Hanging around a bunch of old guys (Yes, older than me) I have garnered a bunch of old(er) information that I have no idea where they got the information. Especially when it comes to reduced loads for cast boolits. For instance, one of the old timers told me his reduced load for his 30 06 1903 was 10gr of Green Dot for a 175gr cast boolit. A lot of older reduced loads use small charges of pistol/shotgun powder in a big case. And it has worked well for decades. But no one could tell me where they got the info from. So I decided to buy an older Lyman Reloading manual from around ‘69 or ‘70. And guess what? The load data was in there!

So I just started collecting old reloading manuals and I wonder if anyone else is collecting old manuals? I have 3 so far. They are very interesting and provide product data and load data that is no longer available.

Yeah, I collect them but not intentionally.

Yeah, I collect them but not intentionally.

Yeah, I know what you mean. Most of mine (Purchased new) are pretty much obsolete. I just like the early ones like the old Ideal Manuals.

Old manuals are great if you have powder that has been out of production for a while.  You can download old manuals here: http://www.castpics.net/LoadData/Freebies/default.html

Old manuals are great if you have powder that has been out of production for a while.  You can download old manuals here: http://www.castpics.net/LoadData/Freebies/default.html

I appreciate the link for the references. I have a couple of manuals that are newer (around 10 years old). Most of my goto library of manuals are older than the manuals in the link you provided.    However, excluding the manuals I have purchased since the 80’s I have a very small collection of 3 old manuals. The newest is from 1969 and the oldest is from 1908. I’m looking for older ones and to fill in some in between.