Hodgdon’s Revamped Reloading Data Center

Reloading is a pursuit that provides satisfaction to many people worldwide, and it’s a great way for shooters to create ammunition at home. Whether they are loading in bulk for three-gun competition, putting together a few dozen handgun rounds for the range, loading shotgun shells for skeet, precision loading for long-range target work, or just creating a good hunting round for a particular rifle, reloaders can easily find benefits in what they do.

Reloading can also be a very dangerous thing, especially when mistakes are made or when boundaries are pushed. Finding and heeding a good source of load data is crucial, and Dad taught me to look in a number of different sources for comparison’s sake.

There’s no replacement for reloading manuals, which are provided by manufacturers of ammunition, reloading components such as bullets, and reloading equipment. One great source of info can be powder makers, since they above all others know what their products are capable of doing.

Hodgdon Powder Co. Inc. has long provided online loading data, and they recently overhauled that area of their website. These days, one company owns and produces Hodgdon powder, IMR powder, and Winchester powder, which means their data will cover a large swath of the powders used by reloaders.

Here’s what Hodgdon has to say about their improved online resource:

Hodgdon® has upgraded the performance and look of its free on-line reloading data resource. Already the most comprehensive on-line searchable and sort-able listing of reloading data available, this easier to use upgrade now puts the Reloading data Center (RDC) at your fingertips on your smart-phone or tablet. In addition to reload data, the new RDC will be your source for reloading tips, tricks, and how to information.

Chris Hodgdon also notes that there are plans in place to make the RDC “a complete reloading source” by teaching about reloading processes as well as providing data.

Data for handgun, rifle, and shotshell reloading is provided. You can check out the Reloading Education section to learn more about reloading.

I took a look around the site, and it works pretty smoothly, but not as intuitively as I’d like. For instance, I chose the .308 Winchester cartridge, selected IMR 4895 powder, and clicked the “Get Data” button. I expected to see every one of their .308 Win loads with that powder, but it only displayed data for one bullet, a 110 grain.

Below that were listed a number of other bullets in gray bars showing no data. Clicking the + sign at the right end of each bar revealed the IMR 4895 data for that bullet. So it does display data for the powder I selected, but in a way that requires a lot more clicking or tapping – and at first glance appears to have provided incomplete results.

The new information center will take some getting used to, but there’s no doubt that many will find it very useful. And where else will you find such a wealth of well-vetted information gathered in one place – for free? No place that I can think of.

So, check out Hodgdon’s Reloading data Center (RDC) and see what you think.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.