"Pet Loads" by Ken Waters

Title: Pet Loads (8th Ed.)
Author(s): Ken Waters
ISBN: 1879356562

"Pet Loads" is a collection of Mr. Water's series of articles on loading various cartridges formerly published in "Handloader" magazine. There are also two supplements to this edition with articles published since the edition's release.

Mr. Waters has detailed reloading information and anecdotes about more than a hundred cartridges in this soft bound/paperback book. Not so obvious to the casual browser is that there is also a lot of information on various firearms associated with the cartridges covered and used to test the loads and many reloading techniques here as Mr. Waters records many decades of reloading experiences.

Because the articles were written over those decades of accumulating experience, some very popular cartridges have updates where Ken brings them up-to-date with new bullets and powders. One just can't the wealth of reloading experience with this number of cartridges, bullets, powders and primers not to mention reloading tools from any other book. A big plus is that Mr. Waters' writing style is easy to absorb and far from boring. Also, there is blank space provided for reader notes on their loading of the cartridge.

The only bad thing is that the photos are not well reproduced and in black and white. Some of this is because it appears that the articles were copied from the magazine and the magazine was around long before everything was done on a computer. Still there's sufficient detail for those hungry for knowledge.

Currently on sale at MidwayUSA for $30, the normal price is $48 and it is well worth the expense. I bought a first edition and passed it on when I got this one. The new owner did the same. Once you've read this book, most any reloader will agree, this is one must have book.