the major reloading manuals like Speer,Hornady,Sierra,Barnes,Nosler etc. will mainly cover load data specific to the bullets they make. Lyman what I use on the other hand doesn't mfg jacketed bullets so you may see bullets used in each caliber from various mfg. plus as a bonus the Lyman manuals carries load data for cast bullets in about every caliber.

Each manual will list one brass & primer mfg. they used to work up there load data,on occasion you may see two different primers listed usually denoted by a * this will denote that a magnum primer is to be used with that particular type powder for that bullet/powder combination.

As far as brass,in ammo I load for plinking and general shooting I use mixed head stamps and don't separate it except by either brass or nickel plated cases but I do keep it together in lots to keep track of how many firing it's had. For competition,hunting or SD purposes I do separate my brass by head stamps in both pistol and rifle to keep things as constant as possible.

For primers,I use many different brands the ones listed with the load data are not always available. I've freely substituted just about ever primer there is for the one listed with the load data as long as its the same type as in LR for LR or SP for SP,if you don't have the listed primer always start at the starting load and work your way up if you already have a set load and find yourself out of your current primer reduce the load by 10% or start from scratch and work you load up again.

All primer are a little different between mfg. even the same type such as SP the muzzle velocity or load pressure they generate can be different although it may be slight,if your using a max load a different brand primer or may push you over than load pressure.

All the major reloading manuals and component mfg. have tech support that will give you help with any questions you have about there data or using other components that are listed in there manuals.
 
Most manuals are trying to sell you their bullets or their powder, one exception is Lyman's 49th, although they may be trying to sell their bullet molds with the cast bullet data. I find that it is about the best manual around.
 
mikeystew said:
you could order a loadbook. they cover most every publicized load for a particular caliber and they have one for 40s&w. data is taken from many current manuals from bullet makers, powder companies etc... they are only about $12 to your door also! but they dont have reloading instruction like you will find in a real manual.

www.loadbooksusa.com
Click to expand...

The proper link appears to be Loadbooks USA.
 
Breaker61 said:
If your looking for handgun info I suggest Lymans Pistol and Revolver Handbook 3rd Edition. A very good read. Plenty of load information in every handgun caliber. It's my bible for 40 and 9mm.
Click to expand...

I seem to have the original, first, edition of this. It just states, "Copyright 1978."
This is a tremendous reloading book. Every combination of powder and bullet weight one could imagine, is shown, along with what they consider the most accurate load.
One thing I noticed right away was their top loads are TOP loads. Also, their figures are very accurate. With revolvers there is a difference from gun to gun, because of different cylinder gaps, but taking that into consideration, their velocity figures are very accurate. I chronographed quite a few different loads and they jibed, with me commonly getting even higher velocity than the book stated.
It would be interesting to see if my first edition figures are the same as your third edition. Or, did the lawyers get at it?
This is the only American loading book where I have found velocity figures to be accurate. Most reloading books lie like a sidewalk, with regards to velocity. The only other accurate loading book I have ever seen was the old Noma reloading charts. Your ordinary sporting rifle would attain the velocity fig;ures they showed.
 
Richard Lee's Modern Reloading is a decent one too... carries a LOT of load data for a LOT of different calibers, has some cast bullet data (and tells you how to figure that out on your own), and doesn't sell anyone's bullets. Most of that data is from Hodgdon or was done in partnership with them, but the way it's laid out, the first loads for any caliber/bullet weight tended to be the most accurate FOR THEM... it's not a bad one to start off with.
 
i've found lee's book to be on the light side- in some calibers -esp pistol, his beginning loads won't cycle the slide properly, and stovepipe- of course, this throws the whole range out and makes hiis top end a LOT lower than say speer
 
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