Review by Larry S. Sterett | Contributing Editor
HODGDON 2016 ANNUAL RELOADINIG MANUAL. ©2016. Published by Outdoor Sportsman Group, 1040 6th Avenue, 12th Floor, Dept. TGM, New York, NY. Price: $8.99, plus postage. Available at most newsstands and bookstores.
This 170-page magazine-size manual is chuck-full of up-to-date reloading data for handgun and rifle cartridges. In addition, it features eight articles by well-known gun writers. These articles range from Enduron IMR 4955 to Reloading the 28 Nosler, and include one on Elk Load for the 454 Casull and another on Olde Eynsford for Black Powder Cartridges.
The loading data section features data for 110 rifle cartridges from the 17 Ackley Hornet to the 50 BMG, with the handgun section providing data for 59 cartridges from the 22 Hornet to the 500 S&W Magnum. (The handgun section is labeled Pistol Data, but actually contains data for both pistols and revolvers.) Some of the handgun cartridges can be found chambered in both revolvers and pistols, just as some rifle cartridges are found chambered in some handguns, usually single shot pistols. So can some handgun cartridges be found chambered for rifles or carbines, such as the .32-20 Winchester, .357 Magnum and .44-40 Winchester. (Loads for the 45 Colt are not listed in the rifle data section. In the handgun data section, this cartridge is listed in two parts; the first for use in loading cartridges to be fired in older model revolvers, and the second for loading cartridges to be fired in Ruger or Freedom Arms revolvers, or T/C single shot pistols. Pay heed.)
The loading data is presented as Starting Loads and Maximum Loads for a variety of different Hodgdon powders. The powder charge in grains is listed, along with velocity in feet/second and the pressure in psi (pounds per square inch). Information provided for each bullet listed includes weight, brand, type, diameter, case brand used, primer brand and size, barrel length, case trim length, and overall loaded cartridge length. There are even appropriate warnings to be heeded, when needed.
Hardbound book-size reloading manuals are expensive and time consuming to produce, and for a firm to turn out one yearly is impossible. Hodgdon’s Annual Manual is the answer. It is timely, economical, and the 2016 manual features 5000+ loads. It can’t get much better for the buck.
