Review by Larry S. Sterett | Contributing Editor
HANDLOADER’S INDEX—The Official Red Book, edited by Kyle Lynch. ©2015. Published by 2nd Amendment Media, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Dept. TGM, 3101 Clairmont Rd., Suite G, Atlanta, GA 30329. Price: $24.95, plus postage.
This 224-page softbound volume is loaded (no pun intended) with color photographs, tables, and notes on almost everything needed to get started in handloading. Following a short introduction the book is color-tabbed in a dozen topic sections from How-to to Miscellaneous. Within each section the products are listed in alphabetical order, along with some tabular data, such as bullet weight, profile, sectional density, ballistic coefficient, and for a few the current retail price. (In the Bullets section, only the products of seven major manufacturers are covered, from Barnes to Swift, but there is a listing at the end of 26 current bullet producers from Bullseye Bullets to Zero Ammunition Co. Inc., including Norma, Oregon Trail Bullets, and Woodleigh Bullets. The web address is provided for most of those firms listed, but this shooter knows of other firms not mentioned. It’s impossible not to miss some firms, and the same comment applies to the other categories. Quality Cartridge is not listed in the Cases section, but the firm manufactures cases for over 200 different cartridges.
In the Dies section the loading die sets available are listed for Hornady, Lee Precision, and Redding, but not for Lyman Products, RCBS, Huntington Die Specialties, or C-H, and others. However, the listing of Redding dies is extensive.
The final pages are devoted to a couple of appendices. Appendix A lists Manufacturers with e-mail addresses, and Appendix B lists Retailers in the same manner. The comment made previously still applies.
This tome is a handy reference source, especially for the color illustrations. It is not complete, but it doesn’t pretend to be such. It does provide enough of some good coverage of powders, primers, cases, and bullets, but makes no mention of loading data sources—handbooks, manuals, etc. Maybe the next edition!
