Have you guys seen

[Pawpaw]

Have you guys seen the manual Modern Reloading, Vol 2, by Richard Lee?

I got it under the Christmas tree courtesy of Milady. There is a whole chapter in there on cast bullet performance, leading, Brinell hardness, tensile strengths and everything else we have debated over the years. He even includes pressure data on loads with Hodgdon powders. He draws some pretty interesting conclusions on tensile strength of alloy as it applies to bullet speed and leading.

Interesting reading there.

[castalott]

Hi pawpaw!

That's one I don't have.... if I can find one at a show to look thru first, I'll probably own one too...

Dale

[versifier]

I think they're still offering a special on them that includes a free Reloader Press. I use one of their AutoPrime2's on one and I use it for bullet sizing, too. Handy little bugger and I learned a lot from the manual - wouldn't want to be without either.

[Bman]

I bought my 1st edition with a c press not long before the 2nd ed was released. I'm thinking it might be time to do that again and gift the new press and the old manual to someone who might be interested in starting to reload. In fact I recently re-read the casting section of the 1st ed. Sounds like the new one has more there.

Does it include loads with newer powders like lilgun and trailboss?

[drinks]

Bman;
It is not that new, '01 or '02 publishing date.

[Newtire]

That book's a good read for sure. I got mine alot cheaper than it's list price on the special discount page on the Lee site right when they first came out.

[Pawpaw]

I bought my 1st edition with a c press not long before the 2nd ed was released. I'm thinking it might be time to do that again and gift the new press and the old manual to someone who might be interested in starting to reload. In fact I recently re-read the casting section of the 1st ed. Sounds like the new one has more there.

Does it include loads with newer powders like lilgun and trailboss?


Yeah, the book is three or four years old now, and it doesn't have any Lil'gun or Trailboss recipes. What it does have is a whole chapter on castbullets and pressures and alloys and plenty to give you something to think about. That chapter also has a lot of data using Hodgdon powder and attempts to correlate Brinell hardness with PSI. There is some interesting stuff there. His main thesis is that velocity has little to do with leading and that the tensile strength of the bullet is what determines leading, and he attempts to give some examples using cast bullet loads by increasing powders one grain at a time and show how pressure and velocity interact.

There is a lot to think about in that one chapter, and I sure haven't digested it all yet.

[KCSO]

I had the book and gave it away as I found that the data was somewhat suspect. As with most Lee loading instructions the maximum loads were way low. For example Lee lists 8.4 grains of AA#7 as the max do not exceed load for a 170 gr bullet in 40 S and W. They give this load a velocity of 1100 FPS. Nostler and Speer list 9.0 and 9.2 as max with the same velocity. By actual chronograph the Lee load runs right at 900 in a Highpower and the Speer and Nostler manuals are right on. I have found so much of this varience that I gave up on Lee as a reliable manual. The cast bullet section was good, but how do I know they did any better with cast bullets than they did with loads?

[drinks]

If you want a manual and the c-press, Midwayusa has a very good price on the combo, $20.50 plus shipping and there is always something I need from Midwayusa so it could be part of a larger order.
I ordered one of the hand press kits with the book to get a friend into reloading, still in college and has very little room or money, so I decided to get him started as a xmas present, really a dirty thing to do, he will likely be infected for life and wind up spending a ton of money on reloading, in the future. ;D

[pdgraham]

I've got the 2nd ed. right here in my grimey little hands..

[Harpman]

I was under the impression that all the lee data actually came from the other manuals, not from Lee.as for the cast info, I have a hardness tester coming tomorow and plan on going through what Lee explained about tensile and loads, to see how it really works, I have a feeling he knew what he was talking about. as for leading, I never heard about any leading problems when using Lee Alox...I am not saying it doesnt happen, I just have not heard of it with his product...I have used it alot, and with a few loads that were undersized cast, and a little too much powder that should have leaded but didnt.

[drinks]

Most of the Lee loads are from powder companies, Lee will not put out a load that could cause an injury.
I have been working on the info in #2 for several years, you can get more velocity than you would expect by using slower powders, it is not only the peak pressure that makes a cast bullet strip in the rifling, but how fast the pressure peaks.
I have added 200-300 fps to loads with the same bullets and lubes by moving down a few notches to somewhat slower powders.
Too slow is not good, you find that out when the shot leaves more and more unburned powder in the barrel.
I keep trying to get a load that will burn all the powder, give good velocity and not lead the barrel.
I have some very good loads, in .35 to .45 I have really good results with 4198, reloder 7 , 1680 and even 4895, depending on how heavy the bullets are.
My best lubes are liquid alox and LBT soft blue, so far no problems with either, even in the .44mag. microgroove barrel.
:D