I want to buy some new reloading manuals

[Frosty Boolit]

I have been using Lyman 48th edition since 2005 and have added nosler and hornady over the years. The Lyman has always been my favorite an I was thinking I might get the 50th. Do you guys like it or find yourselves going back to the older books?

I also would like to get the bpi slug manual but not sure how useful it can be as I will only be loading lee 7/8 12ga slugs.

Lemme know what you think, thanks!

[GARD72977]

I have not been a fan of Lyman manuals in the past
I have the Lyman 50th and love it.

I use it and first edition accurrate more than any other

[Tatume]

Start here:

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/

Hodgdon does pressure testing and publishes the pressures.

[GhostHawk]

I started with the Lyman Cast Bullets #4 manual. Picked up a copy of the #3 as soon as I could find one.

To top that off I have done a lot of data mining on alliant's web pages. Copy/paste saving data for powders and calibers useful to me.

For Shotgun I bought one of BPI's Advantages manual and its pretty good.
I don't think I bought the BPI slug booklet, but I have picked up a couple of their others. Buckshot and something else.

I can't swear if it is still true but some wads from BPI had data sheets you could download. Those I found extremely handy.

For one thing they told me before buying what recipes were going to be available for what hulls, powders, loads using that wad.

These days the manuals are mostly there for reference. When in doubt, check. But the vast majority of my loads are low to mid range Red Dot. I'm not pushing the edges. YMMV.

[ABJ]

I like Lyman #50, it gives both jacketed and cast. It will not replace the Lyman CBH #3 and #4 for heavy boolit users in my opinion. I have found useful info in almost every manual I own. I always when working up new loads get several manuals together and compare all relevant info. My most used for that purpose is Hornady, Speer, and Nosler and of course the powder company data.
You can't own too many recipe books.
Tony

[Wayne Smith]

I started with the Sierra manual, and still have my old one but the new one is a three ring binder and has all the old data as well. I also have the Lyman #3 and #4 Cast manuals and the Lyman #50 reloading manual, Sharp's and Ackley's books, and have collected the Hodgdon magazines as well.

[bimus]

At times I have had every manual old and new opened up searching for data on the dinner table some times they will be testing in the same type action or gun you have .

[Loudy13]

So I purchased the Hornady subscription for my phone and with it supposedly with the level i purchased it will update whenever there is a new manual and they will send me a hardcopy. I have not received a hard copy yet. I am thinking that is due to only having the subscription for a short period of time so far.

I do reference my older Speer, Lyman, Sierra manuals all the time. I frequently use Hodgdons website also.

[Burnt Fingers]

A man can NEVER have enough reloading manuals. I've got around 4' of them.

[Conditor22]

Get the Lyman 50th, I'm starting to grab for it more and more often (even though I seldom shoot J-words

[Bazoo]

I really like the Lyman 46th and 47th handbooks for the articles. Lots of info about old reloading and bullets, and the data is new enough to be relavent.

The 49th is what I use as my go to, combined with the cast bullet handbook 4th. The 4th, the articles weren't really that impressing, but it has more useful data.

The cast 3rd was good for articles, but of a technical nature, and the data is pretty good too.

The RCBS cast bullet manual has data for their bullets, but it's older. The beginning isn't as relavent in methodology as we do now, and there really isn't anything interesting in the way of articles. Mostly just the data specific for their bullets.

[phil3333]

I have started liking the one caliber manual I think it's a great compliment to the big manuals

[Bazoo]

I have started liking the one caliber manual I think it's a great compliment to the big manuals

Big fan of the loadbooks one caliber manuals here as well. It's a source for RCBS data if one doesn't have or can't find the RCBS handbook.

[gwpercle]

I bought the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th edition when it came out ... it and the 3rd edition are my main cast boolit guides . Hornady and Speer manuals are my next most used .
When the Lyman 50th edition came out I actually got just because it was the 50th edition... but there are actually some new things in there and new powders ... especially in the rifle section and a few new handgun loadings . I'm glad I got it and don't think it was money wasted ... but I like books and tend to collect a lot of shooting and reloading books . It has some new articles in the first four chapters that I found enjoyable and interesting .
I say get it !
Gary

[John Guedry]

I use Lyman #47.

[Mlcompound]

I have a pretty good collection of manuals in pdf format if anyone is interested.

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk

[MOA]

Start making a list of manuals to collect over time when you come across them at a good price. Get 4 or 5 basic foundation books, and start putting together the size library you wish to have and need. Everyones reference library is different. Here's my current data bank made up of mostly hard bound along with all the soft bound Lyman reloading books covering cast, shotshell and jacketed. I've started downloading other recipes covering all reloading venues and started large 3 D ring binders to boot. I don't think mine will grow much larger.

[Gone_rabid]

So I purchased the Hornady subscription for my phone and with it supposedly with the level i purchased it will update whenever there is a new manual and they will send me a hardcopy. I have not received a hard copy yet. I am thinking that is due to only having the subscription for a short period of time so far.

I do reference my older Speer, Lyman, Sierra manuals all the time. I frequently use Hodgdons website also.

I purchased the same deal last spring or summer. I’ve yet to get the hardcover book. ��*♂️

I’m gonna email them now. They still owe me bullets too!

[charlie b]

I used to have a large library of loading manuals. When we 'downsized' for one move I got rid of all of them, but, I did make a digital copy of the Lyman 45th manual that I had. Since then I have used the online data from the various mfgs. Hodgdon has been my main source since most of the powder I use is from them. I also downloaded the Western and Alliant manuals. I have not really found a reason to buy another manual.....except....

I will probably buy the new version of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. Not because it has anything different than my downloaded 3rd edition, but, I want to put money into Lyman's hands for producing that data. It isn't cheap and I appreciate them spending the money to generate all that data.

I always wondered why the bullet mfgs have charged for their manuals but the powder mfgs give out the data freely.

[BigMoney_NoWhammey]

Lyman 50th is a great manual. I also use Hornady and Lee but I go to the Lyman first. I've also found powder manufacturer website to have good data. The Lyman gets bonus points for having pressure data. For 9 and 45, however, it tends to be more conservative in its max loads. For example, I've been pushing 200gr 45's up to 1100 and Lyman wasn't much help.