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.