whats your favorite vintage loading manual

[pa.frank]

Mine happens to be Lyman 45.... and I have them going back to Lyman 43 in think up to date. and every other bullet/powder manufacturers manual as well.

I've gone through 3 Lyman 45's so far in the last 50 years,,, as they fall apart, (the weakness with this book) I have been lucky enough to find a replacement in good shape..

So whats your go-to manual?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Not necessarily "go-to",
but my favorite vintage manual is the "Professional Loading of rifle, pistol, and shotgun cartridges including pressures and velocities and Reloading Data for, Gun and Ammunition Manufacturers, Professional and Amateur target shooters, Game Hunters and Guides" - George Leonard Herter 1970 Revised 4th Ed.

[Plinkmeister]

I like Speer #7. No particular reason, it's just the first one I started with.

[Bryan Austin]

My most favorite is the load chart sheet wrapped around the powder can from 1899!
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[oldleadhead]

Another vote for the Lyman 45th edition...

[Eddie Southgate]

Lyman #45 and #40

[curiousgeorge]

Lyman 45 and Hornady 2nd Edition. The two I started with. I have Lyman manuals back into the 1950s. Pretty neat to see almost all the pistol and rifle data with cast lead bullets, hardly any jacketed.

[15meter]

Probably Phil Sharpe's book on reloading. Lots of obscure weird info. Or Hatcher's Notebook. Not a reloading manual, but a lot of old weird info.

[Noah Zark]

The one I started with, Lyman 45.

Ken Waters' Pet Loads and supplements have been indispensible.

Plus Sharpe's and Narramore's books.

I have a number of books that once belonged to Phil Sharpe, one of which is Hatcher's Notebook. The margins are annotated in red pencil by Sharpe, chiding Hatcher for mistakes, and recording his agreement and dissent with various points Hatcher made. Sharpe was known amongst his peers to insufferably opinionated.

Noah