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Posted: 9/9/2026 8:07:04 PM EDT
| Is there another go to reference for reloading? I have older Hornady and Sierra manuals and the Lyman is very good but may not have a particular bullet I'm using. |
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Lots of them. Bullet and powder manufacturer's put data online; the Speer and Nosler manuals have great data for their bullets as does Barnes. You can also use sites like Ammo Guide and Load Data.com. |
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I like this this manual https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101284116?pid=639649 |
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Hodgdon, Speer, Hornady load books. Been awhile since been in book store or walmart mag/book aisle, but handloader mag & a few other reloader mags used to be monthly & yearly editions. eta: hodgdon, hornady and others have load info sites too, don't recall if have to login or create an account to see load data. |
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Originally Posted By bowmanch: I like this this manual https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101284116?pid=639649 Midwest is the only honest manual today. All the rest use MAX load as basically what should be your mid power load. Maybe Speer is still honesr... JMHO |
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
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I tend to use the powder manufacturers manuals more that the bullet oems... These days that leaves Hodgdon as a primary source. .. I find their online data to be a bit sparse for the number of brands they carry. Bullet companies tend to just list their brands, which is OK if you shoot that bullet with that powder... too limiting IMO. I've accumulated a large number of load books over the years... back in the day they used to hand them out in gun shops every year, then they started putting them online-you can still find a few searching... I have a few of the older the used ones off amazon but too many sellers think they're made of gold - I don't pay over $10 for a used manual unless its current and then I might give $12... Some of the online book archives have copies of manuals you can download... Z-Library & Anna's Archives have a few. However be wary of gun magazine tests... I used a 1996 ga article by a well known author specifically written for AR15 223 loads and almost blew my 556 gun. even reducing the article load blew primers... now I only use rag loads to check against manual data... seek and ye shall find... |
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Originally Posted By tommee-boy-72: Lee does NO LOAD DATA!!!! They just copy everyone elses data. BINGO BOB |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
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Here is the things to ponder #1 Most handgun data will be great from Lyman. You get jacketed data and cast lead bullet data. The rifle data is hit and miss so to speak with what bullet they used, which they specify. Cast lead data is good start for plated bullets and lead coated bullets #2 Barnes bullets are solid copper, with the exceptions of the Match and Varmint bullets. #3 Hornady CX data is for solid copper bullets and is separate from the conventional core and jacket bullets... #4 Hodgdon and VV online data specify what bullet and brass is used a great resource #5 Lead data in Hornady and Speer is for SWAGED lead not cast lead. #6 Hornady is does pretty decent job of having new bullet info on their web site for down load. And, Sierra is good at it tool |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
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The other thing you have to be careful about LEE is some of their data for certain cartridges they use a cartridge of similar internal volume for data. You have to look at how they publish it. It tells you but you need to look. But one thing that LEE does do right is the actual information on the overall aspect of reloading. Explaining how things are done or arrived at. Same with the Lyman books. These two go into way more detail on reloading as a whole |
| Besides the Lyman manual, the Speer and Hornady books are good. The Lee manual has good instructional value, however as stated by others the load data was gathered vs developed in-house. I've had no issues with the Lee data, however it's nice to see which rifle and barrel length were used in load development. |
| Those cheap "Load Data" books are worthless. Just invest in yourself. You never know when the internet might be down....... a few manuals for bathroom reading! |
jme and I am a NRA Endowment Member
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
R W Emerson
Global Warming Hoax Skeptic before it was cool
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I have a good start going on a reloading library: Attached File I always cross check reloading recipes between a few different manuals. But definitely if I go to the Hodgdon website first, I’ll take a screen shot of that recipe. Then I see what the hard copy manuals say. |
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Originally Posted By rn22723: Those cheap "Load Data" books are worthless. Just invest in yourself. You never know when the internet might be down....... a few manuals for bathroom reading! I take it that you mean one of these: Attached File Ohhhh…maybe about a month or two back, IIRC, I was looking for a .40 cal recipe. I could not find it in the regular manuals, but I did find it in one of those dedicated caliber specific spiral bound books. |
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Just another idea some of you might consider... While I have a number of manuals and loadbooks, my main reference is my excel tab listing all the loads from those loadbooks for that cartridge... that way I can find a bullet, powder & compare, sort, analyze etc without a lot of open books on the bench. Of course I double check for typos and they are color coded to alert me of PSI vs CUP vs Internet yahoo vs gunrag vs OEM sources... a sample 223 list  and the dropdown lets me filter in/out specific sources...  |
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I go to auctions all the time if I know the person reloaded. I search out all of their old manuals and books. I have one book dated back to the 20's. Bullseye is about the only powder in there that is still used today. But lots of these have bullet molds in there that you have never seen or heard of. And that is another thing I look for at these. I have a Yankee Gun Specialty Company 30cal Squibb bullet mold. Made in 1910 or 1911. It is becoming one of my favorite bullets for shooting under 1500fps. It is not made like most molds are now. The handles and blocks are cast from brass or bronze. Then they are milled flat on the faces then assembled. The cherry is then run into the side of each mold. There are no vent grooves on either side. But there is no problems at all with venting. It just amazes me the quality they were made back that far. Heck some of the stuff made today is still not as good as this thing is.  
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The other place to look is the Brian Enos forums. That forum is geared towards USPSA / IDPA / Steel Challenge competitors. So they have their own reloading sub-forum: Attached File So because the way those competitions are set up, there is a lot of 9mm at minor power factor threads. Then there are a lot of 9mm at MAJOR power factor threads. Then just about everything that is .40 cal or .45ACP is going to be MAJOR power factor. But I still cross reference whatever is posted online against a hard copy version manual.. Here is the link: https://brian-enos-forums.com/forum/4-general-reloading/ One of the reasons I cross reference whatever internet data against hard copy manuals is because it so easy to fat finger a number or put the decimal point in the wrong spot. |
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