How long is a Lyman reloading handbook good for?

[Mixxerd]

I have a 47th edition of the Lyman Reloading Handbook that is in really good shape, I was thinking of offering it up as a PIF if it would still have good information or if it is too outdated? Thanks for letting me know if this would be a good PIF.

[country gent]

It would be a great PIF for a new reloader starting out. Most of the sections technologies havent changed that much and the How to section is one of the better ones. Data should still be close to up to date but it may not have some of the newer powders or bullets listed. Ill be a beginner would be overjoyed to have it for the information

[JWFilips]

The old ones are good forever! The new ones are good for Nothing!

[Floydster]

I still use my Lyman manuals from the 1960's on.
Smokeyloads

[labradigger1]

Lyman's are nice. They have cast boolit data. I have them from the 44th up and all are invaluable to me since the older ones have many obsolete calibers. It would make a great PIF. kudos to you sir.

[Mixxerd]

Thanks for the replies I will post it in a little bit under the stipulation that it go to a newer caster.

[Beerd]

The old ones are good forever! The new ones are good for Nothing!

Fogy alert! :)

[Don Purcell]

The old ones are pre lawyer, however in some of the early 60's and late 50's manuals I have seen some loads that there would be no way I would try them.

[bedbugbilly]

I refer to the old ones that I have quite often.

[pworley1]

I have them back to the 20's. The old ones have data for calibers not listed ion the new ones.

[runfiverun]

a good mix of data is super valuable.
try finding data for some of the cooler cartridges like the 450 express, or 375 super-mag in the new books.
of course the older ones don't have the 300 b.o. or 6.8 spc.

[aephilli822]

No, thanks, it doesn't have data for the 7x61 Sharpe & Hart. LOL

Great PIF, good on you

[BrassMagnet]

That is a good book. Jacketed and cast load data for many calibers. Most, if not all, of the powders listed can still be found. I would trust that data.

[frkelly74]

I had a Lyman book from about 1966 and a, Hornady book, and a Sierra book from the same time period. I always found the Lyman to be the most conservative as far as charge data was concerned, and the Sierra book had the hottest max charges. Hornady was in between somewhere. I still have the Lyman, tattered as it is but the other two have fallen by the wayside. That for a fact is the way I remember it.

[JeffinNZ]

They are current as long as the components listed are available.

[Teddy (punchie)]

All the old manuals are useful. When finding a load or working a new load I try to get data from three different books or sources, sometimes it can be done, sometime you only find one.

[dave524]

I find the old metallic cartridge manuals useful but my late 60's vintage shotshell manual is worthless, virtually all the hulls and wads from back then are no longer in use and haven't seen Alcan powders in years.

edit: watch the old 4831 loads , the newly manufactured stuff is a whisper faster than the original mil surplus stuff and the IMR stuff is even faster again. Just my observation, others my differ.

[OS OK]

Some older powders of the same name are made of different components than today, using wood linters verses cotton linters, whatever a linter is but the bottom line is that they burn at a different rate with the latter being a smidge faster, hence be carefull with the max. loads.

How long is the manual good for?…I read them till all the words disappear and then use them for notes or 'drawin piturs'…HA!

OS OK

[edctexas]

Please be sure it is not "copyrighted" before you post any links to it. I don't have my computer anywhere near my loading stuff so it would not work for me.

Ed C

[bob208]

the newest I have is the 46th lyman. I have older ones they come in handy when I buy old powder. I bought 5 sealed cans of 5066 for $2.00 a can. had to get out a early 60's book to get loads for it. it loads about like unique. been cranking out .38-44 loads with it. along with .44-40 and .45 acp.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I still use my older Lyman manuals but sometimes run into problems with the powders, or at least some of them, having changed, or been discontinued. Lyman did not help by discontinuing a lot of good mold designs either. LLS

[MtGun44]

Probably more than 200 years, but that may be a bit low. I still use some from
the 1920s thru '50s.

Bill

[Bent Ramrod]

It's better to have several manuals to cross check, but the Lymans stay valid as long as you can find the components.

The 44th edition seemed to me to have hotter loads than the others, but it was my first reloading manual and I was a rank beginner so maybe I was neglecting some other feature in loading, i.e., case trimming or something.

[victorfox]

I thank Heaven for getting very old materials from castpics, and the guys here sent me many pages of scanned manuals too. Otherwise, getting this amount of knowledge would cost a little fortune. I found other manuals too, and from edition to edition they lack interesting info too (meaning old but gold).

[Bad Water Bill]

When I first started (1962-4) an old timer said get SEVERAL manuals,average out their loads and deduct at least 10% because they have the best, most expensive bbls to get the highest speed and accuracy.

Unless you have a brand new gun you have no idea the abuse it has had since it was made.

In all of those years of casting and reloading I have only had one gun come apart.

But that is another story to tell around a campfire another day.

[trebor44]

I have a 47th edition of the Lyman Reloading Handbook that is in really good shape, I was thinking of offering it up as a PIF if it would still have good information or if it is too outdated? Thanks for letting me know if this would be a good PIF.

To a new reloader it would be a good start. I value my old manuals. I have powders that are not listed in the newer manuals and calibers that are not in the current manuals. History (old manuals) is good to have access to. Like others have said, components do change or are deleted from current manuals. There is info in the 47th edition that is not in the 49th and vice versa. Look what happen to the Speer manuals from Nine to Thirteen.