randy's principles and basics are spot on for a beginner. his superb personal drawings are crystal clear. i've email corresponded with randy a fair amount, he knows his stuff. his approach to PPB cartridges is simplistic but is specific to using a grease cookie, which is prolly best for hunters, but one can simply forgo the cookie and just use a wad to make it both simpler and more realistic for the competitor (he has a page at the back of his book that briefly covers a wad-only PPB cartridge). he also doesn't talk about PPB lead alloy, but for starters most are using either 1:20 or 1:16 (the harder is typically most preferred). the concept of the book is familiarity, no more or less, and being able to build a good PPB cartridge for basic good accuracy. there is Much to understand and learn about PPB cartridges, and most of us have devised our own processes, methods, tools, and components that deviate either a little or a lot from randy's bible. i've not found a better PPB starter book than randy's.