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I used to use those books, also. Unfortunately, I don't believe that they have been updated in quite awhile.
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I would caution against using them exclusively because some of the info is not as up to date as some of the manufacturer's load data.
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Unfortunately, I don't believe that they have been updated in quite awhile.
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And indeed, they are dated.
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It's a matter of lazy retailers, mostly.
Loadbooks USA updates those books (booklets?) constantly. The problem is retailers keeping old stock on their shelves.
I bought a couple of these books last year for oddball cartridges, or cartridges that just aren't listed in my primary reloading manuals (and I was too cheap to buy the whole manual for one bullet/cartridge combination). All of them were absolutely current. Every bit of information came from the latest data from each manufacturer - and it's not the "free" pamphlets or online data. They use published data for the loads (ie: the real reloading manuals). If they can augment the published data with more recent online data, they do.
How do I know this?
Because I got a .220 Swift loadbook that seemed terribly out of date (the most recent reference was almost 15 years old).
So, I contacted the publisher, and they verified what I had been thinking: The retailer had a binding/printing that was more than 12 years old, but had kept it on the shelf. The gentleman on the other end of the line explained their process, and assured me his books are up to date with the current published manuals. He sent me a current version, and a SASE to mail the outdated book back.
And before you knock them too much - Remember, half the
reloading manuals on the market are "outdated".
Lee's 2nd Edition: 2003
Sierra's 5th Edition: 2003
Lyman Pistol and Revolver #3: 2004
Swift #1: 2002
Norma (7th?): 2003
Lapua 2nd Edition: 2000
A-Square: 1996 (!)
We have had an enormous number of new powders and bullets introduced in the last 3-5 years.
The only major manuals to have been updated in the last 3 years:
Barnes #4: 2008 (Most shooters hate this manual, and have gone back to the "outdated" #3....)
Hodgdon: Yearly (But all of us know that bullet selection can be irritating.)
Lyman 49th: 2008
Nosler #6: 2007 (They dropped some calibers that were previously listed in #5, to make room for the mega-ultra-mags. Again, some shooters went back to "outdated" #5.)
Speer #14: 2007
If you're thinking about one of the loadbooks - pick it up. Open it. Look at the data. If it's outdated, complain to the retailer, and buy from a source with the current version (or directly from the Loadbooks website).