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Modern Reloading
Ammunition reloading for the shooter, hunter and professional reloader, with detailed loading techniques for quality and quantity production. Extensive information about special methods and tools so anyone can load more accurate ammunition.
It covers reloading for rifles, handguns and shotguns, bullet casting, powder selection and measuring methods.
Comprehensive load data, compiled from all major powder suppliers published information, sorted in logical cartridge, bullet weight, and velocity order.
It covers reloading for rifles, handguns and shotguns, bullet casting, powder selection and measuring methods.
Comprehensive load data, compiled from all major powder suppliers published information, sorted in logical cartridge, bullet weight, and velocity order.
510 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
4 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
About the author
Richard Lee
215 books4 followersDr. Richard Lee is the Founding Pastor of First Redeemer Church located in metropolitan Atlanta's Forsyth County, which is recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in the Southeast United States.
Dr. Lee and his wife, Judy, reside just outside of Atlanta in the Cumming, Georgia area.
Dr. Lee and his wife, Judy, reside just outside of Atlanta in the Cumming, Georgia area.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 12, 2017
If you reload, this manual is very user-friendly and pictorial in concepts. More information than you'll ever need.
April 21, 2024
I've been reloading ammunition and casting my own bullets for a few years now, using Lee products the whole time. While it is easy enough to find good load data at the powder makers' websites, and to reload safe ammo, there is seldom any explanation for why some powders are more appropriate for certain loads that others. For example, there are 31 powders listed for 230 grain jacketed bullets for .45 ACP. Other than the availability of powder, what criteria do I use to choose which is the best powder? Are they all equal?
This book explains that different smokeless powders have (among other characteristics) different burn rates and generate different peak pressures under different circumstances. There are a lot of variables, but the load data is listed so that the loads at the top of each chart generally result in the highest velocity for the given safe pressure limits of the cartridge. The top one or two loads in the "Never Exceed" column have the highest velocity, but often lower pressures than the next couple of loads that follow -- showing that specific powder is well-matched to the bullet and cartridge combination.
2021 Modern Reloading Manual 2nd Edition - New Format - LEE PRECISION goes a long way toward answering those questions and more. Richard Lee passed away in 2018, but wrote both editions of this book in his retirement. From what I've read, Mr. Lee was an iconoclast who questioned conventional wisdom, did a lot of his own experimentation, and reached out to industry experts to help discover not just how ammunition worked, but why. The copy I have was updated in 2023; the updates being confined to the load data (provided to Lee by the powder manufacturers) and an addendum that John Lee, the author's son and head of the company added to talk about changes to Lee products since his father's passing.
Aside from the load data included in the book, which comprise the last 530 or so pages, this book is a well-written, easy to understand, introduction to the principles of reloading ammunition that does not assume any prior knowledge but also does not "talk down" to the reader. Lee honestly believed that his products were the best, and there is a hint of salesmanship that slips into his text, but he does a great job of explaining how and why the products were designed the way they were. And, knowing the rationale behind Lee products does, in fact, make using them easier.
This book provides additional value to the load data. The data itself is provided by the powder companies, but Lee adds the volume of the starting loads, which are usually 10% less than the never exceed loads, and correlates those charges to specific Lee dipper measures and Auto Disk measures. The data also often has two columns to help calculate reduced loads to use with cast lead bullets which can be cross-referenced with a very handy table showing the appropriate bullet hardness by chamber pressure.
This, however, exposes a mild complaint about the book. Lee makes molds for some cast bullets that do not have corresponding load data. A good example is the .303 British cartridge, where Lee makes a good mold, but does not provide either load data for that bullet or the means to calculate reduced loads. Similarly, Lee makes a mold for the 9x18 Makarov cartridge but does not have data for it either.
For this reason, I consider this book to be an _almost_ complete reloading reference, but if you are interested in casting your own or buying cast bullets, I also recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook which is as indispensable a guide for casing bullets and loading them in ammunition as this book is for reloading as a whole.
This book explains that different smokeless powders have (among other characteristics) different burn rates and generate different peak pressures under different circumstances. There are a lot of variables, but the load data is listed so that the loads at the top of each chart generally result in the highest velocity for the given safe pressure limits of the cartridge. The top one or two loads in the "Never Exceed" column have the highest velocity, but often lower pressures than the next couple of loads that follow -- showing that specific powder is well-matched to the bullet and cartridge combination.
2021 Modern Reloading Manual 2nd Edition - New Format - LEE PRECISION goes a long way toward answering those questions and more. Richard Lee passed away in 2018, but wrote both editions of this book in his retirement. From what I've read, Mr. Lee was an iconoclast who questioned conventional wisdom, did a lot of his own experimentation, and reached out to industry experts to help discover not just how ammunition worked, but why. The copy I have was updated in 2023; the updates being confined to the load data (provided to Lee by the powder manufacturers) and an addendum that John Lee, the author's son and head of the company added to talk about changes to Lee products since his father's passing.
Aside from the load data included in the book, which comprise the last 530 or so pages, this book is a well-written, easy to understand, introduction to the principles of reloading ammunition that does not assume any prior knowledge but also does not "talk down" to the reader. Lee honestly believed that his products were the best, and there is a hint of salesmanship that slips into his text, but he does a great job of explaining how and why the products were designed the way they were. And, knowing the rationale behind Lee products does, in fact, make using them easier.
This book provides additional value to the load data. The data itself is provided by the powder companies, but Lee adds the volume of the starting loads, which are usually 10% less than the never exceed loads, and correlates those charges to specific Lee dipper measures and Auto Disk measures. The data also often has two columns to help calculate reduced loads to use with cast lead bullets which can be cross-referenced with a very handy table showing the appropriate bullet hardness by chamber pressure.
This, however, exposes a mild complaint about the book. Lee makes molds for some cast bullets that do not have corresponding load data. A good example is the .303 British cartridge, where Lee makes a good mold, but does not provide either load data for that bullet or the means to calculate reduced loads. Similarly, Lee makes a mold for the 9x18 Makarov cartridge but does not have data for it either.
For this reason, I consider this book to be an _almost_ complete reloading reference, but if you are interested in casting your own or buying cast bullets, I also recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook which is as indispensable a guide for casing bullets and loading them in ammunition as this book is for reloading as a whole.
January 1, 2013
Great book! Would be very helpful for someone starting out in reloading center fire and/or shot gun shells. He really sells his product, but what Ive heard and experienced, his products are good. So not harm done. Really shows his dedication to reloading.
great addition to any reloader's library.
great addition to any reloader's library.
January 8, 2021
Lee sure is proud of his products and the tone of that gets tiresome. The load data is quite good though and that makes up for the bravado elsewhere.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews