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Do you guys buy the manufacturer books for each brand of bullet you shoot?
I have only fed my .308 Barnes TTSX (hunting) and Hornady Interlocks (practice). Bought the Barnes and Hornady manuals when I started loading and they have served me well.
I am going outside those brands (Sierra and Berger) for my 25-06 and am torn on buying the Sierra (which is older) and Berger (which would be for just the 115VLD) manuals.
Thoughts?
Most of the powder manufacturers have online data for most chamberings, although bullet selection can be sparse. Choosing a bullet that they have tested that weighs the same as what's in your hand, dropping 10% from their maximum and working up is usually sound advice, as long as you don't do that on their low power "reduced loads".
Berger will send load recommendations via email, and Sierra is currently working on new load data for their next edition. I don't have room on my bench for all the books one could buy, and instead, I've made a spreadsheet from all the manufacturers data that I've found online for the cartridges I reload for.
Everyone should have the berger manual. Lots of good reading in it.
as for load data. Hogden has a website with a lot of data for Imr and Hogden powders. I buy the loading manuals but more for bullet data than load data. Find some bullets similar start in the middle and work up. Every rifle barrel is unique. Sure the classic loads work but something else might really shine in your barrel. That is the fun of reloading.
OP-
Please don't get frustrated. There is a big difference in starting and max loads in various books and will further vary from powder manufacturers, bullet manufacturers and "neutral" publishers. Pick a VERY popular powder, a very popular caliber and a very popular bullet and see for the range you will see, i.e. .223 Varget, 75 gr. Hornady A-Max from one to the other.
All great points. Just mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't being crazy in thinking that I can use resources currently available to me to work up loads. I always start low and work up when building a new load or even changing a component from an existing load.
There is certainly a range of max loads out there if you look for a given powder, bullet, primer, case combo. I am sure some of it is the publishers being "safe" and some of it is lot-to-lot variance in the components.
I'll email Berger for load data, that's a great tip. Guessing the book does have some interesting reading in it as well, so it's on my list to buy in the future.
Will hold on the Sierra manual until new version comes out.
Until then it's what is in my books and online as well as common sense!
I have 13 manuals total, counting bullet and powder manufacturers(a few shotgun books in there also). After eyeballing the Quickload program for about 2 years, I just bit the bullet and ordered it yesterday. So many bullet / powder / case / primer combinations that you end up just making a educated questimate using book data.
That being said.......
I reference Hodgdon's Online all the time. Also Alliant Powders site.
I like the variety of powders shown in Lee Precisions manual.
I like the way case specs / drawings are shown in the Hornady book.
Berger has an excellent description of col adjustments.
Barnes is a little lite on data, but most(if not all) of theirs is available online.
Nosler is nice and tells you what the most accurate load they tested was.
Usually I can find a pdf online for specific calibers out of the sierra data.
The gun guide style books seem to be a compilation of data from several of the above sources.
Some, or most of the bullet manufacturers use quickload to generate their data. They may not shoot the combination that is in there book.
I am always leery of forum posted data found online. Generally if the data does not reasonably resemble data from a powder / bullet manufacturer, I will not trust it.
I also figure that book COL is almost worthless. Whenever I start loading a new caliber / bullet, I measure for COL to lands. Usually start at .005-.010" off lands and go from their.
You can use any source you want. Book data isn't a singularity, it's merely a reference point. Just don't intermix data for dis-similar bullet construction.
I agree the Berger book is a volume of knowledge, regardless of using them.
Here is your example for the day:
140gr Nosler Custom Comp Vs. 140gr Berger Hybrid.
Same charge, Same distance to lands, same outcome.
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