10 Grs. Unique. The Universal Cast Boolit Rifle Load?

[wlc]

Have a general question about commercial cast lead projectiles. I'm a bit disabled and not able to cast myself but have noticed that Montana Bullets has quite a selection of gas checked projectiles in 30 cal and in 7.62...they sell varying diameters (example is in the 7.62 they have .311-.314 available...I will slug the bores on anything I want to shoot with cast lead)...they have the molds used to cast the projectiles and quite a selection...Would a commercial cast gas checked rifle bullet be a good "candidate" for the "10 grain Unique" situation? I load lots of handgun with Unique and have lots of it as well as Trail Boss...I'm just looking for light plinking loads to let my Wife enjoy a bit of rifle shooting but not getting knocked on her butt. I realize that 10 grains is a starting point and my main question concerns using gas checked boolits and I think they probably are fairly hard (18 or so)...I shoot light loads without checks in handguns but use a 12 hardness or less for most of my lighter loads....just looking for some direction in lead/Unique/gas checks with commercial cast boolits...thanks
opos

Not an expert by any means, but i'd say cast boolits are cast boolits, more or less. If all I has were commercial cast and wanted to load them with unique then I would. Follow all the safety precautions etc etc.

[Socal147]

SW 500 Magnum
350 gn LFP over anywhere from 8 grains (extremely light) to 14 grains (waking up) Unique. 10 grains of unique kicks like a light 357 load.

[Walstr]

9gr Unique, 45-70-405, Marlin 1895GS--Loaded up 60 rnds of plinkers & some for 'fire lapping'. My wife was plinking with her 22LR Henry & commented my rifle sounds different, did I break it? I explained what I was doing different, i.e. not shooting 41gr of IMR3031. She agreed to shoot it & voila [sp] looking at me grinning from ear to ear, "This is what a rifle should feel like, AND I can actually see the darn holes...got any more bullets?" It's a great feeling to stand back & supply your life's partner joy, 405 gr at a time!

Recoil was non-existent with these very light loads, purposely slow for the fire lapping process per Beartooth Bullets. Also in response to an older post in this thread, Unique is safe laying/lieing
down in a partially filled case, UNLIKE many other powders. It's magical properties don't turn it into a pipe bomb!
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Related topic: I'm using 6gr-6.3gr Unique for 45LC Cowboy shooting, but think I would like to try a more consistently metered, non-flake powder, that's also SAFE for very reduced loads. Please advise. [I know I most likely can't find what your recommending, but it's something I can watch out for!] Thanks for watching.

[Hooker53]

I'm a nub when it comes to casting boolits for a rifle and been a while for any casting. With that, I'm wondering at what speeds/loads would you want to start GC? My main interest is .38 SP and .357 Mag. Thanks and great thread.

Roy.

[Sgtonory]

I'm a nub when it comes to casting boolits for a rifle and been a while for any casting. With that, I'm wondering at what speeds/loads would you want to start GC? My main interest is .38 SP and .357 Mag. Thanks and great thread.

Roy.

No need to GC with pistol calibers. I shoot full magnum loads with all PB boolits with alloy around 11BHN.

[james23]

I had some 71 grain 32 auto hornandy's that I loaded in the 303 with 8.5 grain Unique. For the 12 old son the load is definitely easy to shoot. Gets them good practice without the kick.

[35 shooter]

10 gr. unique behind a 296 gr. pb in 35 whelen...2.2" @ 100 yds. for 5 shots. That was my first try and i'm gonna work up from there and see what happens. Some old chrono data i saw says 1257 fps. All i know is it dug a big hole in a hard clay and gravel bank....not exactly a pipsqueek load. Light load maybe, but still lethal at 100 yds.

[FlatTop45LC]

My favorite handload - and I use a bunch - is for my 45 Long Colt.

Starline case, WLP, 255 grain Keith and 9 grains of Unique.

It offers great accuracy and plenty of killing power in my Ruger Flat Top 4 5/8" 45 LC.

[HMC710]

A big +1 for that!
and you can drop it down to 7 gr for tin cans.

[FlatTop45LC]

You are quite right HMC!

I loaded around 250 up with 8 grains to plink with and it doubled my group size, so I just load them all at 9 grains and let it eat!

[TCLouis]

10.5 grains behind Ranch Dog 365 grainer out of 1886 and Remington RB yields 1100 fps which can be compared to loads that have been known to penetrate smaller game animals.

10.5 was the stopping . . . . actually was the end point only, because higher loadings was less accurate.

[R1valdez]

Anybody tried 10grs of unique over a lee 312 155gr bullet on a 300 blackout?

[NWFLYJ]

Great timing! I will have my 300blk in about a week.

[Jupiter7]

Anybody tried 10grs of unique over a lee 312 155gr bullet on a 300 blackout?

That'd be a tad too much most likely.

[shoot-n-lead]

I have tried using 10.0 grains of Unique in my Ruger 44 mag with little success and used the same load in my Marlin 1894 44 mag and it wasn't good at all. Maybe I'm just not using the right boolit or load though. I'm having a lot better luck with 296 as far as the 44 mag is concerned.

Boy, that is the truth for me also, concerning the 1894...mine shoots Unique loads into groups that look like a shotgun pattern.

[R1valdez]

That'd be a tad too much most likely.

What would be a starting load for that?

[ipijohn]

Great timing! I will have my 300blk in about a week.

By my way of thinking Unique is a little fast to cycle a semi-auto. Don't know if the powder will fit under a 312-155. I shoot 1680 and 4227, do very well with both and they are available locally. On another note, I do load 10 grn of Unique in 41 mag, 44 mag, 30-06, 30-30 and 270 for plinking loads for the grand kids.

[sfcairborne]

My 308 loves 11.5 grains and the lyman 311041 173 grainer, one ragged hole all day long at 75 yards

[Jupiter7]

What would be a starting load for that?

It won't cycle, not even close. Strictly a single shot proposition. No real advice for supersonic with unique as I've only used it in subs with my bolt gun and heavy boolits. But, 7.62x39 data with that boolit is published in Lyman's 49th. I'd be afraid to extrapolate a near max load being 300blk is a smaller case, lyman data shows max load of 9.5grs in the x39 and starting at 7.8. I used 5.5grs with 245's in the 300 for a subsonic load and that was dug up from old whisper data. If I had to start somewhere it'd be around 6grs with the 312-155.

[NWFLYJ]

^^^^^^7.2 gns of Unique cycles my 1911 45 acp. I know the ar two different animals. Have you tried it and it did not cycle, or are you talking hypothetical? I don't expect it to perform supersonic, just hoping to plink. I went with a pistol length gas system.