Books

Whether you're a new firearms enthusiast, experienced cartridge collector or serious handloader, you'll want to get in on this chance to win two of the best reloading reference guides available.

This collection is specially priced for the holiday season, which makes this the perfect gift for every Gun Digest reader, whether you've just discovered us or have been with us for years and years.

At gun shows I always noticed that many shoppers and booth keepers alike kept the Gun Digest Standard Catalog of Firearms close at hand. With this tome, arguments were started and settled, prices set and haggled over, bluing and rust and rifling conditions discussed ad nauseum, and deal after deal after deal made. Indeed, Standard Catalog of Firearms held near-Bible status.

Thanks to everyone who commented for a chance to win the latest, greatest edition of "Cartridges of the World." With coverage of more than 1,500 cartridges, including the latest commercial cartridges, wildcats, and old/obsolete rounds, this book contains everything the active cartridge collector and firearms enthusiast needs to know.

Cartridges of the World: A Reloading Manual, A Wildcatting Guide Now at 16 editions, Cartridges of the World continues to offer reloading data for ammunition...

Win a copy of the completely revised and updated 13th edition of "Cartridges of the World," reloading data for over 1500 current and obsolete cartridges!

In "Big-Bore Revolvers," author Max Prasac looks at terminal ballistics from the perspective of the big-bore revolver, and dispenses some of the myths he says are frequently perpetuated by the hunting/gun magazine industry as a whole.

As an expert witness in shooting cases over the past few decades, Massad Ayoob has drawn a few conclusions about what works and what doesn't. Find out why he avoids the use of handloads in self defense applications.

Whether the results you get from shotshell reloading are "good" or "bad" depends on what you were trying to do. In "ABCs of Reloading," author C. Rodney James points out several problems that you can't blame on the loads, and goes on to dispel a few "false notions and home truths" about shotguns and shooting.

If you are already familiar with the basics of reloading, you probably know that non-toxic loads are a little different in composition – in the load data or recipe – and that you can never simply substitute ingredients. Find out what's available in non-toxic shotshell loads, how they perform, keys to successful reloading for shotgun shells and more.

Thanks to everyone who commented to enter the drawing for a copy of "Reloading for Handgunners", and a hearty welcome to all the new Inside Gun Digest Books blog readers. As it turns out, whether or not reloading saves money, a whole bunch of you are doing it, or want to.

It's often said that reloading your own ammo will save money. According to one author, that probably won't happen, but you'll sure shoot a lot more.

Accuracy is often listed among the top three reasons for reloading your own ammunition. Handloading ammunition allows you to customize loads to draw the maximum degree of accuracy from your gun, and to tailor the loads to your needs for a particular hunt or competition.

The .45 ACP may be one of the easiest calibers to reload (perhaps tied with the .38 Special). The question is, can the ease of loading the .45 lead you to develop sloppy ammunition reloading habits? Patrick Sweeney thinks so, and he talks about it in the "Gun Digest Big Fat Book of the .45 ACP."

If your ammunition reloading activities lead you to load similar calibers, extra caution is needed to keep the cases, loaded ammunition and, in some instances, bullets separate. A poster with full-size images of cartridges can help you get it right the first time.

Some people are better advised to not take up ammunition reloading. C. Rodney James, author of "ABCs of Reloading," knows from first-hand experience what can happen.