Reloading Manual

[JohnMOhio]

I was about to order a Sierra Manual and noticed that it was published in 2003. It seems to me that a manual this old is not very much up to date. Any suggestons?

Thanks,
John

[Litt'le Lee]

tHE ONE AND ONLY loading manual--SPEER- STARTED IT ALL-1954

[Hefights]

Its ok, its a good manual, and especially if you are going to shoot sierra bullets. The Lyman manual is a very good one. Hodgdon is also good.

[Tuna]

Out of all the manuals I have, I find the Lyman to be the best over all followed by Hornady. The one I use the least is the Speer as they have some transposed data in it. If your not up on a cartridge you may be loading you might miss the powder charges are reversed between two different bullet weights. Granted it's only on a couple of different cartridges. I don't know if they have fixed that in the later ones.

[psteinmayer]

I'm using a Hornady manual that's about 20 years old... and I'm doing just fine. My backup is the load data contained with the individual Lee die sets. The date of the manual is irrelevant as long as the data is still valid.

[BudT]

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

[JohnMOhio]

Thanks to all for your comments. I was looking for some updated info for reloading the .223/5.56 with a 1:8 twist. Most of the manuals I have (8 of them) are about 10 years old or older. In fact one, the Speer is dated 1963 and the Lyman is even older than that. I do have Hodgen, IMR and a couple of the others that fall into the 10 year age bracket. Just thought something newer might provide some new information.

Again, thanks to all.

John M.

[Parashooter]

All the major powder manufacturers/marketers have websites with reasonably current information including many of the newest powders and cartridges. Visit them to find reliable information on using their products.

http://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/index.aspx
http://www.accuratepowder.com/load-data/
http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp
http://www.lapua.com/en/products/reloading/vihtavuori-reloading-data
http://www.norma.cc/en/Ammunition-Academy/Loading-Data/

[joem]

Most all manufactures have load data on their web sight. Even if you have the manual it's nice to double check on line and see if there's anyy difference.

[Hefights]

There is no such thing as too much load data.

[PhillipM]

Thanks to all for your comments. I was looking for some updated info for reloading the .223/5.56 with a 1:8 twist. Most of the manuals I have (8 of them) are about 10 years old or older. In fact one, the Speer is dated 1963 and the Lyman is even older than that. I do have Hodgen, IMR and a couple of the others that fall into the 10 year age bracket. Just thought something newer might provide some new information.

Again, thanks to all.

John M.

For your black rifle go to the new jersey highpower site and click reloading stuph. There are quite a few service rifle loads listed.

http://njhighpower.com/

[BlitzKrieg]

For 40 years , using Lyman and Hornady reloading books (always use the current editions), I have been well served.
Have had Sierra and Speer books but long ago dropped them as value added was NIL.

Today, I still use current Lyman and Hornady books but also cross check information on sites that Parashooter listed.
These sites are invaluable and should become part of your load development references.

At times, I have had to call Hornady and discuss a starting load for a particular powder and weight of bullet: have had great feedback from them.
There are powders and bullet weight loads not published and when you run into that, a call to Hornady will set you right. I have had this
happen many times for Varget powder. Especially for older military calibers long obsolete. Like 7.5 Swiss for instance.

[jjrothWA]

Still using Sierra and Hornady manuals from late 70's, BUT supplemented with the newer specific load manuals and downloads from the websites.

Did get copies from Sierra Techs for both the 7.62 NATO and 5.56 loads specific for Service rifles, in early 90's.

Good Luck.

[JohnMOhio]

Again my thanks to all for the information you provided. Will bookmark those links.

John

[JBinIll]

tHE ONE AND ONLY loading manual--SPEER- STARTED IT ALL-1954

Actually it was the Ideal Manufacturing Company about 1893 or 94 with their Ideal Reloading Manual No.1.:wave: