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View Full Version : Makarov/CZ82 loads and Unique


fatelk
08-25-2010, 09:01 PM
I've been fiddling around with the 9mm Makarov lately, and shot some through the chronograph this morning. I shoot in an EG Mak and a CZ82. My load this morning was 3.8 gr Unique with a Lee 101gr bullet. I was surprised to see the extreme deviation between shots. They ranged from 818 fps to 929 fps.

They seemed to shoot fine at the target, no malfunctions and no leading. This is a plinking load so I'm not to concerned with velocity, but was curious if this was common. I think that there is room to go hotter with Unique, so maybe that would help. I did notice some unburned powder on my hand.

Any thoughts?
35remington
08-28-2010, 12:40 AM
How much variation in the thrown charge weight have you found using Unique in your measure?

Have you considered something like Bullseye, W231, Titegroup, etc?

I have to agree hotter may help in lowering extreme spreads but also look into your measuring consistency. Once charges get much below 4 grains of Unique in some measures metering consistency may leave something to be desired. An example would be Lee's Pro Auto Disk.
fatelk
08-29-2010, 11:41 AM
I use an RCBS Uniflow with the small rotor, and it does pretty good if I get the powder settled good first. I got maybe about a .1 grain variation when setting it up for this charge. Some did go a little higher but I could feel it when throwing the charge, as they drug a little.

I did realize my mistake a couple days ago, though, while getting some brass ready. Most of my brass is trimmed 9x19, but some is regular 9mm Mak. I have a feeling that this could account for a lot of the velocity variation.:)
35remington
08-29-2010, 02:21 PM
Oh, yes indeedy, cases of entirely different origin, to the point of being different types initially before modification, could well account for the difference.

On its own, given reasonably consistent metering, Unique shouldn't be giving you extreme spreads of that great variation.

Try to compare the capacities of the two different case types to see if you can quantify the differences. With small cases, a little variation can mean a lot.