I'm new to reloading and was told the Lyman Reloading Handbook is concidered to be a definitive guide for this art. It came with the $1000 package of reloading equipment recommended here on Brian Enos' site. I have a .45 ACP pistol and have been focusing exclusively on this caliber.
The section of this book dedicated to this venerable caliber is 3 pages long: one of text, two of data relating to specific bullet types. I have two bullets, one full metal jacket at 230 grains & one lead cast also at 230 gr.
The text states the following on page 380: "...the shooter should not size cast bullets larger than .451 due to chamber dimentions."
I am fairly sure this is a very significant error that will have all shooters using undersized bullets. This will reduce accuracy and increase leading creating lots of extra work for those who follow the author's guidance.
In the section focusing on my bullet-type, the author gives reference loads for a 230grain TMJ bullet. I have 700X powder and on page 382 the book give the following load information for IMR 700X powder: a minimum load of 3.6 grains with a maximum load of 4.8.
I loaded cartridges at 3.6, 4.0, and 4.2 grains for the first outing.
I shot 200 rounds and the gun smoked incredibly, misfired several times.
During troubleshooting and after 2 hours of cleaning we found that the manufacturer of the powder has the following reference loads for 230gr jacketed bullets:
Bullet Dia. C.O.L. Min fps Pressure Max fps Max Pressure
230gr FMJ .451" 1.200" 4.4 758 12,700 CUP 4.9 842 16,600 CUP
The alignment of the text got messed up, but it shows a Minimum of 4.4 grains with a max of 4.9!!! The Lyman manual has a minimum of 3.6 grains. That's nearly 20% off!
Lyman has grossly understated the minimum loads causing an enormous waste of time and poor performance. Had they overstated instead I might not have fingers with which to type this message (or worse).
I don't feel this is a source I can trust.
They evidently have been publishing this book for over 100 years. At some point the process of collecting and vetting the data seems to have run off the rails. I don't believe it is safe to use this book or even publisher as a reference source for reloading data. The quality of the data is unconscionable.