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Thread: Unique powder

  1. #1
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    Unique powder

    I use unique in many cartridge reloading task's and get pretty good accuracy and uniformity with it.

    It loads everything from 38 special to 45 Colt. 38-55's 45-70's 444 Marlin and all my auto loaders 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP.

    This is a wonderfull powder that seems like an all in one powder which gets long milage per pound making it very affordable per round.

    What say you ... for a do-it-all powder that keeps boolits on the bull's eye ... what is your experience?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master waco's Avatar
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    Unique is hard to beat. I think I'd be safe saying that most of us could probably get by just fine with only
    Unique
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    4895
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master Wheelguns 1961's Avatar
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    I love unique! It is a great powder when used properly.
    Due to the price of primers, warning shots will no longer be given!

  4. #4
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    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
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    I don't use it in rifle loads, but it's done a good job for me in 9mm, .38Spec. & .45ACP.
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  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Unique! One of, if not the most versatile powders. Also, by the way, one of oldest smokeless powders! It’s origins and formula go back to the late 1800s. Just a little bit of useless trivia
    Long, Wide, Deep, and Without Hesitation!

  6. #6
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    There was a thread on here or poll I think which asked what was the one powder you could make do with if you only could have one. I'm pretty sure the winner was Unique and by a large margin. I always keep a couple of kegs on hand.
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  7. #7
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    It's one of the cast boolit powders that I would never want to be without. The same goes for Bullseye and 2400 as well. The so called holy trinity of the gunpowder world. Unique sometimes gets some bad press for being "dirty", but it's performance outweighs that minor distraction.

  8. #8
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    I like the old 10 grain load in most large rifle cartridges. I have used this as a starter in 30-06, 375 Ruger, 444 Marlin, 45-70, 38-55 and 40-65 Win. Been tempted to try this in my 43 Spanish but do not know what pressure it would develop.

    Generally I believe that pressure wise, Unique is conservative in rifle cartridges. Can easily be over pressure in handgun cartridges tho and care should be taken to not double charge with Unique.

    Loading wise ... my procedure is to size, flair and prime the cases. Then I meter a powder charge into a case and immediately put it in the press and seat the boolit ... BEFORE GOING TO THE NEXT CASE! Little slower, but my loading is as fun for me as shooting, casting or cleaning the weapon. It is all inclusive for me and I find that doing my loading like this makes sure I look inside EVERY case before seating a boolit. Gives me the secure knowledge that all loads are as perfect as I can make em.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master trapper9260's Avatar
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    I use it and works for me. I seen some post about it being dirty, to me your gun will get dirty no matter what you use. So it dose not matter to me. You need to clean your gun anyways. I use it in handgun and rifle like was stated.
    Life Member of NRA,NTA,DAV ,ITA. Also member of FTA,CBA

  10. #10
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    Larry Gibson's Avatar
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    Must be why it's called "Unique"......
    Larry Gibson

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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Gibson View Post
    Must be why it's called "Unique"......
    We really need a like button
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  12. #12
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LUCKYDAWG13 View Post
    We really need a like button
    Agreed

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

    Plate plinker's Avatar
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    I have been know to use UniQUE in more than one cartridge.
    Last edited by Plate plinker; 02-02-2020 at 11:32 PM.

  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master tazman's Avatar
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    Unique also works well in shotguns.

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy

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    I like unique, and use it in 45acp 38 spl. Etc. As far as being dirty, you can’t drop your pressure as low as with Bullseye, so keeping the load up to reasonable levels, it seem as clean as anything else I have used.

  16. #16
    Boolit Grand Master Outpost75's Avatar
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    IF you use a Dillon or Star machine to load large quantities of ammo, you do not want a flake powder of large particle size. I have found that in standard-pressure revolver, autopistol and cowboy loads that Alliant Bullseye, Hodgdon TiteGroup or Olin WST (or 452AA if you still have any) are much better choices and in most applications give similar velocity and pressure with about 70-75% of the Unique charge.

    If I want to load .38 Special +P and +P+, 9x19mm, .40 S&W, 10mm auto, .32 ACP+P, .32 H&R Mag., 7.62x25, or .30 Carbine that Olin AutoComp neatly fills the Unique niche, but measures far more uniformly in the Dillon and Star machines.

    I have not used Unique since the 1980s. Quite frankly, I was glad to use my the last of it.
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master

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    I used Unique in most pistol cartridges I load. Always with great results. Never had a problem with metering accuracy, easily maintained less than .1 grain variance in a Lyman 55. In light loads it tends to be a little dirty but no more so than other pistol powders.
    About four years ago I went with Tite Group because Unique was scarce and, in comparison, more expensive. It isn’t as versatile as Unique but for most of my target loads it performs just as well. Still use Unique, just not as often.

  18. #18
    Boolit Grand Master Harter66's Avatar
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    I can't be alone .
    I've shot it in pistols from 380-45 Colts via 357 mag .
    I've shot it in rifles with case families of 223, 30-30,308,06' and belted mags .
    12,16,20 ga shot guns .
    At BP pressures it is dirty but it shines above about 15kpsi . It behaves down to tiny charges in huge cases , so what you have to tip up , it actually does load many pistol cases full , 9mm touches the bases . 22 CF rifles ......forget about subs , but you can get some very angry 22 mags out of 222&223 . Want to turn your 45-70 down to a 45 Colts ? Want it to shoot Trapdoor levels ? Want to load some forager loads ? Now your in the meat and potatoes of Unique .

    Will it get rifles up to jacketed speeds ? A few but it's getting ragged .
    Does it load full mag potential ? No it leaves some on the table , but then I don't shoot all the mags and if the 1200fps 357 158 won't do it then a 1050 fps 250-265 probably will , both very attainable .
    Ever hear anyone complain about 1-1/4oz of #7.5,6,5 , or 12 00B at 1300 fps not being enough load on the game end ? I'm not deeply invested in the 16 yet but I'll bet it'll throw lead in the 1-1/8oz 1270+ . 7/8oz 20 ga at similar speeds isn't a bad load either . There's this old 10ga .......

    Yep probably a Unique fan boy .
    But when it works so broadly what's not to like ?
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  19. #19
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
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    I use a fair amount of Unique in my milsurp 30 cal pistols; 7.62 Tok and 7.62X38R Nagant. It is good in almost any pistol caliber, given enough pressure. Very light loads will definitely leave a lot of unburned powder and crud in the bore. I have most recently found that it works fine in my new-to-me 25 auto. 1.4 gr Unique nearly fills the case.

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  20. #20
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    Funny, I've never had much success with the universal 10 grain rifle load. As far as handguns go, it works but I have always had much better results with HP-38/W-W 231.
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check