Hodgdon's 2008 Annual Manual

[Rocky Raab]

I previously posted that the 2008 edition of Hodgdon's Annual Manual would soon be out. I received a copy of it yesterday, and here are my initial impressions:


The Hodgdon Annual Manual for 2008 is out, and it clearly addresses the dissatisfaction that many reloaders voiced with the previous edition. The 2007 manual, as you may recall, was limited to the top 50 most popular rifle and pistol cartridges, plus a comprehensive shotshell data section. Many reloaders were taken aback that their favorite but less-popular cartridge(s) weren’t included.
Those reloaders will not have a similar complaint this year – although shotshell reloaders may. By my count, the 2008 manual contains data for a whopping 227 different cartridges, 144 rifle and 83 handgun. (There is some overlap, with separate loads listed for a good selection of rifle rounds used in handguns, and vice versa.) There are data entries for three all-new cartridges, updates for 20 older rounds, and introductory data for three new powders. Also announced is the new Hodgdon Reloading Data Center, on the http://www.hodgdon.com website. To squeeze all that, plus burn rate tables, powder usage charts and other useful content into 178 pages, something had to go. Shotshell data was eliminated completely.
Also included are ten full-length magazine-style articles by respected gun writers on a variety of reloading topics – every one both interesting and pertinent. The articles alone would be worth the newsstand price, as they are the equivalent of two monthly magazines in content. The data entries are, of course, the focus of the manual. Almost all entries include a good selection of jacketed bullets (plus cast bullets where appropriate) with starting and maximum loads for Hodgdon, IMR and Winchester powders. Notably, there is data not only for Hornady, Speer and Sierra bullets, but also for Nosler and Barnes bullets in some cartridges. Pressures for maximum loads are also shown for almost all loads, except for some wildcat cartridges such as the 6.5x284.
That said, the Hodgdon Annual series is not intended to be a complete reloading manual. It does not include “how-to-reload” instructions, nor sections on component selection, equipment usage or extensive ballistic tables. Fortunately, those are provided in all the more traditional loading manuals; which all reloaders need to own anyway. What The Hodgdon Annual Manual does supply is load data – current load data, and LOTS of it.
My summary is an enthusiastic thumbs-up. Hodgdon has responded to the complaints about the previous edition with a positive effort and once again has provided up-to-the-minute information about the latest powders and cartridges; all at a very reasonable price. Buy it.

[Dom]

Thanks Rocky for your view, good writeup. Man I wish it was a little more timely though, I just picked up the 2007 version. Luckily what I needed made the top 50!! Waidmannsheil, Dom.

P..S I'm just a 'little' behind the times over here . . .

[270man]

Rocky, thanks for your evaluation of the new Hodgdon manual. I was one of the complainers about the old one that looked like a monthly magazine. However, I also own their previous manual which contained lots of data and other good information. The gripe I had about that one was not the data but the format.

It was in a very thick ring binder, about 6"x9" and was very difficult to open. The cover was "springy" and You had to hold it open since it wouldn't lay flat on the bench. The pages didn't turn easily and the holes tended to tear when flipping pages or folding up the book to put away. It was the sorriest excuse for a reloading manual that I had every owned.

I will look at the new one and hope it is better executed.

270man

[razmuz]

No one left that loves shooting & reloading. Just a bunch of gun magazine educated hacks trying to make a buck. Just because their daddy wrote good stuff doesn't mean this current bunch of hacks know beans. Product information comes straight from manufacturers through the flimsy magazines. New calibers and equiptment changed every few months to keep sales rolling. ONE THING YOU MUST KEEP IN MIND...nothing that matters has really changed in 100 years.

[Cossack]

Thanks Rocky. I'll get mine as soon as I can find one. They have proven to be invaluable in the past.

[skb2706]

I confess to being a complainer as well but I am happy they took heed. I thought at the time the 2007 came out that they had catered to new cartridges and left out chamberings that were exclusively handloading propositions. Glad to see the .221, .260 Rem. and the 7-30 Waters all come back...among others.

[Rocky Raab]

Razmuz, as one of the current band of hacks, could you please tell me what would make shooting magazines NOT suck?

Gritching about things never helped. Ideas might. Your turn.

