Printable View
Does any of the reloading manual publishers produce them in an e-book format? I would like to get some copies of current manuals in electronic format, but am having problems locating any. Easy to find in print format, but I would like to have something that I could access electronically (yes, I know most powder manufacturers publish loads on-line, but I am looking for something like Lyman, Speer, Lee, etc.)
I think not as it would make it far too easy to just get one copy and give it to everyone you knew. I suspect they take a dim view of that. Some of the older ones are on castpics.net though.
Both Amazon and Barnes and Noble seem to be able to publish other books in e-book formats. Why not reloading manuals?
You might try RCBS:
RCBS.LOAD version 3.0 includes electronic versions of the
SpeerŪ Reloading Manual #14, the RCBSŪ Cast Bullet Manual
and has been upgraded to access all but the most current
reloading manuals from other industry sources free of charge!
Access a collection of more than 450,000 load data. Build your
own reloading databases that can be analyzed like the industry
sources.
Economics guys. How many copies o a reloading manual would be purchased in electronic format? Not many compared to the latest, greatest fiction works.
If it was a viable business move they would do it.
Personally, I like paper for a manual. I don't mind getting pages in a boom oily, dirty, beast, but wouldn't want that on my iPad.
I also like having a book I can easily make notes in.
I just don't see a market for e-book reloading manuals.
Digital formats are cheap and easy to produce it's a political/philosophical issue. These companies are all anti gun, anti hunting, anti second amendment and pro new world order.
Both Amazon and B&N retain the right to edit/remove/amend any book on your personal device each time you log onto their server. Call me crazy but I am going to keep my paper reloading manuals for now!
I converted most of my manuals to pdf format and they are on my laptop and also my ipad. I keep the old laptop by my reloading press and it has all my loads and scanned pictures of targets that I have shot for reference. Of course I keep a paper copy in a binder but I love the fact that I have all the info I need and the Internet at my fingertips while I am reloading.
I also converted all my AGI Gunsmithing DVDs to .avi's and I can watch them and clean or repair at the same time, very handy.
Hodgdon's is online, not quite the same, but still pretty convenient and FREE, covers
IMR, Hodgdon and Winchester powders.
Bill
I use eBooks quite a bit for work. I can annotate, highlight, and some, depending on publisher, concatenate all my notes to print. I can search for anything within the eBook. PDF is great but very bulky, and Acrobat (not the reader) is very expensive to purchase to edit PDFs. I have some books in PDF that are way too big to fit on most smartphones and tablets. The eBooks I use at work are self updating.
It will be a matter of time before we see Speer, Hornady, Nosler, etc., use eBook format.
r1kk1
Plus, it cuts down on clutter. I can have hundreds of reloading references on an SD card and have it backed up in various places. I can edit to my hearts content, I can print a page or pages if I need a hard copy of something, it is available anywhere I can connect electronically or carry a smartphone or tablet. I just can't see the downside to having them available electronically.