I see a lot of lads referring to this manual and wondered what the source for this?

Is it the reloading data?

Or is it just a great manual and a lot of lads have it?

The 'up front' articles are excellant.

I don't know because I have the 48th, but I don't think I have been deprived of anything. They probably quote from the 47th because that is the one they have. I use a bunch of different manuals and don't really have favorites, but if someone wanted to replace one with a newer edition I would swap them.

I think it is because it came out in the 50s and reloading with smokeless powder was just becoming a big thing 5-10 years after the war.

Also at the time there were very, very few other manuals. Pacific had one, Belding & Mull had one, and Lyman had one. That was pretty much it. Speer, Sierra, and Hornady were not yet big enough successes to have manuals. Hodgdon had one, but it was only 4 typewritten pages or so long (I still have my Hodgdon's No. 1 manual), Nosler was just beginning to make bullets at all, and some of the bigger powder and ammo companies didn't even like the fact that handloaders existed...hey didn't yet really buy into the idea that handloading would INCREASE ammo sales, rather than cut into them.

Lyman, thank God, loved handloaders and had long issued loading manuals. I believe my very first one cost me 25 cents....and I still have it too.

When I started reloading about 16 years ago I was advised to start with the Lyman manual (42nd edition?) and stick to it for sometime before comparing and experimenting with other sources. It is the best advise I got & I just repeat that advise to others.

Here are my reasons

1. It is the only manual that has most powders as well as bullets
2. It is the only manual with pressure test data for each load - minimum & maximum
3. It is the only manual with cast lead bullet data included
4. The earlier chapters are easy to read and understand

I find that pressure is a very complex and sensitive subject. It does not work on a linear calculation. For example, if loading a 243 Win with 100 bullets and H4350 powder, you may try to increase the load by 1 grain (2.5%) and find that velocity goes up by 30 fps (1%) but pressure goes up by 6% or more!

Now a days I never try to achieve velocities higher than max quoted even if the pressure signs are good or if the powder charge is less than book max.

In other words, I look at all three factors - powder charge, velocity & pressure signs. The Lyman manual certainly helped me the most in understanding this bigger & more complex issue.

I have the 48th. I've found it well written, thourgh, and accurate. Since it is not from one of the bullet companies (I have a bunch of those too), I find the data more generic which fits my style of ammo assembly better.

Large format
Lots of information
Non-brand specific
Good basic reloading chapters on what to buy and how to use what you buy
It's most people's "goto" book before referring to any other
Inexpensive for the amount of info you get
More up-to-date than other manuals (Sierra is wayyyy out-of-date)

Lyman #49 is the current book

I have the 46th edition (4th printing), I didn’t find the 47th all that different. I also own the 49th though.The 49th is not a bad manual.