Older reloading manuals

I have 4 or 5 older reloading manuals that I have replaced with new.
I hate to throw them away.
What do you guys do with them?

I collect them. Oldest is 1953. Lyman-Ideal Handbook. Very interesting reading. Different words used to describe shooting. Shooters used to "Bang off" factory ammo for the brass. How old are you talking?

Older manuals are desired by many. You could sell them. Sometimes there is information in them not available in newer manuals. DON"T throw them away!
If nothing else,, make them a Karma.

As Contender stated, don't discard them. I have Hornady's #1 through #10, Sierra's #1 through #6, Speer's #6 through #15, Lyman #43 through #50, and Hodgdon's, Nosler's, Swift's, Accurate , and Barnes'. And I have read every page finding editing errors in even the new Sierra manual. Possibly, the most useful tome is Ken Water's Pet Loads 1000+ page book. It's always my starting point when I work with a new cartridge. Bob! :mrgreen:

I just keep them on the shelf with my newer ones (I can't remember ever throwing away a book of any kind). I just found an "as new" copy of a Speer #9 that I happily paid $16.00 + shipping for, and after I check out the loads from the '70s, it will go next to my Speer #11. (BTW, I found some loads for Green Dot in 380 Auto in the older manual that are not in newer manuals. I have some Green Dot that needs using and a new to me 380, so I'll have to look into that)...

Good grief!!! Would you guys want your doctor using old manuals to tread your diseases today?
It is amazing what people collect. ...and I guess it doesn't hurt to have some history and I never like to throw things away and in fact I think I have got all my old manuals as well. ....nevermind. :mrgreen:

I have just about all the Speer manuals missing two I think. All the Hornadys up to #9 all the Noslers up to 7,, quite few older Ideal and Lymans as well. Only reason I haven't bought the latest is there's no more damn room on the shelves. Many times on other sites as well as this one I see requests for data because someone got hold of a long discontinued powder. Most of the time I can find the data. Case in point, a small town PD wanted to load practice ammo for their 9MMs. They had a 50 pound cannister of DuPont 5066 and no data. One of the cops asked me if I knew of any data and I said I'd look. I did. I copied the data and in thanks they gave me about 2 or 3 pounds of that powder. It took me quite a while to shoot it all up in .38 Spl. and .45 ACP. Didn't get a 9MM anything until long after the supply of 5066 ran out. Charges for .38 Spl. and .45 ACP were similar to Unique, usually a few tenths grain lighter. I'm not sure why it got dropped as it was a pretty good powder for it's purpose. For the record this was about 45 some odd years ago. Thing is, I had the data. 8)
Paul B.

I keep them. Just another reference to check against. Also some times, you might find a powder listed in one, and not in another.

I'm going to keep them.
Thanks,

Most of my powders are from the 80's or 90's, so I still use the "old" books.

AJGUNNER said:

Most of my powders are from the 80's or 90's, so I still use the "old" books.

Click to expand...

Yes, but many are still in use and the data has changed. Sometimes a a hotter level and sometimes the load has been downgraded to a slightly lower level I just bought five of the latest manuals yesterday. The only one I didn't get was the Sierra because they were out of stock. Some of the stuff in the new Nosler and Speer manual are quite a bit hotter than their previous editions. Some of the stuff in the Hornady is slightly less. You decide.
Paul B.

Old manuals provide some bit of insight into technological improvements and lawyer involvement.

Old manuals do give some some details that could help, IE Hodgdon's 26 edition used a 6 inch barrel Ruger in 357 magnum, where the current data uses a 10 inch barrel. Also have Lyman's 47TH manual, which have given me some excellent groups in various calibers.

Keep them. I keep everything ... cause you never know when you might need it.

Unless there's a cartridge in one that none of your newer manuals nor the online sources have, old manuals should ONLY be used as a historical curiosity or for the non-data sections. Essentially none of today's powders are the same as they were even 20 years ago, nevermind 30 to 60 years ago, even if they have the same name.

I'll be hauling a couple manuals and some other older shooting-related books I've recently replaced over to the old folks home. There's an audience there for them sometimes.

I've read, in more than one place, that powders are kept within 4% of the "standard" performance for that powder from lot to lot. Unless a powder is "reformulated" (rather than just "new and improved) and it is specified as reformulated, the Unique (or whatever) I purchased in 2015 will be pretty darn close (4%) to the Unique I bought in '88...

The main difference between old and newer manuals is new, more accurate measuring/testing equipment...

^^^^^^^^ Powder changes? Oh, Yes!! Years ago I used 2400 for loading .22K Hornet, but after purchasing a couple new manuals I found that for current loads there was no need for the K Hornet as the 'new' New Hornet required far less powder than an old manual called for. Even the new .22K-Hornet load would fit inside Winchester cases and have room left over, thus no need to fire-form K-Hornet cases. So, I have a 1957 vintage Winchester 43 bolt gun with an oversize chamber, Not too long, jut too fat :?

rangerbob said:

As Contender stated, don't discard them. I have Hornady's #1 through #10, Sierra's #1 through #6, Speer's #6 through #15, Lyman #43 through #50, and Hodgdon's, Nosler's, Swift's, Accurate , and Barnes'. And I have read every page finding editing errors in even the new Sierra manual. Possibly, the most useful tome is Ken Water's Pet Loads 1000+ page book. It's always my starting point when I work with a new cartridge. Bob! :mrgreen:

Click to expand...

rangerbob--does Sierra #6 have data on 25/45 sharps and 450 Bushmaster??
Thanks

I emailed Sierra couple weeks ago and never got response.

Some time ago I asked my local library if they had a phone book from about 10 yrs ago. I got the deer in the headlights look.

Ask a business about looking at their CURRENT phone book to find someone--same response usually. Not all have iphones.