| Reloading - Manuals, Part One | |
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This is part of the About Hunting & Shooting online Reloading Course. Check my Ammo Loading Course Index for links to other articles, and topics to be covered in future additions. Be sure to bookmark it and check back there from time to time, since I'll be adding more as time goes by.
Why Use Manuals?
In reloading, or handloading, you will find folks of many different tastes
and mindsets. As with hunting, the participants are very much individualists
who thrive on doing "their own thing." Still, just as we hunters look
to those more experienced than we are for information to keep us safe and to
help us become more successful, reloaders should do the same.
There are very few individuals who posses either the time or the resources to test a large number of powders with bullets of varying weights, in the many cartridges available to the shooting public. For that matter, most of us shooters are interested only in a relative few cartridges. The folks who compile loading manuals usually have a vested interest in, and therefore a vast knowledge of, shooting and the components involved in the loading of ammunition.
What does that
mean to us? Well, it means that manufacturers of powders must necessarily test
their products, thus compiling a lot of useful information. The same goes for
the folks who make bullets, and those who make other reloading equipment. We
can benefit from their experience by using the information they've spent their
time and money compiling, when they publish it in the form of a manual.
These
are some of my print sources of load data. Clockwise from lower right, they
are: Ken Waters' Pet Loads, Lyman 47th Reloading Handbook, Accurate Arms' Loading
Guide No. 2, Sierra Bullets Reloading Manual, Alliant Powder Reloaders' Guide,
Lyman 42nd Edition Reloader's Handbook, and Winchester Ball Powder Loading Data.
(photo by Russ Chastain, all rights reserved)
The single most important reason to use a loading manual is safety. The quantities given in a manual are given in either a "minimum/maximum" or "recommended/maximum" format... which allows us to understand the safe limits of the powder/bullet combination in that cartridge. Under- and overcharges are both dangerous, and either could result in disaster -- so follow this credo: Always Use A Manual!
On the other side of the coin, using a manual makes sense from another practical consideration besides safety -- it saves you time and money, by providing guidelines for powder use -- thereby reducing your "experimentation range." Though safety is (and should always be) the primary concern, it's useful to consider the other advantages as well.
Using a manual makes sense, but using more than one is often an even better choice. The testing done to arrive at the loads given is necessarily subjective, and often varies depending on the source. I have found that manuals sometimes vary fairly widely in their recommendations, so it's always a good idea to have alternate sources of information. Further, I have found that some manuals list a maximum that I consider well above maximum, while some list a max that is notably lower than others. Some manuals may not have info on the powder that you're using (or the powder readily available via local sources), and you can be certain that a powder manufacturer's manual will naturally include only information on their products.
Secondary and Tertiary sources of load information may also include such things as manufacturers' websites, or printed publications provided by manufacturers as a complimentary (though often abbreviated) source of load info.
I prefer to check as many references as possible when I'm formulating a load, especially if I have little or no experience with the powder/bullet/cartridge combination I'm loading. As pictured above, I rely on a number of printed sources of load info, and if I have any doubt I will not hesitate to consult online and/or local sources for more information. I readily admit that there are things I don't know, and as the old saying goes, the only stupid questions are those that go unasked by folks who value their pride more highly than their hide... well, that's my version of the saying anyhow -- when it comes to loading ammunition, and dealing with anything that goes "boom."
Enough about why we should use loading manuals, let's talk about what kind of information you can expect to find in a manual.
Manuals, Part Two - Info Found in Loading Manuals
