Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

Best handloading book

eric.hofmann
Hi Experts,

IYHOs, what is the single-best, most-comprehensive book on handloading out there? In other words, if handloading were a religion, what book would be it's bible?...

Thanks!
0

Comments

6 comments

Date Votes
  • eastwood44mag
    All my shooting buddies swear by Lyman's.
    0
  • zink
    I've had really good luck with Speer. It seems to list the "higher velocity" loads for the calibers it pertends to.

    Lance
    10's RULE
    [:D]
    0
  • jeanders
    Modern Reloading by Richard Lee. Most complete.
    0
  • BowHuntur777
    Go with either Lyman or Speer. Better yet both.[8D]
    0
  • cussedemgun
    Mr. Hofmann;

    truth is one source will not give the whole picture, just as one news source does not tell all sides of a story.

    my reloading referances are:
    Speer #7 & #11
    Nosler #1 & #4
    Hornady #3
    Sierra handgun manual #3
    Sierra rifle & pistol
    Hodgdon's #23
    Accurate smokeless powder
    Lyman #47
    Ramshot powders #1 & #2
    Winchester-Western ball powder loading data
    Cartridges of the world #10
    & last but not least,
    Pocket manual for shooters & reloaders by Parker O. Ackley

    by using at least 3 books, you will get a fairly well rounded idea of the safety part of loading. each book begins with a "how to" section and all are slightly different but equally interesting & informative. as stated "higher velocity" is not a reason to reload. if you need more, you have the wrong gun & all the reloads in the world won't change that. by reading the "foreward" & "introduction to reloading" sections of any manual you can, you will gain a feel for the care behind compiling all the data.
    primary concern in loading is safety-read the introduction!
    next comes accuracy & unless one is very lucky, many different bullet, powder, & primer combo.s must be tried.
    economy is third in reasons to reload. you don't need premium bullets for plinking or practice.

    "all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten" Robert Fulghum


    anyone who says "nobody needs a full auto" has never been in front of a brown bear charge
    0
  • 1KYDSTR
    I have 15 loading manuals of different vintages and don't consider myself a collector. Most are very good, but I find the newer Sper books to be the most usable and easy to understand as far as COL's etc. go. As far as the handloaders Guru goes?...Ken Waters is without equal! Has written hundreds of articles for Modern Handloader magazine and there is a compilation book printed that puts forth alot of his cartridge evalutions. His work makes the word "exhaustive" seem way too faint an adjective!!! I strongly urge you to read just one of these articles on perhaps a better known round you are familiar with and then try to tell me you didn't learn something!! I thought I had a good grip on various powders and bullets with the 225 Winchester until I read his article on it and lo and behold...my groups fell by 50%. The rest are good, but he is in my opinion by far the best!

    Some of the older manuals have really stout loads. Compare a 1950's Lyman manual with last years Speer book in the same cartridge and it's hard to believe they are talking about the same cartridge!

    "When I cease learning...I'm dead"(Me)
    "Power corrupts...Absolute power corrupts absolutely"(Descartes?)
    "History is written by winners"(Patton)
    "You get a lot farther with a kind word and a gun than you do with a kind word alone!"(Al Capone)
    "There is nothing lower than the human race...except the French" (Samuel Clemens)
    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity