Disappointed.

[Captain*Kirk]

Midway has the latest Sierra reloading manual on sale right now for $26.00 and change. Couple that with their free shipping offer and I couldn't refuse, since I've gone to using the #2800 Pro Hunter RN bullet in .35 Remington for my reloads...
Frankly, I'm not impressed. Big, bulky 3-ring binder that looks like it will be quite easy to lose pages from over the years. The .35 Remington page (yes, one page. Only one bullet) was quarantined to the "Legacy" section in the back and contained the exact data that was in my 'Loadbook' .35 Remington/.350 Rem. Magnum that cost me a grand total of $6.95 earlier this year. For the other cartridges I load, none of the powders I prefer are even listed. This is one of my pet peeves at loading books all nicely shrink-wrapped in the Big Box stores. You don't know what you're getting until you buy it (kinda like Obamacare...LOL!) At any rate, I'll keep it but don't expect it will see much use unless I get to developing a new load using another Sierra bullet.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Too bad it didn't have what you wanted, but I'll bet the book will come in handy down the road and you'll probably be glad you bought it.

[Winger Ed.]

I think they did it that way so you could buy their updates every so often and add the new pages,
or replace pages that had been revised rather than having the whole book go obsolete.

[Blindshooter]

My problem with it is the cheap stock they used.

[richhodg66]

I'm still trying to get my head around using a jacketed bullet in .35 Remington.

[robg]

had that manual for years .i like to clip targets in it with my load data as it keeps it all together .only down side is why 3 ring not 2 or 4 ?

[Captain*Kirk]

I'm still trying to get my head around using a jacketed bullet in .35 Remington.

That's all I've ever used on deer-sized game. Very effective and very deadly. No gas check required.

[Texas Gun]

It’s not just Sierra look at Lyman you expect to have Loads for cast bullets and others but the new 50th edition barely has any I have all the Lyman manuals they have more data than the new 50th edition lee second edition reload manual actually has more data in it than all the others now I have not chicks Speer I only have old spare manuals up to 11 does anybody have a new spear manual

It’s not just a load data that’s disappearing it’s all the other information they used include as well

Something I’ve been doing is buying these little paperback manuals that are cal Pacific I have one for 223 . 30-06 and 8mm I’m about to buy one for 45 cl and 44 mag

Oh and do not buy the ballistics reload manuals for shotgun they are worthless

[Captain*Kirk]

It’s not just Sierra look at Lyman you expect to have Loads for cast bullets and others but the new 50th edition barely has any I have all the Lyman manuals they have more data than the new 50th edition lee second edition reload manual actually has more data in it than all the others now I have not chicks Speer I only have old spare manuals up to 11 does anybody have a new spear manual

It’s not just a load data that’s disappearing it’s all the other information they used include as well

Something I’ve been doing is buying these little paperback manuals that are cal Pacific I have one for 223 . 30-06 and 8mm I’m about to buy one for 45 cl and 44 mag

Oh and do not buy the ballistics reload manuals for shotgun they are worthless

My Speer manual is also #11. Which is why I considered buying a newer manual in the first place. Honestly, if I could have had the opportunity to browse through it beforehand I would've passed.
My problem with the cal. specific 'Loadbooks' is that it's outdated info for the most part, and they are made up of photocopied pages (rather poor ones at that!) and have advertising in them. I probably should have got the latest Speer manual but it wasn't on sale, and I don't know how much updating has actually been done other than adding new cartridges that I don't own.
I have to admit, it's pretty disappointing to drop 30 bucks on a book you will most likely never use. Might be a good thing if we share information about what reloading manuals are worthwhile and which aren't. With that in mind, I'll say this; if you are new to reloading, or use a lot of the bullets Sierra offers, then this manual might be a good fit. But if you use cast boolits or various manufacturers' jacketed bullet offerings, I'll go out on a limb and say "hold on to your money". Looking forward to hearing from others as to what they consider great sources of information or a waste of money...

[gnappi]

>>SNIP<<Oh and do not buy the ballistics reload manuals for shotgun they are worthless>>SNIP<<

Ballistics for shotguns? I can see it now...

#9 shot--- Pattern (whatever choke you have) Effective Distance (About 40 feet)
7,8 shot (See #9 above)
Buckshot --- Pattern (see #9 above) Effective Distance (50 yards... maybe)
Slug --- Effective Distance Up to 50 yards, a bit more with Kentucky Windage (and elevation)

Patterning shot --- Do this and forget this manual!

[gnappi]

It’s not just Sierra look at Lyman you expect to have Loads for cast bullets and others but the new 50th edition barely has any I have all the Lyman manuals they have more data than the new 50th edition lee second edition reload manual actually has more data in it than all the others now I have not chicks Speer I only have old spare manuals up to 11 does anybody have a new spear manual

Oh I have Speer 12 It's fatter ( about 100 more pages) it has some "newer" caliber load data, it's organized better but... I've always found Speer data to be anemic and I've only used it as a cross reference to others.

[gwpercle]

There's a lot to be said for the " One Book / One Cartridge " loading manuals / booklets
The Complete Reloading Manual for the (cartridge of interest) . www.loadbooks.com
I had never bought any of these but last year got one for the 41 Magnum . For sheer information devoted to one cartridge and at under $10.00 ...it's the best thing since sliced bread .
I'm going to buy a few more... just having all that information in one place beats not looking through 6 different loading manuals seven ways to Sunday .

[Texas Gun]

Here are some of the manuals I use

[Captain*Kirk]

Nice collection! And probably better info than some of the newer manuals.

[smithnframe]

How much "cast" bullet data is in this manual?

[Randy Bohannon]

I have the specific cartridge pamphlets for .41 Rem. Mag and 375 Winchester both are equally split between cast and jacketed. No reason to ever discard old reloading manuals,still have the very first one I bought. Various component manufactures used to do small pamphlets with reloading info for their products, still have Winchester, Hodgen pamphlets.

[Wayne Smith]

How much "cast" bullet data is in this manual?

The Sierra? None. It is based on their bullets. If you use their bullets or comparable it is invaluable. I started reloading with their manual, and when living in Whittier used to drive up to their plant and buy their seconds by the pound in brown paper bags. I still buy seconds when available.

[GregLaROCHE]

Bullet manufacturers should give that information out for free to sell their products. At least free online.

[Petrol & Powder]

In addition to other manuals, I have the Sierra manual that the OP speaks about. The 3 ring binder format is handy when you want to open the book up to a particular page and have it stay open while laying flat on the bench. I've added a few tabs to mine to quickly find key pages. Yes, the paper stock used was pretty thin and the plastic binder will eventually crack where it flexes but it's a good manual overall.

As for Loadbooks, I have a few but I'm not a big fan. The cartridge specific Loadbook is nothing more than a collection of data from various manuals. While they are useful and contain a lot of data for a single cartridge - They are NOT economical ! If you only need one or two Loadbooks, they are great. But once you buy 3 or 4, you might as well just buy an entire manual.
I'm sure that there are some reloaders that only load 2 or 3 cartridges and they would benefit from possessing 2 or 3 cartridge specific manuals. But most of us branch out out well beyond 2 or 3 cartridges.

[Texas Gun]

The powder manufactures did used to give you data for free if you see in my picture I have of Winchester pamphlet That says ball powder on it Are used to like buying Hodgens powder because they gave you some data on the cans

And the cartridge pacific books you could buy one for the few cartridges you load and it’s still cheaper than buying a Multi cartridge manual and way more data For that cartridge