This year, in January 2022, Lyman did the first printing of their new 51st Edition Reloading Handbook. It's got most of the new cartridges, sure, but I was really interested in the new powders, such as Accurate TCM, Accurate 11FS, and so on. The reason for this is that Lyman does their own pressure testing out of their own equipment, so it's a good check against what the powder companies themselves also report. I bought Lyman's 49th Edition in 2009 shortly after I started reloading (I already had and read Lee's "Modern Reloading, Second Edition" by then).
What I found about Lyman's 49th was that while it didn't contain quite as much actual data per cartridge as, say, Lee's book or even Hornady's book, the data it did contain was very good and prescient for what I was trying to do, real-world. It was with the data from Lyman's 49th that I developed most of my loads, checking them against Lee's book for sanity. I got good results from this. That includes the ".45 Colt Magnum" loading that I use, which came straight out of the 49th Edition's "T/C Contenders and Encore" section, and verified in other sources. That load is 22.0gr of 2400 under a 255gr cast bullet, same as with Hornady's 250gr HP/XTP. It shoots great.
Therefore, when Lyman's 51st came out, naturally I bought a copy. It arrived a couple of weeks ago, and as with all my other reloading manuals, I've read this one cover to cover. Yep, every chapter, every article, every cartridge.
The 51st Edition is a good manual, by any objective measure, just as the 49th Edition is. It's now in color, as the 50th Edition apparently was. It has photographs of the cartridges, along with the drawings. That's helpful because sometimes, e. g. for the 7mm Remington Magnum, the drawing didn't always reflect the actual shape of the cartridge in previous editions. The 51st Edition does contain some of the newer powders (e. g. LEVERevolution, Superformance) and bullets (e. g. Berger--it's about time!). Turns out the good ol' .30-06 benefits rather nicely from Superformance, to the tune of 50 to 100 ft/sec over most other powders. I have found this to be true in real-world shooting as well.
However, I do have a few "areas of improvement" for the new edition. They are as follows.
1.) The "lawyering-down" of some loads. Here's an example. The aforementioned ".45 Colt Magnum" loading using 2400 that I've been using for 12 years now? They reduced that down from 22.0gr of 2400 to 21.0gr. I see no good reason for this, given how well this load shoots. They are using the same primer, case, and bullet (Hornady 250gr HP-XTP) as in the 49th Edition. It works just fine in not only T/C Contenders, but also Ruger Redhawks and, obviously, the Super Redhawk. There are other examples of that in the book.
2.) They should've included more powders with certain rounds.
2a.) Many of us have old milsurp rifles, such as the Mauser 98, Mosin-Nagant M91 series, British SMLE Enfields, and so on. In my case, it's the Mosin-Nagant. Given the (totally understandable) embargo of Russia, Putin, and Putin's cronies currently in force, milsurp Russian ammo isn't coming in anymore. Ukraine hasn't been in a position to export any of their ammo since 2014, either, due to self-defense. Therefore, for a lot of these ComBloc rifles, we have to reload now (Prvi Partizan, Lapua, etc. cases). The powders for the 7.62x54R Russian are not at all extensive. Same goes for the 7.62x39 used in Kalashnikovs and SKS's. That's something that, given the embargo, would've been nice to see them expand upon. This is especially true given the level of attention that they gave to a lot of new chamberings like the .224 Valkyrie, .26 Nosler, .28 Nosler, 6mm Creedmoor, 6mm PRC, .300 Norma Mag, .30 PRC, .350 Legend, etc.
2b.) The Lyman book does not include either Accurate TCM or 11FS at all. They should've been included since Lee's book, which came out in 2021, includes them. Accurate TCM came out in 2017, and 11FS came out in (from what I could confirm) 2018. The latter is basically H110/W296 with a flash suppressant added. So, they've had time to give these powders some analysis and development as well.
3.) The "Notes" section that was in the back is no longer there. It was a convenient place to note down load information.
4.) Articles. The 49th Edition had some very interesting articles about bullet types, firearm types, good gun cleaning, and so on. I found them most educational, even if I don't shoot the particular cartridges or firearms that they were discussing. The 51st Edition has one article, which is a good one, about progressive reloading, now that Lyman has acquired the Mark 7 line of presses. Finally, Lyman has a progressive press! The information does apply, generally, to other models of progressive presses as well. But it's the only such article. Maybe they felt that there was not much more to write about? Actually, they could've discussed, for example, how to apply ballistic coefficients to downrange ballistics. It could be anything else that might be useful to a reloader.
The big question, then, is, would I recommend this new 51st Edition to a reloader? A beginning reloader, definitely. The information about reloading is as good as it was in the 49th Edition, which means it is quite good indeed. For an intermediate to advanced reloader, also yes, but with a caution to also keep your older version around for certain cartridges.
And, of course, have more than one reloading manual. That's true no matter whose book(s) you have.
Lyman's 51st Handbook (2022) vs. 49th (2008)
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