Reloading for Handgunners

Patrick Sweeney does a very good job of making very technical information informative, accurate and enjoyable reading. He discusses not only the reloading information of most of the popular calibers but includes some of the history on how the round was developed and got to the state of it's current usage. He brings decades of experience as a master gunsmith and reloader. As an indicator, he normally buys his bullets in lots of 50,000. That is not a typo, fifty thousand! If you are new to reloading or just want to get some new ideas this is well worth the read. Most of the data is slanted towards Hornady but with the prominence of their equipment in the photographs and their logo on the front cover that is to be expected. My only complaint is everything is black and white and the quality of some of the photo's leaves much to be desired. Maybe I am being too picky, at one point in my journey I worked as a professional photographer. If you are one of the multitude of new handgun shooters entering the sport and are considering reloading as a way to cut your weekly ammo bill, this is a good book for you.

"Reloading For Handgunners" is really a book intended for the novice or beginner. Patrick Sweeney does a nice job of introducing the reader to the world of reloading. Reloading is a great hobby - but one that must be entered into seriously and safely. Sweeney makes all the necessary safety notes, but without lecturing the reader or making the book seem like lawyers edited it. I liked the writing style, which I found to be conversational and educational - not condiscending or highly opinionated. Opinions are offered of course - otherwise the book would be of little value. But they are not presented in a "my way or the highway" type of way. If you are an experienced reloader, you may not find too much in this book that you can learn from, aside from some interesting cases and stories here and there. The book is really intended for the person new to reloading and it does a very nice job of introducing you to it. In addition to technical information and advice, there is plenty of interesting history and "did you know..." information in this book. I found that made the reading very enjoyable. You can get through this entire book in two evenings easily - but you'll want to refer to it again and again. Sweeney gives the reader very good insight to most of today's popular handgun calibers. Not just tips about loading them, which he does... but also a nice background lesson on the caliber itself. The chapter about powders is particularly well written. It provides education and information along with very important safety considerations. I am just getting back into reloading after years of absence. I found "Reloading For Handgunners" to be a perfect refresher for me, reminding me of many important little details I've not thought about in years - and making me excited to get started doing it again!

As others mentioned, this is not a step by step guide to reloading handgun ammunition. Rather, it covers the hows and whys of tool and component selection for handgun loading. He also spends considerable time on the hows and whys of load testing in order to find the best load for your specific gun. The second half covers specific handgun cartridges, specifically those hand gun cartridges that Mr. Sweeney loads and has considerable experience with. He goes over each one explaining the ins and outs of reloading that specific cartridge, the quirks and the pitfalls that one needs to look out for. He also lists reloading data for each cartridge. The information throughout is clear and concise and Mr. Sweeney's writing and humor is always a joy to read. Whether you're a beginner or a veteran hand loader, this book is invaluable. My only criticism concerns the reloading data given for each cartridge. To be fair, Mr. Sweeney explains that these are his loads that he has tested and used, but they require a lot of component brands and powders that the average hand loader may have no interest in such as Berry's plated bullets. Still, that is just a minor quibble for an otherwise excellent book.

This book is an easy read. I recommend it to any beginner and advanced reloader. The author gives excellent and meaningful advice too. It is interspersed with fun and insightful anecdotes to break up technical material nicely. The first half of the book is all about reloading methods and components, and the second half is all about specific calibers, their histories and some load data. All in all, a great, fun read. I read it cover to cover in two days.

