Top-Grade Ammo a step by step guide to creating quality ammunition Spiral-bound – January 1, 2016

I would give this text a ten star rating if it were possible. In this one book you will find everything you need to learn on how to manufacture safe, reliable, and accurate metallic centerfire cartridges.The author provides the following information:1. Lists his choice of superior quality reloading equipment by manufacturers name and specific model. He explains why he prefers this particular equipment and what to avoid in lesser quality products.2. Provides extensive detail in explaining the numerous characteristics of bullet body design and functioning and how they affect the reloading process, and performance in the rifle.3. Provides extensive detail in discussing the real life factors that are encountered in a rifles chamber and barrel and what is necessary to take into consideration in properly positioning the bullet in the cartridge case and rifles' chamber to ensure a well centered projectile.4. Discusses what effects variations in bullet weight, cartridge case dimensions, and primer pocket conditions will create.5. Repeatedly discusses, emphasizes, then re-emphasises the safety issues and concerns for each step of the re-loading process.6. Goes into great depth detailing propellants and the advantages vs disadvantages of various types and by manufacturers name.7. Goes into great depth explaining what to look for when examining a fired cartridge for over pressure conditions and how to avoid this dangerous condition.The author uses the AR-15 platform as his primary rifle style reference source but his teachings are equally applicable to bolt action style rifles.Other reviewers have negatively critiqued the author for his writing style. While there were a handful of times that, in my opinion, the author could have phrased his language differently, in all honesty I never found his particular use of grammar to be troubling. In fact, sometimes it made me laugh. I am a retired Mechanical Engineer with close to forty years of experience in heavy industrial machinery and equipment maintenance, repair, and construction as it pertains to Natural Gas, Oil Refinery, and Electrical Power Generation plants and I have seen more than my fair share of terribly written maintenance and operations manuals, procedures, prints, etc. I can say with complete confidence that the author of this text has, in my honest opinion, done an outstanding job in thoroughly explaining the entire reloading process in great detail while at the same time keeping concepts easily understood using common everyday layman's terms.In conclusion, I have quite a few books in my personal library detailing metallic cartridge reloading. This one is hands down the best I have encountered. The only other book that I would also recommend is "Metallic Cartridge Reloading" by Mic McPherson (which I also happen to own) but in my personal opinion, if I had to have only one, it would be Top-Grade Ammo.

Outstanding text on handloading. After reading my first serious book on reloading By John Wooters, I have been fascinated by the subject and have made it a point to read almost every book on the subject that comes along. I was so impressed by Zediker’s Handloading for Competition (HFC) that I immediately purchased this book when I became aware of it. Zediker has a relaxed writing style that often makes some complex practices into more simple techniques, much easier to grasp. I consider myself an advanced hand loader with over forty years of experience. HFC introduced new concepts of what to do. Top Grade Ammo picks up where HFC left off and drives home HOW to do it. Like each of Zediker’s books I’ve read, there is something there for both beginners and experienced practioners alike. The author goes specifically into what are the best individual pieces of gear to purchase in different budget ranges. I own most of the gear recommended in this book and find the author’s opinions well thought out. Much of the text as the volume progresses becomes more technical. This is not like reading an article from Guns and Ammo. Parts of this book are, and read like an advanced text. Some of the text requires math and I’ve read some sections two and three times as some advanced techniques are described in excellent detail. The book was published in a ring bound format for a reason. This volume will lay flat on your reloading bench as you refer to it while you make your various adjustments.To sum this up. Like most every loading text by this author, I recommend it without reservation.

Important points:1st, some reviewers have complained of the authors writing style, and to be fair, it is repetitive, unusual, and sometimes, somewhat cumbersome. However, keep in mind this is a book teaching the basic and finer points of properly using explosives to consistently propel a bullet accurately to very long distances as safely as possible.2nd, as mentioned in the subject, this book is replete with many recommendations and tips that are both helpful and insightful — it is astoundingly complete!3rd, while repetitive, the author provides useful background in boxes that can be ignored by those just wanting a simple answer. As both a published author myself, and an engineer, I feel this is a great book for any handloader at any level, and many instructors recommend it.Finally, I do not know nor have ever met this author, I just think this is the best handloading book I've ever found, and I've found many. It is best read several times to get as much as possible from it. The reader will quickly become accustomed to the unusual writing and will derive much useful loading info from it.

Very good information here, especially for someone new to hand loading who wants to up his game and increase accuracy. I have one of his other books (HLC) and, as he states the intention this book was, this book distills the info in to a "what to get, what to do" reference. HLC offers much of the same info but goes into far more depth. Whereas this book is the "you need to do this and most certainly never to THAT" book HLC is goes more into background and theory etc. - things you might want to explore and understand but that aren't essential to improving your ammo right now.Mr Zediker's writing style in this book is casual and informal but there is a lot of info and overall I feel this is a great investment. I've read it cover to cover and re-read several chapters.One caveat - contrary to the photo - mine is spiral bound. I'm worried that pages might tear out over time. It's good enough that I'm considering purchasing a spare just in case.

Well written easy read from a competitive Target shooter. Learning from his insights of reloading made easy and possibly less expensive.

You cannot go wrong reading this book.