"...my question would be is there any reason for a semi-experienced handloader with web acess need to buy a manual? "
No. Not unless you are looking for info on a new power or new cartridge, maybe not even then if you use the makers web sites.
No matter what some "new" manual has in it, or what bullet and powder lot or case or primer they used, the basic rule of "start low and only work up to max unless you see over pressure signs" takes care of it all. It sometimes appears some folks simply go straight to the max listed charges expecting to get the same safe results. That's not so and doing it that blindly could get them blinded for sure.
Your chamber pressure will ALWAYS be different from the book makers because their rifle is different from yours. Thus it's imperative we actually work up our own loads no matter what a "new book" says. Most of the time our results will produce lower pressures and speeds than the tightly chambered test rifles. Meaning, the book data is NOT "lawyered up", any differences are because the guns are different. The makers publish what they got and WE have to apply what they say with a bit of intelligence.
I probably have some thirty manuals gathered slowly over 45+ years of reloading because I like to read them, not because I 'need' them. I sure don't do any significant cross referencing between them, I pick a powder and start charge and develop my load, period, with an eye towards what the book says was their maximum.
Does that justification for my "No" make sense?
