Which reloading manual ?

[tankgunner59]

Most of the manuals I have are older ones, but I did buy the Lyman's 50th Edition. And a plus to that is that I can help a fellow reloader. He and I just recently made a deal on brass. He gets all of his data from the internet, so I'm giving him my Lyman's 49th Edition. Kind of a way to pay it forward. He is on SSDI and has limited funds. Always feels good to help someone else out.

[Walks]

I buy just about every new one that comes out. I have all the Speer's, Hornady's, Sierra's and so on.
I like the LYMAN best. I buy every new one that comes out.

But I've given up on the others. If you buy the Loadbooks, all you get is Xerox copies from the Bullet Manufacturers MANUALS.

I bought the HODGDON annual from 2005 when they started until now. I'm not buying anymore. It has about 5% new data a year. Not enough to bother, you can get the same data from their website. And the Annuals have data for only the most popular cartridges.

[JSnover]

But I've given up on the others. If you buy the Loadbooks, all you get is Xerox copies from the Bullet Manufacturers MANUALS.

I like those. All the data in one little binder and they don't take up so much space on my bench.

[RED BEAR]

Alliant powder will give you there manual for free. You can sign up for one on website or call has more info than website.

[Kevin Rohrer]

This is a standard question asked at least once a month on each of the gun forums.

The answer is always the same: Lyman 50.

[Bazoo]

I enjoyed this thread. I started with the Lyman 48 and I had some questions that it didn't answer, although the Lyman is the most well rounded. The Lee manual was interesting, sort of a more practical take on it. Got the Lyman 49th now and looking to get a 50th as money allows.

[Ed_Shot]

+ 1 for Lyman manuals and the manufacturers web sites.

[MOA]

You can never have enough in my book. (Pun intended ).

[crankycalico]

If you're going to limit yourself to ONE, The Lee book is the most comprehensive.

For the most variety, Loaddata.com from Wolfe publishing is inexpensive and is constantly growing.

I don't know about loaddata.com from what little I have seen, as I am NOT going to pay that monthly subscription fee is that the place is USER submitted loading data. IE, any bubba with a subscription can put "loading data" on the site.

I have seen other sites that do that for free, and just get the willies from it. I have seen typos in the Hodgdon annual magazine, and if a company dedicated to selling powder isn't careful in their load data, who would think Bobby Bubba from Arkansa' is going to care or attempt to put a decimal point in the right spot, or to even know what their load actually is?

[jd9770]

You can never have enough in my book. (Pun intended ).

MOA, that is impressive.
I have some manuals and try to regularly add to my manuals, both old and new material. Mine is as much curiosity as anything.

[MOA]

Jd9770,
It's not a huge library of load data. I'm kind of a piker compared to a few member on this forum. I remember seeing one time someone's reload data that took up an entire wall from floor to ceiling. Must have been 20 or 30 times the size of my few shelves. I spent a few years working a, and owning a LGS, so I have access to new books as they came into print over the years. As mentioned earlier, many new books are last edition reprints with only a few changes. So it's not like your getting a whole book of new info. There are only a few books out there that I don't have, but most of those are jword books. I'm more involved with cast these days instead of jacketed.