What is you favorite load manual?

[loadnplenty]

So what is your favorite reloading manual?

Personally, my favorite is the Ken Waters compliation published by Wolfe Publishing. Realistic data from real guns.

 

[Chuckdog]

I can't pick one.

 

[Going Postal]

I have three and use them all, I guess if I had to pick one it would be the Lyman #49. It had bullet weights that are not listed in the Hornady and Speer.

 

[Springfield 1911]

Information wise I love my lee book.

 

[Bear44]

The one published by the company that made the bullet I'm loading.

 

[Twitch2120]

The one published by the company that made the bullet I'm loading.

hope you dont use hornady bullets.

i typically go with the powder manufaturer. Hodgdon is better than Alliant. my Hornady books are conservative at best. lyman 49 has served me well. considering adding barnes, nosler and sierra.

 

[Chuckdog]

Every bullet manufacturer has different shapes and hardness. This makes the bullet manufacturer's manual the safest to use.

Your rifle is an individual too. You may not reach the Hornady max before you develop signs of excessive pressure. You also may be able to load beyond any published manual's data without any signs of excessive pressures.

While I know many manuals do appear conservative compared with others, they're using very sophisticated measurement devices now. Your rifle may allow much different seating depth, your brass may be of a type that dictates a higher or lower capacity too. There's so many variables to work with that I try to stay with the bullet manufacturer's published data.

I used to push the envelope, start at max and work up from there. If I'm using Hornady bullets I use their latest manual that I own.

I have around two dozen full blown manuals from over the years. I also have several smaller guides and other crap that I've downloaded. For many years my 8th edition Hornady was my "go to" manual. It contains load data from Hornady, Hodgdon, Alliant, and Winchester powders. It also had all the trim and O.A.L. data clearly written atop each calibers first page.

I use the Lee 2nd edition for much reference now, but I pick up my Speer, Hornady, Nosler, etc, if that's what I'm loading.

You definitely need to heed the limits on some of today's copper bullets. They can build pressures much different to cup and core bullets.

If I'm loading Winchester, Remington, or other bullets that I may not have data from, I try to use the data from bullets with a profile as similar as possible and work up.

Lately I've been loading a lot of Remington 180 grain for .308/7.62 AR's. They are virtually identical in shape to their 180 grain Hornady counterparts, so that's the data I'm using. I'm not loading max either and they're shooting great.

I'm with Bear on the latest data from your chosen bullets manufacturer.

 

[loadnplenty]

I like the PET LOADS mainly because the articles that go with the load data. It's not just graphs. I have all the other manuals also and use them for reference as well.

 

[tas6691]

I like Pet Loads but the data is mostly dated and that needs to be taken into consideration. For one, there are powders and bullets available since the articles were written, and sometimes powders have changed and should be reduced. Having said that, I reference it, 4 or 5 other data manuals and usually the powder and bullet makers internet data. Then I get confused from data overload for a bit...then I start low and work up.

 

[FredAlert]

I tend to use the manuals for whatever vendor components that I'm using. Most of the time that means Hornady or Hodgedon. I don't know if it's because I lived in Grand Island, Nebraska for 15 years and did alot of work at the hornady plant or just that I got comfortable using them in all my competition loads but I can't imagine using any other bullets unless I have no other choice.