Unique, really this dirty?

[Char-Gar]

Is it normal after 200 rounds through my .45 using Unique that it looks like I fired 100 rounds of black powder through it? I know people complain its dirty but is it really that dirty?

You obviously have not fired 100 rounds of black powder through your pistol.

[WRideout]

Jack your charge up more toward the higher end. Soot will pretty much disappear. Accuracy usually improves also.

I run Unique in smaller cases (357 mag, 7.62 Tok, 7.62 Nagant) and use near max or max loads. I don't have much trouble with excessive soot. I did get a lot of crud and unburned flakes when I was working up mild loads of Blue Dot. It seems to be a situation where the slower powders need some pressure to burn clean.
Wayne

[Larry Gibson]

You obviously have not fired 100 rounds of black powder through your pistol.

Isn't THAT the truth!!!!!

As mentioned by everyone Unique runs "dirty" with starting loads and low level loads. It burns as clean as anything else with top end loads. Unique is not a good handgun powder for target or plinking loads; Bullseye or a similar burning powder will work much better. Just another example of using a powder out of it's performance range and then complaining about the powder. Sometimes (especially in these days of shortages) we have to make do with what we have or is available and that is ok. However, perhaps we shouldn't complain if it doesn't work as well as the right powder for the application.

Larry Gibson

[el roboto]

Im not complaining just asking if this is normal as im new to this stuff. And i am using unique because its all i could find.

[Char-Gar]

Unique has been around for a very long time and it is an excellent powder for many uses. I have fired thousands of rounds through various 1911s with Unique, although it is not my preferred powder for this use.

I prefer Bulleye for use in the 45 ACP round in 1911 pistols. John Browning designed the 1911 pistol with a number of moving parts that operate in sequence. This requires a cartridge with the right pressure and burn rate of the powder. Bullseye was the powder used for the round and continued to be so through millions and millions of factory and arsenal loads.

This whole concept of smokless power being "dirty" is fairly recent. Until recent times we used the powder that gave us the best results, cleaned our guns and washed our hands and that was all there was to the issue. These days the younger set seem to have a fixation on finding "clean" powders.

To be certain, some powders leave more powder residue than others, but I pay no attention to that and still look for performance. To me, it is simply a non-issue.

[Larry Gibson]

Im not complaining just asking if this is normal as im new to this stuff. And i am using unique because its all i could find.

As mentioned in the other thread; up the charge to 6.5 gr Unique.

Larry Gibson

[MtGun44]

Obviously you have never actually fired 100 rounds of black powder!

Bill

OOPS! Well, I thought of it second.

Probably lube, and I never noticed Unique to be particularly dirty. Unique is a
superb powder, but is in the medium speed range, a bit slow for some applications.
Try Titegroup or Bullseye for .45 ACP, or W231 they are more suited for the
cartridge, Unique is kinda on the edge for .45 ACP, works well at the high end but has
large velocity variations with light boolits and lower charges - although somehow it
is still very accurate, with even 125 fps variations.

[Char-Gar]

I got into Unique back in the early 60's when Cooper was using it to push 200 grain cast bullet pretty fast. I tried his loads and first trip to the range, the slide came back so fast, the firing pin stop came out the firing pin went whizzing by my ear. I found all the parts and put it back together and no damage was done, but I was very hinky about Unique in a 1911 pistol thereafter. The pistol was a good Remington-Rand 1911A1.

I don't know what happened, but the timing was out of whack. I never had the problem before or after with Bullseye and 200-230 grain bullets that didn't push the red line.

That was the day I stopped hot rodding the 1911 pistol!

I have used Unique since them, but in more pedestrian loads. Everytime I get ready to pull the trigger on a Unique load in a 1911 pistol, I get a flashback to that day in 1962 in Alpine, Texas. This is not conducive to good pistol shooting.

[paul h]

It just kocks so much harder then my 185gr factory loads. Im hoping im not getting to much preassure cause i have to load my flat nose rounds at 1.720 oal to work. Im new to all this so i am trying to be cautious.

That has more to do with the additional 45 gr of bullet weight, hevier bullets definately create more recoil. If you want milder recoil, try lee's 200 gr swc tl, it's a great 45 acp bullet.

As mentioned by others, unique and many other powders are filthy when run at lower pressure levels. Once you load it at the level it's happy at, it will burn much, much cleaner. I've had the same experience with a host of handgun powders, run powder puff loads and they generate lots of soot and crud. Increase your charge (within published limits) and it'll burn clean and you should also see better accuracy. Unique is one of my favorite handgun powders and I use it in pretty much all of my handgun rounds. But if you're looking to load the 45 acp on the milder end, I'd recomend trying Bullseye or one of the other faster powders.

