Your go to reloading manuals

[Goodknight]

New to reloading. Question? If you could only have on reloading manual which one would it be?

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[CRBMoA]

My 0.02.

 

[bionic knees]

the newest you can get your hands on, speer, sierra, nosler, hornady, variety is the spice of life. not a bad idea to have a few older manuals on hand as well.

 

[DizzyJ]

New to reloading. Question? If you could only have on reloading manual which one would it be?

Why only one?

 

[po18guy]

My 0.02.

View attachment 1102074

Time for me to upgrade. Just placed my 1978 Lyman into a 3 ring binder. As an aside, I wish Hodgdon would re-introduce HS-5, as there were some excellent small caliber loads using it.

Manuals:
Sierra is excellent.
Accurate "used to be" very good - probably still is.
Speer is a standby.

 

[WillametteWill]

In my experience and humble opinion, reloading with only one manual would scare me. I have found too many conflicts that were resolved by looking through multiple sources. Great advice by @bionic knees to have some old ones on hand as well (note: they tend to list hotter loads the older they are). These can often be had cheap at gun shows. Remember, many are available free on the internet, usually from powder companies. With Alliant you can download the guide for free or they will also send you a hard copy at no charge (just received one a few months ago). Hodgdon has good info online as well. Accurate (which is now part of Hodgdon I believe) has free guides as well. As for hard copy guides, here would be my choices:

Hornaday, Speer, Sierra guides (Hornady is my favorite)
Lyman as @CRBMoA suggested
Lee guide (has some different powder uses usually)
The annual guide from Hodgdon (about $10 - $12, updated annually)
Past years from all the above
If you are looking at loading a specific caliber or two, the guides from Loadbooks can be helpful as they source from many guides.

Keep the questions coming! There are great resources on this forum. If you pick up one of the guides from bullet companies all the "stuff" in the front is great reading to get a deeper and valuable understanding on the process.

Enjoy the hobby!

 

[Local Loader]

Multiple manuals are best unless you have a specific bullet maker you plan on using. Most makers have their own loading manuals. You can find a lot of them for free.

 

[P7M13]

Modern Handloading, George Nonte

 

[ma96782]

For me....my "go to manual"......

The old and reliable Speer 10th edition.

Why?

Because....
It's not like I'm shooting some "new exotic" cartridge or with some newly made exotic named powder.

Then, I'm used to it......
Large font/print, how it's set up (for the data that I'm looking for).

Whatever. BUT, But, but......you could at least get a newer edition.

Rrrrrright.....and I could also get a newer GF too.

Aloha, Mark

 

[HighlandLofts]

The three standards are
Lee
Hornady
Lyman.
you can buy these on eBay.
Being new I'd buy the Lyman first.
Hornady second
and then lee, but be prepared to read over & over again how he is the top dog of reloading.
Quite honestly I can stand how many times he slaps his own back over & over again.
It gets old very fast.
The only reason I have his manual is because some one gave one to me. I wouldn't waste my own money on his self glamor.

Over the years I bought a lot of used reloading manuals off of ebay and off of the reloading classifieds on the different gun forums.

When seeking advice on these forums have them snap a picture of what you need from their manual and post the picture for you.

I don't trust information unless I see it was published in a manual.

Read your manuals, stick to there published information and recheck that information you need, take it SLOOOOOW and be safe.

 

[thorborg]

"New to reloading" as a qualifier, I would go with Lyman.
Unlike a few of the others I have, Lyman, at least the older ones, speaks in beginner talk, and do a good job of covering the mechanical details of a large variety of loading equipment and how they work (not just dies) while others may assume you have a modicum of preexisting knowledge, familiarity, and vernacular..
I now enjoy many (old and a few new) though a long time has passed since I had a "go to" manual as I routinely consult all of them when starting on a new adventure.
The worst manual I have, and not for the content I may add, is the Sierra manual. My gripe is the ring binder, is for me, a clumsy and difficult space waster. I do like the internal layout and caliber specific history added to the loads offered, if only it was in a bound book form. It is not easy to peruse, and the concept of being able to remove a page I have never found useful. For these reason only, I tend to shun it and open it as a last resort or if using Sierra bullets. You have to fiddle with the darn thing just to close it up.

 

[Goodknight]

My 0.02.

View attachment 1102074

I have this coming!

 

[Goodknight]

the newest you can get your hands on, speer, sierra, nosler, hornady, variety is the spice of life. not a bad idea to have a few older manuals on hand as well.

Thank you

 

[CRBMoA]

Great!

To parrot thorborg, the Lyman manual is geared to be an introduction to process, not just a recipe book.

I am glad you started this thread - I like the Lyman, but had not considered multiple texts to cross-check each other.

Learn sumpin' erry day!

 

[Goodknight]

For me....my "go to manual"......

The old and reliable Speer 10th edition.

Why?

Because....
It's not like I'm shooting some "new exotic" cartridge or with some newly made exotic named powder.

Then, I'm used to it......
Large font/print, how it's set up (for the data that I'm looking for).

Whatever. BUT, But, but......you could at least get a newer edition.

Rrrrrright.....and I could also get a newer GF too.

Aloha, Mark

LOL thank you for sage advice!

 

[Goodknight]

Great!

To parrot thorborg, the Lyman manual is geared to be an introduction to process, not just a recipe book.

I am glad you started this thread - I like the Lyman, but had not considered multiple texts to cross-check each other.

Learn sumpin' erry day!

Agree! I have the Lee manual and the caliber specific cheat books. Also have tapped into the Accurate and Hodgden sites. My Lyman should arrive tomorrow. I sought out the Lyman because I want to learn peticulars of casting bullets. Not loading anything exotic just the bread and butter rounds. My philosophy on guns is don't buy it if you cant afford to feed it!

 

[oremike]

Lyman is what I recommend for starters, after that the correct number is just one more.

 

[robsha]

Primarily Hornady 10 and Lyman 50. Individual issues of "Handloader Magazine".

 

[TTSX]

I like my Hornady manual, though weight for weight, it's load data is lighter than my nosler, speer and Barnes data. I especially like that they not only give min/Max load, but incremental steps between and theoretical velocities at each

 

[P7M13]

My gripe is the ring binder,

My Hodgdon manual is a ring binder, and I have never looked to buy another one of theirs since.