Best/ Most Comprehensive reloading Manual

[1911whore]

I "lost" all my relaoding Manuals and want to know your opinion on the best/ most comprehensive manuals available. I used to have the Speer, Hornaday, Sierra, Lee, Barnes, and all the caliber specific little paper bound books for each cartridge i owned Plus my personal pet load in a small note book. NOW i only have .223 and .45acp, .38 special, .357mag to load for.

[ocabj]

Lyman probably is the most rounded manual when it comes to data. Not only does it have centerfire pistol and rifle, it also has relevant cast load information for each, as well as data on rifle cartridge data shot out of pistols.

[Fjold]

For pure volume the Lee manual has the most data because they use a lot of different manufacturer's powders and bullets.

That and the Hodgdon load data from their website will cover you pretty well if you're an experienced handloader.

[Ugly Dwarf]

I learned with the Hornady manual (# 3 or # 4) on my brothers press many years ago. When I bought a press to have in my own garage, I got the Lyman (#47) manual. Both are good.

Lyman was easier for me to read / digest and was very comprehensive. I like that they don't push one specific brand of bullet, though they do talk in specifics about some of the equipment used (theirs obviously).

The load data in the Hornady manual is better than Lyman (for me) because I primarily shoot Hornady bullets. I also liked the extensive ballistic data that Hornady included in the second volume, though you can now do custom tables for your load now at Hornady's site (free). I believe they've dropped the second volume on their latest revision.

If you primarily shoot one brand of bullets (Speer, Sierra, Nosler, etc...), get that companies book.

As you probably know, you can get free load data books from most (if not all) powder companies, but those really aren't "Reloading Manuals" per se - rather tables of start / max loads for a given powder and bullet.

If I were to start over with only one book, I would start with Lyman (#49 is now out) and then get the Hornady as my second manual.

Good luck,

Dwarf

ETA - I also keep a binder with notes on load work up and batches loaded. After I test the loads, I go back and amend the notes to include accuracy and chronograph data. I have another section of the binder dedicated to load tables I've printed from the web (powder compaines and such).

[Beelzy]

Sierra and Hornady.

Lyman had errors with some makers bullet/ powder combos in the 357 loads.

[JHC]

I go with the lyman more times than anything else but always cross check with speer, sierra, and my lee cheat sheets

[glockman19]

I'm just getting into reloading. Just read the ABC's of Reloading, Have the Lee press and book on order at Midway.

I also agree with others on Hodgdon. here is a link to their sites reloading data:

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

[Darklyte27]

LEE wins again!