[Baryngyl]

No one has really said much about your lube yet, LLA is easy to use way to much, especially for a beginner (ask me how I know), if you can easily see it on your bullet it is way to much and will smoke and soot a lot more.



Michael Grace

[el roboto]

That has more to do with the additional 45 gr of bullet weight, hevier bullets definately create more recoil. If you want milder recoil, try lee's 200 gr swc tl, it's a great 45 acp bullet.

As mentioned by others, unique and many other powders are filthy when run at lower pressure levels. Once you load it at the level it's happy at, it will burn much, much cleaner. I've had the same experience with a host of handgun powders, run powder puff loads and they generate lots of soot and crud. Increase your charge (within published limits) and it'll burn clean and you should also see better accuracy. Unique is one of my favorite handgun powders and I use it in pretty much all of my handgun rounds. But if you're looking to load the 45 acp on the milder end, I'd recomend trying Bullseye or one of the other faster powders.

I am not someone who is bothered by recoil and I enjoy shooting heavy recoil guns. I was just leary because im new to this and the 6.0gr of unique rounds I tested kicked so much harder then my `185gr factory loads it felt like I switched from .45 to .45 magnum. I knew to expect an increase in the recoil when pushing the heavier boolit but the amount of increase worried me. I moved down to 5.7 grains more to be safe and not blow up my gun then to have confortable target loads. Im going to try moving back up to 6 grains and monitoring everything I can for overpreasure. I originally intended to load my .45acp rounds in either bullseye or WST, but have been unable to find almost anything besides unique.

[el roboto]

No one has really said much about your lube yet, LLA is easy to use way to much, especially for a beginner (ask me how I know), if you can easily see it on your bullet it is way to much and will smoke and soot a lot more.




Michael Grace

You are correct, I have been playing hell to get the LLA/JPW/Mineral spirits proportions right. With my next batch I intended to dramatically reduce the amount used.

[Hanzy4200]

Every load I've used Unique in has been pretty dirty, but to say it is a bad powder is far from true. If I am ever having issues with a bullet, or start working with a new one, I always reach for Unique. Great all around powder.

[noylj]

Try shooting some BP and see what that is like.
Unless your gun chokes, why worry? You are simply going to clean your gun any way...
6.0gn of Unique is a great load for 185-230gn cast bullets, if you work up the load. I can't even imagine 7.3gn with any bullet over 200gn.
I load my .45 lead bullets to just touch the rifling/lede. The loads seem more accurate than at shorter COL and the powder burns a little cleaner.
Use Universal if you don't like Unique. The great thing today is that there are LOTS of alternative powders. The bad thing today is finding any of these alternate powders.
I shot a lot of matches (PPC, IPSC, bowling pins, etc) in decades past with RCBS 452-200-SWC bullets and 6.0gn of Unique and never consider a dirty gun to be anything more than what happens when you shoot.

[DrCaveman]

You are correct, I have been playing hell to get the LLA/JPW/Mineral spirits proportions right. With my next batch I intended to dramatically reduce the amount used.

While i cant disagree about any comments regarding charge weight and burn efficiency, ill submit that an extra heavy dose of lla/jpw makes things messy. Things got better for me when i really bought into the idea that if you can tell it's there, it is too much.

Ive been using about 2 peas' size for around 150-175 boolits, 200 gr swc 45s, and it still might be too much. I can just so barely discern a shine on the boolits after heating and swirling. And it is dry 30 minutes later, after pouring boolits onto wax paper. Im pretty sure that is PLENTY

Oh yeah, if your application comes out too heavy, add a splash of MS (extra) and another 20-30 boolits, swirl again. Repeat as needed until you cant see noticable darkening of the boolits. Pour and dry

[bobthenailer]

Funny thing you should bring up dirty guns ! i have quite a few 1911s in 45 acp as well as 2 Kahr's in 45 acp.
I use the same loads consisting of 4.5 gr of tightgroup powder and the saeco 68 lubed with carnuba red ,for some reason the Kahr's stay cleaner on the inside than my 1911 do ? perhaps because a ramped barrel ? also i have noticed that tightgroup powder keeps my guns noticeable cleaner inside than a charge of 4.5 gr of bullseye .
I have also noticed in mag handgun calibers that the upper end loads keep my guns cleaner than loads in the 800 to 1,100 fps range with cast bullets.