by John Young
Reloading metallic cartridge ammunition is an enjoyable and productive hobby that contributes positively to self-sufficiency. In addition, it permits the creation of custom ammunition for greater accuracy while making it possible to shoot less expensively.
As a long-time and avid participant in hunting and competitive shooting disciplines; I have been reloading for about fifteen years both to save money and to make ammunition that is better than money can buy.
Because times and methods can change, I usually read a new book pertinent to reloading about once a year. This year, the lucky author was Bill Chevalier, whose book, “The ABC’s of Reloading, 8th Edition” earns my highest endorsement.
Reloading can be a fun, safe and money-saving hobby; but only if it is done correctly. Failure to follow proper procedures — and to understand the reasoning for those procedures — can leave you with inaccurate or inoperative ammunition at best and dangerous loads that can cause personal injury or death at worst. When an activity, done improperly, can have “death” as one of the consequences, a good manual is in order. Chevalier’s book fits this need admirably.Most reloading manuals are produced by manufacturers of powder, bullets, or reloading equipment. As a result, these books, while often quite good, tend to demonstrate techniques using the components or equipment of the manufacturer.
Because most reloading manuals are primarily published to provide information on how much powder to put in the case for a given bullet weight and caliber, the section covering proper procedures is often abbreviated.
In addition, information published by a bullet manufacturer can often differ from that published by a powder manufacturer; leaving the reloader who is relying on that data rather confused.
This is where The ABC’s of Reloading comes in. Rather than publishing load data, this book instead delves into considerable depth on every topic of importance to reloading; providing everything from historical insight to the latest research. This book exhaustively explores every component used in reloading, proper procedures that are backed up with principles that can be applied to any manufacturer’s equipment, and even considerations for loading ammunition for specific types of hunting. In fact, there is hardly an area that isn’t covered in the book’s thirty three chapters.
And, along with all this, the author answers questions that plague the new reloader — such as how to resolve data conflicts between bullet and powder manufacturers.
Right now, due to folks stocking up in anticipation of upcoming restrictions on firearms and ammunition, it is hard to get primers for reloading. Manufacturers are dealing with months of backlog. So reloaders are a bit frustrated in that regard.
Nevertheless, for the long term, reloading can give you better ammunition than money can buy, customized to your firearms and purposes, and for less expense. And if you are interested in reloading, I can recommend no better book than this.