Photos & Article | Art Merrill | Contributing Editor
Getting started handloading can be bewildering when confronted with so many choices in handloading tools. Which one to choose? How much does it cost? The Handloader’s Index (2nd Amendment Media, Whitman Publishing, , $24.95, 224 pages) is a useful product information resource to clear the confusion. Logically arranging it into sections on “Presses,” “Case Prep Tools,” “Dies,” and so on, and then by manufacturer makes it quick and easy to find a specific tool and compare features and cost. The “marketing-speak” descriptions are apparently written by the manufacturers, but that doesn’t diminish the information presented.
Handloader’s Index does not review any products or rate one maker’s tool over another’s. Based on my 30 years of handloading, I will tell you openly that among handloading tools “higher price” does not always equate to “better.” No, a Ford is not a Ferrari, but both will get you to the grocery store. None of the major manufacturers of handloading tools makes junk, so the important things to look at in tools are the features, the warranties, customer service satisfaction and the price – and whatever else matters to you. Follow your own priorities and you will most likely be happy with your purchase.
Handloader’s Index is by no means comprehensive; Lyman’s fine products, for example, are not represented at all, nor are any of the makers of obsolete or uncommon brass, bullets and dies, such as Quality Cartridge (qual-cart.com) or Buffalo Arms Company (buffaloarms.com). The publication similarly ignores all the smaller manufacturers of innovative and esoteric tools and supplies. While valuable and informative for beginners and for those with limited experience, for these reasons advanced handloaders will not get as much from the Handloader’s Index.
