My first reloading manual was Speer No. 3, published in 1959. At 220 pages, it was a comprehensive introduction to the world of metallic cartridge reloading. The Speer manuals are now up to Number 14 and, under the auspices of Alliant Technosystems (ATK) it bulks 1,140 pages.

Reloading manuals are published by the various makers of tools and components and, aside from content germane to reloading in general, are fairly product specific. A bullet company may take a wide-ranging approach to available powders and primers while confining the published data to their own bullets. A powder company frequently provides data confined to their own products, but include bullets from the industry at large. The Speer Manual follows the pattern in that the data is developed primarily around Speer rifle and handgun bullets but, due to the tool and component-rich ATK environment, there is comprehensive coverage of many items popular with reloading customers. RCBS loading equipment, CCI Primers and Alliant Powders figure prominently in the data.

Overseeing the research and editing the compilation is Allan Jones, the chief architect of Speer Manual Nos. 12 and 13. He is a dedicated rifleman and experimenter and his oversight of the work adds much to its quality and scope. Number 14 enjoys the benefit of not only the Speer ballistics laboratory, but also the ballistic lab of Federal Cartridge Company.

Test data are drawn from actual firearms or test barrels closely matching the expected performance of commercial arms. Dimensionally complete cartridge drawings appear in decimal and metric values. There are chapters covering basic and advanced reloading, use of progressive machines and loading for Cowboy Action Shooting using RCBS cast bullet molds. Chapter 13 treats reloading for black powder rifle cartridges and presents groundbreaking revelations about the progressive burning characteristics of black powder. The Speer No. 14 Manual contains 97 data sets for rifle cartridges and 45 for handguns.

Speer Reloading Manual No. 14,
HardBound, 1,149 pages, $34.95
Publisher: Speer,
229 Snake River Avenue, Lewiston, ID 83501
(800) 627-3640, www.speer-bullets.com
ISBN: 978-0-979-1860-0-4