Gentlemen:

Please recommend the reloading mauual that you think is the best for rifles. I am particularly interested in a manual that does a good job of covering the larger bore rifles used for large and dangerous game along with the larger bore rifle used for long range shooting.

Thank you.

Buliwyf

Don�t you have them all? I know I have... The A-Square manual, "any shot you want", and M.L. McPhersons book, don�t remeber the name, are my favourite english books. The A-Square manual is a must I guess for big bore afficiandos. I am fortunate enough to be Norwegian so I can enjoy "Vaapenjournalens ladebok", only in Norwegian, sorry.

Personally I could do without Lymans, Barnes and Vihtavouris books and get the data from "loadbook" or whatever the compilation is called. Tron

Speer gives me the closest to what I grt from my rifles. I don't have the A-Square manual but I've heard it is good especially for large calibers it is available through Sinclair Intl.

Buliwyf,

I'm agree with other posts the A-Square's reloading manual is on the top of the montain.

Other choice for big bore wildcat :
P.O. Ackley "Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders I/II" of Plaza Publishing (Utah)

Big Bore Rifle and Cartridges of Wolfe Publishing (Arizona)

And others standard reloading manuals like Accurate, Speer,...

I've never seen the S-Square manual but the Swift Number One has good info all the way up to 460 Weatherby and it seems to me like the A-Frame should be a major consideration for dangerous game. Word of caution though, alot of the loads seem to be compressed...
Also the Nosler Number 5. Not a whole lot of big bores but IMO an invaluable resource nonetheless and definately worth taking a look at.

O and BTW, stay the heck away from Barnes. I wouldn't touch their manual with a 10 foot pole, nor piss on it to put out a fire.

[ 01-09-2003, 00:26: Message edited by: FarRight ]

I have a lot of manuels, but the first one I check is Hornady followed by Hodgon.

One year +/- ago I took the step to get into reloading. It was recommended to get the Sierra '50th Anniversary' manual. Seems like a great book and has a really nice section on 'exterior ballistics'. The Sierra tech support line is also excellent and are always willing to help.

The largest caliber I found in this manual however is the .458 Win Mag. Since this book is a couple of years old there is no mention of the 'new' magnums, short/fat magnums etc. I am eventually going to pursue an update for this book in hopes that they will produce an addendum and not require the purchase of a whole new manual.

This is strictly FWIW and I actually would like to hear feedback from other 'experienced' loaders on their impressions of this manual.

Good luck and I'll be watching this thread for my own enlightenment...

XWind

As shown above everyone has an opinion. You are probably best to buy a bunch. You will soon find you use one more than the others, but after a bit, you find yourself using them all.
Myself, I use Hogdon and Hornady most, Speer least. But now I find I'm using Alliant quite a bit too.

M.L. 'Mic' McPherson's book is the all new 3rd edition of "Metallic Cartridge Reloading."

10,000 loads for 125 rifle and handgun calibers. I saw it for sale on eBay.

Included are 9.3x64, 375H&H, 45-70+P, 416 Rigby and Rem Mag, 458 Win Mag, 460 Wthby Mag, 50-70, 50-90, 50-140, 50BMG.

No 585 Nyati, 500 AHR and their ilk though. 12 chapters of reloading info, also.

It's the one I grab for the most, as it's a compilation of most of the others.

If you get a manual from a powder manufacturer then dont expect to see realistic data reguarding OTHER powders. Personally Im not brand loyal about powders and want the powder that best suits my needs. I like the Lyman and Speer books. Lots of straight up info in them. Nosler seems to make a good manual too. Havent tried the Sierra or Hornady manuals, but I agree that the Barnes book is FOS even though it does have some interesting attributes.

Lots of criticism about the Lee manual but its data should be mostly straightforward as well since its data was basically bootleged from rifle/ammo manufacturers.

I like the Hodgden, Speer, Hornady, Sierra, and of course Accurate.