Unique replacement

[Driver man]

I have been using AP70 as a direct replacement for Unique for years. Its made by ADI and called Universal in the US.

[MT Gianni]

Not all ball powders are difficult to light-off. The Accurate Nitro-100, #2, #5, #7, and #9 powders are all ball and also double based. This is a complete line-up from fast to slow burning pistol powders. Being double based makes them easier to kick off.

45_Colt

I have stuck two bullets in the throat with AA9. I find it inconsistant unless a heavy bullet and crimp are used. I find flakes harder to measure but they ignite easier in my experience.

[P Flados]

I ran some stuff through Quickload for 44-40 & 45 colt low pressure.

If you are looking for maximum velocity, your 2400 is a better choice.

For other applications, you are going to give up some velocity and gain some economy as you go with a faster powder

You give up around 20 fps from maximum by using Unique. True Blue should be pretty close to Unique.

If this is just for shooting targets, you use a lot less powder but only lose around 60 fps from maximum with 700x.

[Walks]

For small charges of Unique, i.e. I switch to Bullseye.

[Kosh75287]

If Unique is unavailable, I'd want BE-86, followed by Herco, followed by AA#5. I've never tried Hodgdon Universal, so I may be missing something there. Just from inspection, and with no actual experience, VV N340 might also work as a "general purpose" pistol powder.

I'm well acquainted with, and like VERY MUCH, AA#5 and the three Alliant propellants I mentioned. Even so, when I use one of those 4 powders in place of Unique, I switch back to Unique as soon as I can lay my hands on it. Unique is the propellant on which I learned reloading for all pistol cartridges, and the one whose behaviour I can best predict in situations in which I must go "off label" in its use.

[Wal']

Until we get back to having a regular supply of Small Pistol Primers, powder is the least of our problems at the moment
I haven't been able to buy primers down here in Australia for the last six months.

[45_Colt]

I have stuck two bullets in the throat with AA9. I find it inconsistant unless a heavy bullet and crimp are used. I find flakes harder to measure but they ignite easier in my experience.

I can see that occurring with AA9 and too light of a load. It is a slow burning magnum powder.

45_Colt

[BadgerShooter]

I've shot hundreds of pounds of Unique. Power Pistol has given some good results for me in similar cases. I have not used BE-86 but I understand it to be similar to Power Pistol but with less flash and boom. Probably an excellent choice too.

[farmbif]

I like be-86 a lot. it burns clean, minimized flash and plenty of power. there is good load data for a whole bunch of calibers, not as many as unique. its great for top velocity 9mm and 40 s&w and for also works great in 357, 41 and 44. good powder savings compared to 2400 or 4227, not the top magnum velocities in these but great loads for a lot of shooting plinking rounds. one that hasn't been mentioned that ive found to be a great powder for minimal or top velocity in several calibers is silhouette.

[yeahbub]

It's not on your list, but I've noticed that Hodgdon Universal book loads are generally very close to Unique in the Lee load book. I only very rarely had Unique, so I can't speak from a lot of experience with it vs. Universal, but the load data shows close results. I wondered if Universal was Hodgdon's version of Unique. Anywau, Universal meters easily and cosistently in my Lyman powder measure. Just my $.02.

EDIT
Some time back, I had read of some of the differences between extruded and ball powders and thought I'd mention some that seem relevant ot this discussion. One is that no spherical propellants are truly progessive-burn powders. Producing spherical powders is somewhat simpler for manufacturers, but they have no perforations to facilitate progressive burn, thus they rely on double-base formulation and deterrent coatings to approximate a progressive burn. The heavier deterrent coatings and density per unit of volume generally makes for less favorable performance in large-volume cases with light loads where primer flash may have to travel farther to effect ignition on smaller granules, making them more position sensitive. Extruded propellants take up more space, have corners and edges, and the perforations make for a true progressive burn, be they single or double-base. I have noticed there are some ball powders that are easy to ignite and have gottren very good performance from, like Win 231. Accurate #9, not so much. Even Accurate #5 had trouble with the Lee 358-105 SWC in 9mm using mid-range book loads. Not enough inertia to keep things corked up long enough to build pressure for complete ignition.

[jaysouth]

I get very good results with BR5. 5 grs in 45 ACP, 8-9 grs in 30-30 with pistol primers and 150 cast bullets.

[deces]

I bought a keg of Unique years ago and now I am starting to tap into it. One thing I have just noticed is that this stuff offers a lot of bang for the buck, looking at that the average stated powder charge for a particular case with common loads, is about 20-25 grains of powder. Where as with Unique, it's 9-10 grains, albeit the velocity is a fair bit slower, I can live with that for plinking.

[popper]

Getting low on Unique and 2400 but found a # of red dot, decent price. Decided to try in 300 BO CVA Scout. Fun. 145gr PB PCd with up to 7 gr. so far, no pressure signs. About 1400 fps on magnetospeed. Probably try it in 30/30 in spring.

[racepres]

If I ever ran out of Red dot (or Promo) I would be in Deep DooDoo...as well as traumatized

[P Flados]

If I ever ran out of Red dot (or Promo) I would be in Deep DooDoo...as well as traumatized

I ran out of Promo during the previous shortage. Ended up with a jug of Titegroup. I used Titegroup for a ton of applications for about a year. For a few items I stuck with Titegroup, but for most items it was back to Promo as soon as I found some.

[Charlie Horse]

I still have and use Unique for non-progressive reloading. I use AA#5 and BE86 as a substitute when running my Dillon's.

Is there a reason you don't use Unique in your Dillon?

[45_Colt]

Is there a reason you don't use Unique in your Dillon?

My guess would be that it is difficult to meter via a volumetric device. Being a large flake powder I could see issues trying to get a good even measure of powder.

A smaller flake such as Bullseye meters OK, same with ball powders such as Win 231.

45_Colt

[derek45]

I took some MOTHERS MAG POLISH and Dremel'd the inside metal of my DILLON powder measures.

UNIQUE, IMR8208, H322, ect all meter nicely now.

[Kraschenbirn]

Is there a reason you don't use Unique in your Dillon?

I've had my Dillon 450 for 30+ years and never had any success with flake powders using the factory charge bar. However, back when I had access to a milling machine, I made up a some blank (no powder cavity) charge bars then drilled/reamed individual charge bars for specific loads of Unique and similar. Still have those but haven't used them for years, not since discovering AA#5, HP38/231, and Herco all meter very nicely through my Dillon adjustable bar.

Bill

[45_Colt]

I took some MOTHERS MAG POLISH and Dremel'd the inside metal of my DILLON powder measures.

UNIQUE, IMR8208, H322, ect all meter nicely now.

Interesting, is this the lower areas of the powder container. IOW, the funnel shaped piece below the plastic container along with the short chute?

I've heard about polishing this area, but looking at the one I have, the metal was already rather smooth. So didn't do anything to it.

I did polish the powder die funnel interiors. They definitely could use it as they were rough. Just took a few minutes with some 320 then 600 with a split shaft in a drill.

45_Colt