Review by Larry S. Sterett
Contributing Editor
METALLIC CARTRIDGE RELOADING, by Mic McPherson. ©2013. Published by Safari Press, PO Box 3095, Dept. TGM, Long Beach, CA 90803. Price: $39.95, plus shipping. Available direct online at: safaripress.com, or from most bookstores.
Sub-titled “Pursuit of the Perfect Cartridge,” this oversize 446-page softbound tome is basically an instruction manual of the first order. It is not a reloading manual or guide with dozens of suggested loads, although some handloading data is presented, but mainly for specialized cartridges.
Following the preface, some style and other notes, comments about the author, and a short report on “A Day at the Range with Friends,” this volume features 17 chapters, and four appendices, plus a poem, The Hunt, and four pages for notes. There is no bibliography or index. The chapters range in subject content from Safety, Accuracy, and Functionality to The Loading Press. The four appendices include a Glossary, a listing of Sources for Referenced Specialty Tools and Components, Interesting Riflescope Test Results, and Very Long Range Shooting.
This interesting volume goes about the subject of reloading a bit differently than most such manuals or guides. Four chapters are devoted to the cartridge case, in general, maintaining, improving, and loading. A couple are concerned with primers, in general, and seating and reading. There’s a chapter on propellants, followed by charging the case, and four chapters on bullets, in general, seating, making, and casting. Other chapters cover the loading press, the basic handloading process, and internal and external ballistics. Each of these chapters is amply illustrated with black and white photographs, drawings, and numerous tables and informational sidebars.
Chapter 8, Propellant, was a bit confusing, at least to this reviewer. In the discussion of blackpowder, it’s stated the first such powder having been mentioned in Liber Igium (The Book of Fire) in 842 A.D. by Marcus Graecus, some 400 years prior to Roger Bacon in 1242 AD. Then, in a table below for formulations in various eras, it lists Marcus Graecus as the source and the era as 1700s, with Roger Bacon as 1252. In the same chapter on discussing smokeless powders the reader may want to review their high school or college chemistry formulas for various compounds. KNO3 (potassium nitrate) and NH4NO3 (ammonium nitrate) were easy enough, but when NC and NG appeared, it was back up and check time. NC is not a formula, it’s an abbreviation for nitrocellulose or guncotton, and NG is the abbreviation for nitroglycerin. (C is the symbol for carbon, but it is also used as an abbreviation for centigrade or Celsius when discussing temperatures in the metric system.) Some decades ago this reviewer produced several batches of guncotton to see how the burning rates compared with some modern powders. He was never brave enough to actually load it in shotshells as was done briefly in the late 1800s in England, and possibly even elsewhere. Tricky, tricky!
One of the extensive tables in Chapter 8 compares the smokeless powders of the various manufacturers in a different manner, under the column headings of Name, Granule Shape, NG%, Packing Density g/cc, Suggested Primers, Primary Uses…, and Notes and Exceptional Applications. Not all the NG percents are listed, as some manufacturers did not provide that information.
In addition to the dozens of black and white illustrations in this volume, there’s a 32-page color section about midway through. Titled “Interesting Pictures,” the photos are just exactly that. They consist of blown-up rifles, ruptured and bulged cartridge cases, some selected tools, a fine rifle, and a view of the iron Indian at the Billy Dixon Range. They are interesting pictures.
This is a great book for the serious and dedicated handloader. It provides much information not readily available elsewhere. It is, as the title states, for metallic cartridges, not shotshells, and a shooter who handloads only a few rounds per year might not find it as useful as a shooter who loads for several calibers and hundreds of rounds per year. It’s an excellent reference volume.
