Well, the 204 Ruger may not have been in the 48th edition of the Lyman manual, but it is most assuredly in the 49th edition. It must have come out sometime in the 5 years since this thread was started.

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Ask me about QDMA.

A while back I was checking out new reloading manuals. I was intending on buying the Lyman mostly from the favorable feedback from this site. Looking through a display copy I noticed there wasn't a very complete selection of powders on some of my favorite rounds. Also many of the newer powders weren't even listed. Ended up buying the 8th edition of Hornady's manual.

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NRA Life Member

Lyman is picky thatta way. They only publish a selcted few powders for a given bullet/cartrige combination. They've always been that way.

I don't know if they test 'em all and publish just the best ones?

RJ

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Keep your powder dry and when you go afield take the kids and please..........wear your seat belts.
I am the ORIGINAL recoil junky, often imitated, but never equalled.
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AS I understand it, Lyman is one of the few companies that actually does pressure testing data for all the loads. If they don't list the powder with the listed bullet, the powder probably isn't one of the best options available.

Lyman is hands down the single best manual out there if you don't want to buy 15 different manuals. I have called them more than once and asked for reloading data that wasn't published yet and they have been very helpful. I even had a ballistic engineer get my prefered list of componants and do a load test for me. I got the data back in a week or two. I don't know many places that would run reloading tests if asked.

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"I don't drink or smoke, I spend my money on gunpowder and gasoline."

I've gotten help from Sierra's tech line, which I thought was good. Having someone work up a load and then contact you makes a big plus for Lyman.

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NRA Life Member

If you don't have a reloading manual.. the one you can get a hold of is the best.
I bought mine some time back in the 70s they work just fine.

Jim

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Cast bullets are the true and rightous path to shooting bliss

I bought a new one because there were rounds like the .204 and 300 WSM I load for and you won't find that data in the old manuals. Since Vol 2 (1973) of Hornady's manual there has been many new rounds and powders added. Also some of the data has been revised. I still keep the old ones around but consider a new manual a good investment.

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NRA Life Member

Monty
I'm a stick in the mud. The calibers I'm loading for have been around for 50 plus years and the powders I use are older yet.
The IMR powders seem to fill the bill for rifles and the Hercules powders seem to take care of the handguns with cast bullets. When I feel adventuresum I'll try some Hodgden rifle powders like H4931 and such.
Every once in a while I'll do something like make a 375 Whelen or buy a 405 Winchester rifle and I'll need to help but I can find it on line.

jim

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Cast bullets are the true and rightous path to shooting bliss

Well, now that this old thread is dusted off and running again, has anyone ever used the reloading manuals written by Nick Harvey? They really seem to think a lot of Nick over at Hawk Bullets. I have never seen one of his manuals. Anybody?

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"A gun is like a parachute.



If you need one, and don't have one,



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Couldn't agree more. The best manual is ALL of them. The single most useful is Lyman.

Looking at the Speer #14, it does not have data on the .204 .

Always good to have at least 3 or 4 manuals to compare when you are starting a new load. I have used Speer, Lyman, Hodgdon, Hornady and a few others. The Lyman cast bullet manual is great if you get into shooting cast loads later. If you compare a given load between several manuals you will sometimes see quite a discrepancy between them, sometimes several grains difference. Some manuals are more conservative, some list hotter loads. My favorite is the Hornady manual, and the current one ( 8th Edition ) lists most all of the newer calibers.

stripe I think fellow looaders on her have more than adequately pointed ou in the direction you need to go to find the likely load but if you have just started loading then there are many other variables and one book I have which although written back in the late eighties still contains some very relevant advise. The book is "The Complete Handloader" by John Wootters, when it came out it was around $30 but you may be able to pick one up somewhat cheaper and I think you will find it a good read. Best of luck with that 204, my colleague has one and raves about it. I chose the 22BR as here in the UK we cannot just go buy another gun, but I would very much have liked a 204 as well. May I take this chance to wish you a happy and healthy new year to come.
Oooops only just noted the originalpost date Still a book worth adding to your library.

I have the Lyman 48th edition, and just ordered the 49th edition after reading this post. Other than that I look online at powder companies data. The Lyman is a very informative read. I have never used any other type, so I do not have anything else to compare it to. But you will be satisfied with the Lyman.

I will say the 48th edition lists 2 pages worth of loads for the 7mm Rem SA ultra Mag but only a few loads for 7mm WSM. I hear lots on the wsm line, but little to none on the SAUM stuff. You may find other examples of popular cartridges with little data, but I dunno.

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God Bless,

EW

I've bought several reloading manuals over the years, and downloaded data from a couple powder manufacturers websites. All are useful.I really do like Lee. I reload for my .40 S&W, a ruger 7mm-08, and my son's .223. With the 7mm-08, I also cast and load lead bullets (wheel weights). His information for developing reduced loads is very helpful.

Have fun,

MichiganMike

While not really a reloading manual, Cartridges of the World has a lot of data on factory loads, and optimum loads for old obsolete cartridges that aren't available in some modern manuals. CoW is also a good source for data on certain wildcats which are seldom found in manuals by Lyman, Hornady, ect.