[razmuz]

Test the stuff you write about. Get three popular rifles out of the box and tell us which one shoots the best with several different loads. If there's some trash out there let us know about it. Don't go on about small calibers going through brush as well as anything and then on the next page tout new brush busters on the market. Folks have a right to buy and use what they want, but you should let all the readers know that their choices are bad ideas. Let people know that lever actions are slow and awkward and are popular because in the beganing they were cheap. YOU SHOULD KNOW.....that all reloading books since "Pet Loads" suck. Now that guy knew what he was talking about and did all his own testing. Never the less I hate him. Why, because he didn't include the 6.5X55. That was a real sin. Thank you for your time, now you can get back to talking about Magnums

[Jack]

"Now that guy knew what he was talking about and did all his own testing. Never the less I hate him. Why, because he didn't include the 6.5X55."
The first supplement to the 3rd edition of Pet Loads was published in 1987. The first cartridge covered in the supplement: the 6.5x55.
For those of you who haven't read Ken Waters' Pet Loads, the book is a compilation of all his columns he wrote for Handloader magazine. The original book filled a 3 ring binder to the bursting point, and is a must read for any serious handloader. As Waters continued writing columns for Handloader, a supplement was published every year or so with usually 6 new cartridges Waters worked up loads for. By now, the supplements fill up another binder quite as full as the original book did.

[Rocky Raab]

Let's go through those, raz.

Test the stuff I write about. Done (Always is for every writer I know, although some tests are brief because the same gun gets passed to several writers on VERY short schedules.)

Get three rifles out of the box. If you mean buy when you say get, that means I'd be writing one article every six or seven years, and you'd be upset that two of the rifles mentioned in the tests are old. If one of them is trash, you'd complain that I should've said so sooner. But if I accept three brand new rifles for review directly from the company, you'd claim the rifles were cherry-picked and the review invalid.

Tell people their choices are bad ideas. Okay, let's start: all your choices are bad ideas. Does that make you happier? No? Imagine that. Instead, how about I simply try to be honest and review products as I see them.

I don't care for lever actions, myself. But that doesn't mean that they aren't legitimate choices for those who do. YOUR bias barged in there, raz.

Reloading books do not suck. Waters did all his own tests (I admire and trust his work immensely, BTW) But he had NO lab gear, did NO scientifically valid testing and in some areas was quite wrong. Great books, great guy, but his data is not as trustworthy as data developed by professional ballisticians with multi-million dollar labs. That's fact.

I don't talk about magnums, because I don't own any. Other writers do because lots of people like magnums and want to know about magnums. So those writers are giving the reader what the reader wants. Imagine that.

[Catfish]

Raz,
While I agree with you about 99%, and feel that most of the articals in the gun rags by people that know very little about what they are talking about, and very seldom buy a gun rag. I do like Gun Test though as they seem to get real useable info out.
Now to Rocky, I did have the pleasure of hunting coyote with him for a week in the mountains of Idaho afew years back and I can tell you he does not say something without good reason, and I have compleat faith in his honisty. Do I think he is always right??? Heck no, no one is right all the time, except maybe me. I personally think that there is some big advantages to neck sizeing and as I recall Rocky likes to FL resize everything. While I do not agree with him on everything I do respect what he says and never just dismis it off hand as I have found that even when I do not agree with him he can still give some very good agruements for his position.

[MOOSE 4 GOD]

Ditto to what Catfish said. Rocky has helped me in several areas and if I don't agree with him his opions and stands are very thought out and if you take the time can see why he feels the way he does on certian matters. If you owned a GMC product you would not go buy books on a Ford product. If everyone was the same this would be a pretty boring world. I shoot a Savage 110L and have harvested alot of different game. Why that brand I was asked by my friends when I bought it. I bought it to hunt not to keep in a gun safe. If these books are no good why buy them? Research, read reviews, buy and hope for the best.
Thanks Rocky for all you've helped me with, especially TC Contender 7x30. Pointed me in the right direction and harvested 5 deer this year. Thanks again for repling to all the e-mails and this forum.
Benny

[Rocky Raab]

No sweat, Moose. Happy to help.

I learned much of what I know through a process of disagreement. Either from listening to other people who discuss things with opposing ideas, or by talking to someone who disagrees with me. Opinions have changed on both sides, and that's all to the good.

I should have said "much of what I NOW BELIEVE" because I'm still open to learn new things, even if it means changing a stance.

[MOOSE 4 GOD]

Rocky

My Grandfather died at 96 years young and I still remember one of his sayings." A MAN WILL NEVER STOP LEARNING AND KNOW EVERYTHING UNTIL THE DAY HE'S 6 FOOT UNDER!" The older I get the more I see he was right. Trial and error has changed quit a few of my opion's and belief's in this life.

Benny