The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Can anyone recommend a good reloading manual for a beginner?
Had a introduction to reloading on a course at the weekend and would like to find out more and then give it a try.
Thanks in advance.
Paul.

Lyman 49th Reloading Handbook is the best of the bunch in my opinion.

Most however will serve you well, the Lee books should be those of last resort.

^+1 for the Lyman

dromia wrote:the Lee books should be those of last resort.

Out of curiosity why do you think that?

I've got the Lyman, Sierra, Nosler and Lee and I think that the Lyman and Lee are the best two. I am a reloading tyro though.

Firstly Lee's data is just copied from other sources including the mistakes plus some of their own. They do no load development or pressure testing so the loads generally are not full spectrum.

Secondly the Lee book tries to tie people into the Lee philosophy and lee products rather than giving a more objective approach to the subject.

So poor data and a very biased approach.

Finally the approach to boolit hardness is dubious in the extreme.

It did seem to have the most loads in it, I didn't know that they weren't all worked up by Lee. sign92

What I don't get it why all of the books are different for the same bullet / powder combination. Some are conservative and some are at the higher end.

Because no two testing equipments, methods and environments are the same.

ABCs of reloading covers the basic procedures very well IMHO, but no load data.

I have a number of reloading manuals but in my opinion the one that is the most comprehensive as regards the reloading process and equipment is the Nobel Sport reloading manual even if it only lists data for their powders. I don't particularly like the Lee manual but I do like the Lyman manual. I'm not very fussed on the ABCs of reloading.

Thanks for the replies,got a copy of the Lymans reloading book. Full of really good information. sign92