Midway LoadMap

[alamogunr]

I almost forgot I had these load books. I have them for .45ACP, .44Mag, .357 Mag and 9mm. Bought them about 15+ years ago. I guess I overlooked them because they weren't kept with my other manuals.

Since I haven't used them very much, I'm wondering how good is the information they contain. Unlike most manuals, they give detailed ranges of loads for each powder/bullet combination rather than "start" and "max" loads. I like this because it gives an expected velocity for each load.

Although, most of the data is for commercial jacketed or plated bullets, there are a few commercial swaged bullets listed. I've never used any commercial swaged bullets but in looking over the data, as long as I stay away from the max loads, I should be able to use the data with cast boolits.

Again, any comments on these manuals? I'm hoping someone here has used these manuals more than I have.

[11B-101ABN]

I have the .45 and the 9mm load books and have used them to develop my favorite loads for 190-200 gr SWC cast for .45 and 120 gr RN cast for 9mm. The loads are accurate and reliable as they were when I bought the books. I did not change the loads even when I went to Powder Coating. The loads still chronograph within 3% of the speeds I recorded back in the 1990's even with the changes some powders have undergone. There was one load with a knurled cast bullet where they listed the bullet OAL much deeper than I do, but I do not use that bullet anyway. I have used a lot of Blue Dot the last few years because of availability issues, and my (recent) loads still chrono at the 800-850 fps I recorded long ago. I shoot mostly paper so my loads are normally conservative. If you would care to part with those you have for .44 and .357 I would be interested. I consider the load map series accurate and reliable because I believe that Midway actually performed the testing rather than copy information from other sources.

[alamogunr]

Good to hear. I also believe that Midway did the testing or at least recorded the test method and materials since these are detailed in the book.

I'm not really interested in selling the other books. In addition to deciding to use them for the .45, I plan to take a good look at the others, now that I remember that I have them.

Actually, I don't use any of the bullets listed, I use the data for the Midway SWC 200 gr. lead bullet since it looks very much like the H&G 68 boolit I get from my MP mold. I plan to use the data for the Midway SWC lead 185 gr bullet even though it doesn't look like the boolit I get from a SAECO #130. The SAECO mold makes some really nice boolits. Again, I've had this mold for several years but always had other molds that I wanted to try out so this one got ignored. The bases on the boolits from this mold are very sharp, one of the criteria I use to determine if a boolit is a good one.

[11B-101ABN]

I don't have any of the cast boolits they used in their tests either, in fact All my pistol molds are the inexpensive Lee 6 bangers. I don't hunt anymore (bad knees), just shoot paper or walk tin cans across the yard. I have gone to the newer micro groove mold designs that give fewer feed problems. But generally I follow the load guide for boolit weight rather than shape. It has worked out well for a few decades now. Targets are set at 50 feet and if I can get a 6" pattern between the nipples on a full size silhouette, with these old eyes, I'm generally happy.

[tazman]

I have the one for 9mm and have used the load data for my guns. I also go by weight of projectile rather than specific model.
That said, I don't load max charges. When I get a good functioning load with decent accuracy, I stop.