I believe in having Loading Manuals .....

[JimT]

Here are over 80 years of loading data ... just a part of my collection of manuals.

IMG_2504.JPG

[Scott Tschirhart]

I've got a bunch too.

But I also have a three ring binder with separate areas for different cartridges that I save some old articles.

BTW, John's new Book of the .44 has an excellent article from Brian Pierce on the .44 Special that contains more information than any of the Handloader articles he has written on the subject.

[JimT]

BTW, John's new Book of the .44 has an excellent article from Brian Pierce on the .44 Special that contains more information than any of the Handloader articles he has written on the subject.

YES!! I saw that. Really neat stuff.

[3leggedturtle]

I have manuals from 60, 70, 80 90 and 2000's. Akso have the pamphlets from 70-80 and 90's. I waited about 25mins too long to buy a 50's Lyman loading manual at a show.

[Bill in Oregon]

I used to have a bunch of Lyman, Sierra, Hornady, Nosler and Speer manuals. All I have now is the Hodgon annual magazine, A-Square's Any Shot You Want (I am not sure why), the Woodleigh manual, and of course, the Internet. I should probably include the late Ken Waters' s two volumes of Pet Loads as well.

[2ndovc]

I probably have about a dozen starting with the first Lyman manual I bought in the mid 80's along with a couple of notebooks I've written down my grandfather's loading info when I come across it on an old box of shells. There are a few more books I'd like to have as well. .

jb

[Griff]

Just added the 11th Edition of the Hornady Handbook of Cartridge reloading, with the shotshell manuals I have got 22 volumes... I started reloading in earnest in 1973 and one my first purchases was the 43rd Ed. of Lyman's Handbook. I have all the subsequent volumes, but the 44th!

[Ray Newman]

Griff: The Lyman #44, if you don’t mind the US $75.00 price:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDe ... ortby%3D17

Downloaded as a PDF file -- https://www.scribd.com/document/1667108 ... ition-1967

Reprinted (US $27.00) by Cornell Publications: http://www.cornellpubs.com/old-guns/ite ... em_id=4892

[Griff]

Ray... I believe that @ $75, I can live without it...

[Ray Newman]

Griff: I have several of the Cornell reprints. They do a good job of reprinting and the price is easy on the wallet.

[piller]

I only have 5 manuals. I do have a book by some cowboy with a few of his loads. It was the most expensive of the loading books I ever bought.
Problem is that I showed PillHer what someone was asking for it on eBay. It disappeared like the coin on one of those old time wind up banks. Her Swiss Banker claw slowly crept up and suddenly flashed. The book disappeared as if it had never existed. I have been trying to get it back from her for ten years. She keeps BSing me that she will find it and give it back. Problem is that she occasionally brings it out to have our son find a value on it. Then she cackles like a Shakespearean witch and it disappears again in a flash.
Never let your penurious spouse find out how much one of those reloading manuals is worth. Especially if she thinks the Scottish people have a bad reputation for spending too much.

[mark]

I started to reload, 1968.

The book I was using "Hornady Handbook", I still refer to it.

I cross reference everything that I reload.

Regards Mark

[marlinman93]

I also have a large collection of loading manuals that date back to before WWII in some cases. And I often reference a lot of them when reloading.

[big bear]

Something I learned the other day. If you tend to push your loads to the higher end, beware that powder characteristics change over the years . Loads in manuals from 10-20 years ago may NOT be safe with the current iteration of that powder. This never occurred to me before I read about it. But I sure all you smart fellas on here already knew this.

[piller]

I had heard that. To be truthful, I have pushed the book values once or twice. I caused hard extraction once on a bolt action. Sort of made me realize that backing off is not a sign of wimpiness.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I had heard that. To be truthful, I have pushed the book values once or twice. I caused hard extraction once on a bolt action. Sort of made me realize that backing off is not a sign of wimpiness.

Might be a sign of common sense in a world where common sense is not common!

[Scott Tschirhart]

To tell the truth I rely a great deal on the writings of John Taffin, Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, and Brian Pierce more than reloading manuals these days.

One of the problems with being in this game for a while is that I don’t really experiment much anymore. I try new guns all the time but I stick to loads that have been around for a very long time.

[Larkbill]

Something I learned the other day. If you tend to push your loads to the higher end, beware that powder characteristics change over the years . Loads in manuals from 10-20 years ago may NOT be safe with the current iteration of that powder. This never occurred to me before I read about it. But I sure all you smart fellas on here already knew this.

I ran into that. I had a load using RE-7 in my 14" .30-30 Contender for silhouette shooting that I used for several years. Then suddenly after starting a new container of powder the cases were dragging coming out. After talking to the folks at Hercules I started backing off 10% whenever I started a new lot of powder.

[piller]

I have never blown a primer, but having to put the rifle away until I got home to use a mallet on the bolt to open it caused me to get to pucker factor 9.5 in a hurry. No signs of damage. The case was still within SAAMI values. Still, having a Remington 700 in .30-06 act like a rusty Mosin-Nagant was scary. They were test loads, and I had only made up 10 of them. 9 got pulled and loaded with 2 grains less. Turned out that they were overloaded by 1.5 grains. I had gone over Max. Going down another .5 grain gave better accuracy. It has been almost 20 years since that incident, and I have paid better attention since then. Once was enough.

[JimT]

It has been almost 20 years since that incident, and I have paid better attention since then. Once was enough.

If you survive those kinds of incidents relatively unscathed you become a very careful person.