Free reloading manuels

tlo7mm · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:09 pm Post subject: Free reloading manuels

I have been away for a while cuz I went back to school but I had to come on long enough to some bragging ha ha.

A friend gave me some of her husbands reloading manuels. I recieved a cash load of books, several old ones and a few fairly new ones. I even got some that I have never heard of. All in all a pretty good deal. I even got some cool magazines and books including a Bear atlas. I also got this one I am going to have my wife and daughter look through as it shows best locations on an animal to shoot.

Vince · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 11:44 pm Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

BONUS mate...nothing better than scoring a heap of good books.

Cheers, Vince

Pumpkinslinger · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:16 am Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

You can never have too many good books! I keep the newest reloading manuals on my bench and the old ones on a bookshelf nearby, just for reference.

fnuser · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 2:04 pm Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

I love the older stuff, it seems like even the old catalogs contained as much information as some of the books we pay money for nowadays. I have picked up old shooters bibles that have all kinds of info. And the illustrations were draftmen's sketches that were as accurate as any photo. When I was trying to figure out what load my old m.s. sights were regulated for I found an old Steyr catalog that listed the bullet weight and velocity of the 8x56 round it was chambered for. No big trick after that.

PaulS · Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 8:19 pm Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

I have some very old manuals, books and references that I keep for the older cartridges but I try to keep the library up-to-date with new manuals too. Most of the new books have the revised data that comes from the modern PSI test pressures and better for the guns and shooters. I also keep the Sierra hot-line number handy so I can get questions answered about powder charge reductions in my old favorites. It seems that a few of the charge drops are due to cheaper guns not tolerating the old favorites as well as the Ruger that I shoot.
I have checked and for the most part drops in charges are most often due to better pressure data and not to avoid civil action in court.

English Mike · Posted: Sun May 13, 2012 10:05 pm Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

One thing I've noticed is how more recent books have lower maximum loads than the older versions.
Methinks this has more to do with lawyers than loads suddenly becoming unsafe.

PaulS · Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 12:11 am Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

Actually Mike, when the ammo makers and SAAMI started using the piezo-electric pressure sstem they found that a lot of the old trusted loads were producing peak pressures well above the "maximum" pressures for the guns that were using them. A host of guns were inspected and most were found to have micro-fractures thrughout the chambers. Nothing that would cause a catastrophic failure but over time it was ruining guns. They built new data for reloaders that didn't have peak pressures above safe limits.
There are exceptions to that - like the 357 magnum and loads. Those have been reduced to acommodate the weaker guns that are chambered for the cartridges. (medium frame Smiths are a good example)
The maximum pressures have dropped for the 357 magnum and the 357 maximum because of the weaker guns and the top strap errosion with the 50000 psi 357 Maximum.

Elvis · Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 1:00 am Post subject: Re: Free reloading manuels

Bonus on the book score. Nothing like a good read and the speil at the start of the data is always a great read and gives us something to dream on.