• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Best reloading manual?

carbinemike

Global Moderator
Staff member
Global Moderator
"Philanthropist"
The title says it all other than maybe I should add "beginner" manual. I have brass right now for 9mm and .223 Rem. and would also do .308 at some point if that helps any.
 
Hmmm....

If you have just one source of bullets (brandwise) then I would suggest getting the bullet manufacturers manual (Sierra, Speer, Hornady, etc) that matches your bullet brand. That manual will list many different powders to use with their bullets, and will give specific O.A.L. for the ogive/bullet nose profile so that it won't contact the rifling.

If you will be trying out several different brands and weights of bullets it seems to me that the Lyman Reloading manual combined with the powder manufacturers free data is the best combination. Lyman publishes a vast combination of bullet weights and profiles by many different bullet makers, and then gives a lot of powder choices for a given weight bullet. For instance, you might have to fine tune the the .223 Remington 55-gr .224" FMJ bullet and powder data from Lyman if you have a different brand that isn't a flat base bullet but is instead a boat tail, but Lyman gets you really close and within safe limits every time.

Lyman also lists a lot of cast lead bullet reloading data which none of the other major manuals ever mention.

Sierra Reloading manual has Service Rifle load data for the .223/5.56 semi-auto AR-15, and also bolt gun data in a separate section that is higher for stronger guns. If you have Sierra bullets in mind that is a good first choice.

My first choice for beginners:

Lyman, absolutely.

Second choice:

Sierra

Third Choice:

Hornady

And free data from all the powder makers is always worth compiling and cross-comparing against whatever bound book you buy.

If it were me, I'd buy the Lyman Reloading manual and let me give you a link to the .223 Remington and .308 Winchester load data FREE from Sierra.
 
As nitesite said there really isn't any one 'best' manual.

Sierra, Speer, Hornady, Barnes, and Nosler list data that they developed using their bullets. You can use this data to work up loads for different brand bullets with similar weights however.

The Lyman 49th manual is good because they don't stick to a particular brand of bullet. They also have load data for the bullet molds they make if you cast. The Lyman 4th Cast Bullet Handbook has data for Lyman and other cast bullets.

The Lee manual is basically a compilation of everyone else's load data. However, it was published in 2003 and hasn't been updated since, so new powders/cartridges aren't listed.

The Hornady manual, like the Sierra manual, has special section for the AR-15, M1 Garand, and M1A.

My go to books are the Lyman, Hornady, and Lee. I have the Speer 14 manual but basically never use it. I'll pull it out if I want to load up something hot because the data in it goes higher than all my other manual, sometimes by quite a bit.

Since you mention that you are new to reloading, check out "The ABCs of Reloading" by C. Rodney James. I've never read it myself, but it comes highly recommended for beginners on every forum I'm on where reloading is discussed. You can find it on Amazon. The latest edition is 9.
 
nitesite said:
Lyman also lists a lot of cast lead bullet reloading data which none of the other major manuals ever mention.

Not true.

Lee lists load data for cast bullets. Hornady lists their lead bullets with their data. It probably isn't ideal since they most likely used their jacketed rounds to develop the data, but it should work. There is also the RCBS manual that lists data for their bullet molds. However, it is out of print and hard to find.

------

Also, to add on to my last post. All manuals had write ups before the load data that cover how to reload and other related topics. I like the Lyman and Lee write ups best of the manuals I have. They're especially nice if you plan on taking up casting later down the road.
 
Back
Top