Mr. Sweeney is a prolific writer who specializes in handguns and reloading. This book is a synopsis of his many articles pertaining to the special considerations pertaining to reloading for handguns. While it is not exactly a "step-by-step" guide that will hold a new reloader by the hand, it does cover the fundamentals of producing safe, reliable ammunition. The first part of this book covers the process in a depth that the handgun reloader will find useful. It provides greater depth than other more generalized books aimed at the beginner which also cover rifle and shotgun reloading. By limiting the scope to handguns, both beginners and more advanced reloaders will benefit from his experience and advice. The second part examines the most common handgun cartridges reloaded today. While the steps to reload them might be similar, each one has special characteristics that must be considered by the conscientious reloader. For example, the vagaries of the 357 Sig are very different from the characteristics of the 45 ACP. If I were to offer one criticism, it is that while he is generous with his coverage of cartridges and different bullets, he is somewhat skimpy in his treatment of gunpowder. Specifically, while he goes into detail matching the most suitable bullet for a given task in a specific caliber, he doesn't provide the same insights into powder selection. This would have been of substantial interest to me and the cursory treatment of the subject left me wanting. All told, Mr. Sweeney's experience and conversational style make this an enjoyable and informative reference. I would recommend it highly.

i bought this book, along with a lyman reloading manual. This book is really great for those new to reloading. Gives you info on just about everything there is to know (setting up/choosing a press, components). Has pretty much every handgun listed as well as quite a few different loading data's. Many loading manuals only have 1 or 2 brands listed, this book has some lead cast bullets, Berry's plated bullets, aswell as your typical Hornady, Speer, other more pricey bullets. I would recommend this to a beginner or even a more experienced loader

I greatly enjoy reading Mr Sweeney's writing in Guns & Ammo magazine, and he brings the same common sense and humor to this book. As a very beginning handloader, I have all sorts of questions - and sometimes don't even know what I need to ask! Reloading for Handgunners covered the basics well enough that I feel confident getting started. The separate chapters for various calibers were also a great help, although I would have appreciated one on reloading the 7.62 x 54R for my Mosin Nagant.

This book is for beginners...real beginners. I am not an expert in reloading by any means. As a matter of fact, I have been reloading for only one year, yet even to me this book is pretty elementary. The book provides an introduction to reloading breaking down by components, case, primers,...etc. It is a good book for somebody looking into reloading and want to get an idea (even in this I would not consider this book to be the best resource either), not someone who has some idea (20% or more) about reloading. The second half of the book discusses different pistol calibers such as the 9MM, 10MM, 40 S&W,...etc (dedicating a chapter to every caliber, so if this caliber does not interest you, you've basically lost that chapter in the book. If there are-as in my case- more than one caliber that are irrelevant to you, a big portion of the book is then absolutely irrelevant to you in that part). It also has loading data for the. The data is very limited compared to what you can get from a reloading manual. For instance, for a particular caliber and bullet weight (does not even mention bullet type), it lists one powder charge, while reloading manuals always list min and max loads, which provides the reloader with more options as they can start with the min load and work their way up until they get to a load that their pistol would shoot most accurately. In this manual you are given one charge only and I guess you have to live with it, or buy a reloading manual. In all cases, this book would not serve (IMO)as a reloading manual. The book is nice to read, but you get the type of information you get from reading a magazine (as opposed to a technical book, which this one should be IMO).

Sehr gutes Buch - insbesondere für Wiederlader, die für Pistolen und Revolver laden wollen. Gewehrkaliber werden leider nicht erwähnt. Optimale Infos für alle Wiederlader von Pistolen- und Revolvermunition. Der Autor hat einen ganz eigenen Humor, welcher das Buch nicht nur informativ sondern auch sehr unterhaltsam macht.

As a novice about to embark on re-loading, I found this most informative. The author used a lot of 'real life' anecdotes to get his points across. I have read a lot of technical manuals but wanted something that would fill in the 'how do I do it' gaps. This certainly went along the lines that I wanted. It did have items in that I wasn't interested in but all books have that. It was also a very readable book that I found I could just sit down and go through. Excellent reading.

Very good book. Not a reloading book, so not so many recipe or load description. But lot more information about popular caliber and a lot of reference on every aspect of handgun reloading. Not just technical as many book and more important, full of experience and usefull information based on it. It's like having a coach right beside us. Thanks Mr Sweeney.

Sehr informativ und lesenswert

exactly that ,the reloader bible on the bench with me at all times,a must have for sure. should have three hole so you could insert it into a binder