Thaddeus; I am shocked, truly shocked, that you would think I would chastise you for not buying a reloading book. Does not the Good Book say:
"Neither chastise, nor disparage, nor ignore the braying ass found wandering in the wilderness. Rather, take it unto thee, feed, water, and care for it, and set it again upon The Path. For someday, the ass may be thy physician, or even worse, thy son-in-law"
I am not precisely WHAT Good Book it was I read that passage in
, however, I think that it really rings true.
Plus, reloading books are obsolete. The last good idea with loading books was called Load Books, which contained all the published data about one single cartridge.
The problem is, the companies are continually doing testing, and the proper place to get your information is from the net. I certainly do check the loads I get there with previously known data, but heed the new data if they are a decrease from previous data. Winchester, for example, radically reduced some of their pistol loads a few years ago, after testing with the latest piezoelectric method.
Dangerous loads do make it into print. Be very, very careful when handloading. Be diligent in your search for the latest data.
Be careful. I have loaded dangerous loads; when the next loading booklet came out, and the charge was reduced, I wrote the company, and said, hey it is still the same powder, right? They replied that the loads I had assembled had been retested and were dangerous.
Always maintain a high level of suspicion; sometimes components are changed without warning (not powders, thank goodness). I was looking at a new batch of Rem 115gr. JHP's, and noticed that the mouth of the hollow point looked different. Rem had changed the manner in which they made the bullet. Also the new bullet was 0.035" longer than the old one. Enough to cause a dangerous pressure in the 9 x 19, if I hadn't caught the change, and loaded the newer bullets to a longer OAL. Be safe, careful, and diligent.
Use Tuf-Cloth on thy 1911, and Tuf-Glide in the bbl., but not the chamber. Apply Tuf-Glide to thy slide rails and disconnector.
Above all else, keep thy pistol pointed away from me. Have fun, Thad. Walt