I've heard the same thing about Bullseye being dirty. But with any powder you are going to get your hands dirty. I've used Unique for upwards of 40 years
and have never thought that much about it. I shoot BullsEye matches and most of the guy's I shoot with all use one of the 2 powders.
Most all smokeless powders will burn sooty if you drop them down below the pressure at which they burn cleanly. I've tried to find an accurate 700 fps load for my 480 using a 275gr swc bullet, and bullseye, red dot and unique are all sooty at the low velocity level. Once I jack up the loads to 900-1000 fps they burn cleanly. I could have lived with the soot if they were accurate, but no luck in that gun.
So either live with the soot with powder puff loads, or jack them up until they burn clean. As I get older I enjoy the powder puff loads more and more, and it's only a few minutes work to pass a solvent soaked brush through the barrel and cylinder and then a dry patch. For cleaning the recesses of the frame an old tooth brush and solvent or a blast or two of break cleaner does the trick. I've yet to have a gun fail to function due to sooty loads, though I suppose depending on the guns tollerances 500-1000 of them might cause some problems in a gun with tighter tollerences.
My truck will clean up too but i dont make a habbit of dragging it through tthe mud if i can avoid it. Things stain and not wvery bit of everything will clean out.Originally Posted by MtGun44
I have no safe queens and shoot the devil out of every gun i own. However when i sell my guns i get top dollar and remarks on how clean they are. For most cleaning a gun means running a tooth brusg over it, for me it means being able to run a wet patch over everything and have it come up clean. So when every crevice is filled with crud it is a time consuming task to get it all out.
Two of the cleanest loads I use are Unique under cast boolits in a 243 AI rifle and a 270 Win rifle. Bores look cleaner after shooting than after cleaning. Pressure is just enough to cause a gas seal between case and chamber so even the chambers and receivers stay clean. It's a well known fact that when you get some higher pressures on Unique it burns fairly clean.
About all of them do, Gabby! It's a matter just how much pressure (heat) will burn the powder's carrier (cellulose) plus remaining deterrent. ... felix
felix
When I was experimenting with 2400 in my .38 Specials I got a lot of debris. Kind like a sand blaster effect! Yep that was "dirty" but the powder was not use to it's potential, therefore lots of unburned stuff all over me, my gun, and the range! Wasn't the fault of the powder, just not it's optimal application...
My Anchor is holding fast!
Amazing.
Bill
If it was easy, anybody could do it.
Unburnt granules are my problem with 4227. This at recommended load levels. When I start easing into uncharted territory I stop getting the problem. No pressure signs, either. Makes one wonder as he wanders.
It isn't taboo. But part of taking care of a gun is cleaning it properly. You're going to clean it whether it's a "clean powder" or a "dirty powder", aren't you? So what difference does it make? 2 minutes? 5 minutes? An old toothbrush in your kit?
Unique is a good powder, and it is worthy of any handgunner to sample and not discount it solely on how much residue it may (or may not) leave behind.
When someone pops up in the forum and wants to find a "clean powder", it makes some of us wonder what the shooter's goal is. Maybe that is the goal - clean shooting. I don't think that has been a historically significant endeavor. Maybe some of the "clean powder" crowd can do some experiments and report back here on their findings. I'm being serious here. If it's so important, if that's what makes shooting enjoyable, someone should study it.
I recommend that you find an accurate load for your gun, make sure it's safe, cycles the action, and meets your velocity needs. Shoot it, enjoy it, and then clean it up. Don't worry about the residue, it will all come out.
Unique is, well.....Unique.
It is one of the best, most versatile powders out there. A little dirty, yeah, but so what. You have to clean your gun anyway, right?
I'm glad I still have about 7LBS on hand
I can make it work for lots of things if need be.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7
I assert that powder and lube residue in/on a gun, it's NOT "dirt."
Powder and lube residue on the swicthplate and hand towel in the bathroom IS "dirt!"
If you need proof of the validity of my assertion, go rub some on a switchplate and see what happens.
Warnings, disclaimers, fine print and miscellaneous boiler plate:
Further observation indicates that marital status may have an effect on the results of the experiment - and that marital status may be affected by the results of intentional concentrated applications of powder and lube residue on switchplates and hand towels.
Consult your doctor before engaging in such experiments or you may be consulting your doctor after such experiments. May lead to hunger, emotional discomfort, insomnia, mental anguish, physical pain and the inability to forget.
Just like the use of others' reloading advice - these experiments are unsafe in MY household using MY switchplates and MY towels. Start low and work up. YMMV.
So what fuel do you burn? Got any soot on your exhaust?
Guns are less clean after getting shot, regardless of powder. So, when you finish you clean them back to whatever level you feel comfortable with.
Unique is too versatile a powder to be dismissed because it's "dirty". That's like dismissing a powder because it's too loud.
I use unique in everything from 38spcl to 20ga. A little residue is a very small price to pay for a powder that versitile. It shoots good it's comparativly cheap and best of all the load I used when I was 14 still works now that I'm 45. When most powders are reformulated the load changes.IE;2400. I have never had a powder burn "clean" but I am an opinionated person. Yes you may have "cleaner" powders buuuttt very few can do what unique does over such a broad spectrum.
It don't make much sense that commonsense don't make no sense nomore
If you died today would you have lived your life or have you simply existed
The thing with unique isn't that it just can be used as a propellent for so many chamberings, it's that it produces exceptional accuracy in so many different chamberings.
I'll always choose a "dirty" accurate gun or load over a mediocre clean gun or load.
Hoppes is cheap so I don't worry about it.
I grew up on FFFg so Unique seems pretty clean to me. And, at least in my big bores, it consistently outshoots most of the others. For me, it's easy to tidy up and I like pretty, accurate guns. Call me a Unique supporter.
I use Unique in every thing I got from 9mm to 30-06. I buy it by the keg. I love it, and it cheaper than most other powder. I also use Varget and H110.
Yes my grandma wears combat boots. But remember her carry weapon is a Ruger .454
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