Reloading manual, hardback vs softback.

[Bazoo]

So I've got a Lyman 49th soft back I've used about 5 years and it's not in great shape. The spine is letting pages go and creased several spots. I've also got a new 49th hardback that I bought cheap at the local gun store. So if I use the hardback as my primary reloading book how will it hold up vs the soft back?

[daengmei]

Hard covers are glued the same way I believe, but I only worked with soft covers. The same operations apply if the binding is glue.

A new softcover binding should not come apart from normal use and storage for quite some time. I worked in a bindery for a while. The soft covers sometimes aren't fully glued. That releases the folded groups of pages. Sometimes questionable books may have been used. I have many auto repair manuals that are 20+ yo. A few greasy fingerprints but still the bindings are good.

The books come off a machine very quickly and I caught them in stacks...quick look over and stack for another machine. Culls must be made every stoppage for incomplete operations, glue usually and trimming.

Now every publication I pick up I look it over....I am almost forced into it as habit. Color bars, chopped text, folds, cover alignment, glue thickness and application.

[onelight]

I have put the soft covers in a drill press and drilled holes and put them in a 3 ring binder to keep them under control as they fall apart

[Land Owner]

^^^^^^Me too^^^^^^

Among seventeen (17) others, I maintain a Lyman 44th Ed. (pub. 1967) in used but Very Good condition. There is a Lyman 48th Ed. (pub. 2002) digitally available on line, which many have already downloaded. Your 49th Ed. was published in 2008. These manuals, and EACH of the others, set powder charge ranges for the popular and tested components OF THAT TIME.

As your publications age, you may yet retain or acquire, powders (primarily) and bullets manufactured in the era in which your manuals were published. If the loads were good then, they may, unless determined to be inaccurate, continue to be used into the future. HOWEVER ==>

Improvements in powders will be made. Powder lots will change. Bullets will change. Material improvements will be added. New calibers and loads NOT defined in your manual(s) will be released. Corrections and errata will be announced. NONE of these WILL BE in your dated publications - unless you are aware of them and place these later published pieces in your loading manuals.

If your paperback 49th manual is already coming apart, maybe, take the time to SCAN IT on an office printer and keep it digitally along with the hard bound, which should, with care, last a LIFETIME. All of the powder Mfg's routinely publish limited catalogs of shotgun, rifle, and pistol charges. They are available at your local gun store for FREE.

It is recommended, but not a requirement, that you update your manual(s) periodically, particularly to stay in line with the times.

[Wayne Smith]

My primary manual is the Sierra and it's already ring bound.

[Three44s]

Buy more copies of a manual you are wearing out as the wear and tear is a testament to how much you enjoy and rely on that particular publication.

The out of print ones are seen used for sale and the fading new ones are placed on sale at reduced prices.

But Landowner’s point about safety should be considered as well.

Three44s

[str8wal]

My primary manual is the Sierra and it's already ring bound.

I wish more would do this. Then you could add pages as new data is introduced rather than buying a whole book. That said, I get most of my data online.

[mdi]

My oldest manual is a Speer 10th, and IIRC I got it in the mid '80s. Maybe because I'm a fan of books, I may treat them differently, but my Speer has marked/high lighted pages, a few "dog eared"but I've not broken the spine or loosened any pages. I don't "flatten out", bent the spine straight to lay flat on the bench, and I more often than not just copy the pertinent data on a sticky not and stick it to my powder measure and return the book to the shelf. My most used manual is Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook 3rd edition, and while it has some well worn pages, none are loose and the book's spine it still in fair to good shape. I have a favorite paper back book that I've read several times (Kon Tiki) and the pages are yellowing and the cover's edged are a bit frayed, but it is still intact in fair shape. Regardless of hard back vs paper back, I think a book's life is determined by how it's treated...