dirty powder ?

[tuckerdog]

I have seen on this forum and heard from others that unique is dirty and some of those folks wont use it. I have been using unique for around 30 years (since I was 15) and while it does leave a little grit behind in the barrel I have never seen a loss of accuracy or accelerated wear from using this powder except after extreme shooting. ie; 1500 rounds in one day without cleaning (actualy did this once just to see if I could)

even then a few swabs and good to go. so umm what is the issue? I use more unique than any other powder. not trying to start a frakus just wondering what the definition of a dirty powder acctually is.

[JayinAZ]

All powders leave residue, I don't see the issue, either.

[btroj]

Dirty powder isn't an issue in cast shooting in my opinion. The lube leaves far more residue than the powder.

Great example of a solution looking for a problem.

[jonp]

Until I head into a war when I might need to run off a 5,000 round string without cleaning I am not going to worry about a little unburnt powder. Can't say I've had a firearm stop on me for being too dirty outside of the military. Unique could not have survived 100yrsif it was that bad

[T-Dogg]

Good to hear. I just picked up a pound of Unique today for my very first lead loads (38sp). Not that I mind cleaning anyway.

[Sgtonory]

I love unique i would use more of it if i could find it. I like all alliant powders have to use up my 18# of BE first. Have used Unique from 9mm to .308

[MtGun44]

IMO, baloney. Never noticed Unique being particularly dirty. It is often particularly
accurate, and that trumps "dirty" instantly. I never really consider cleanliness as
a selection factor in powders. Unique is one of the most versatile powders out there,
and for anything with a larger volume than a .44 mag it seems that about 10 gr of Unique
is often a wonderful load - regardless of cartridge or boolit wt. In the really big ones,
that can bump up to maybe 15 gr, but in any of the big milsurp bottlenecks of the late
19th and early 20th centuries, 10 gr of Unique often a delightfully accurate and mild
load.

Bill

[prs]

Dirty is relative. I have never seen "gritty", now that would be really bad. I like Unique, have used many kegs of it and have a full keg on hand now. Like was said above, the lube residue and smoke seem to dominate the residuals. Then again, the otherwise same loads with Tight Group do seem to leave the actions of semi autos less messy. But, I don't mind messy as long as she go bang!

prs

[tuckerdog]

seems many mirror my opinion of it. I was hopeing some of the dirty powder crowd would chime in so as to understand where they are comming from.

[paul h]

As an asside, I once traded a shooting aquantance some bullets I'd cast that I'd lubed with lith-bee. The bullets were extremely accurate, but he complained that the lube was too dirty. So yes, there are some people that are more concerned with the cleanliness of their gun than their group sizes.

Personally I'm more interested in accuracy than cleanliness and hence Unique is one of my most used powders because of it's accuracy in both hanguns and rifles. When you try and load powder puff loads it can be a bit dirty, but run the charges up a bit and it's great stuff.

[cbrick]

just wondering what the definition of a dirty powder acctually is.

Hhmmm . . . Me too!

ALL powder leaves residue, ALL powder. I think there are those that wish to spend the day at the range shooting and then go home and put a sparkly clean gun away. I have long range match revolvers that haven't had the bores cleaned in the last few years, no need to. I do clean the cylinder after each shooting session. Because of dirty powder? Nope, because boolit lube will build up in the cylinder.

I wonder how many of the dirty powder crowd have ever fired a front stuffer.

Rick

[felix]

Don't like dirty guns? Use v-v powders and dirty goes away! The smokeless powder formulations (by all the manufacturers) are slowly changing to being more temperature tolerant as well as burning without leaving any visual residue due to itself. ... felix

[David2011]

Most noticable for me is the residue from 2400 in my .44 Mag Contender since I see down the barrel after every shot. The loads are stiff so it's not that the pressure isn't developing. A single "lightly loaded" (full house .44 Special level) round of Win231 at the end of the session using the same boolit and lube as with the 2400 leaves the barrel looking like it hasn't been shot.

David

[Moonie]

With Unique the down side is it is slightly dirty, but it has been reformulated and isn't as dirty as it was 30 years ago. The upside is all of its uses. I currently can't find any and I really need some. I like using it for reduced loads in 30-06 for my younger daughters and soon my grandchildren.

Not to mention all the pistol loads I have built around it.

[ofreen]

I like Unique for a lot of things. The only issue I've seen is unburned flakes can get under the extractor of double action revolvers, tying things up a little. The solution is to elevate the muzzle more when ejecting empties.

[willk]

For a long, long time, Unique has been just about the only powder I used for general shooting of revolvers and my used to own, 9mm. SR4759 is my standard powder for mid range necked case loads. Never had a problem with either. Still use both with Unique being my favorite mid range loads for the .44 Magnum. I use all the popular favorites for (WW296, IMR4227, and AA#9) for full power revolver loads. Love that Unique though and purchase it in 8 pound lots

As stated, the lube causes more smoke problems than any powder. Our son, who shoots cast in his 9mm's always complains about the smoke from my cast bullets (says its like shooting black powder) and he Never uses Unique. (don't know why, must be something from his Mother's side of the family )

[mdi]

"Dirty Powder" seems to be the new buzz phrase. Mostly by new or lesser experienced reloaders. The most Unique loads I've shot was about 400 rounds of 45 ACP in my 1911. Yep, it was sooty, had some gunk from lube, but never failed to feed, chamber, fire, or eject. Mebbe a couple hundred more rounds an it would start choking, but mebbe not. All my guns (except .22s) get cleaned after each session, and I don't have a failure chart for number of rounds fired before any failure/loss of accuracy due to "dirty powder" (and I think the numbers would be pretty high for some of my revolvers).

When I shot indoors exclusively, I would take a hand towel to wipe my hands and wipe down the outside of my guns to remove soot (I shot revolvers 80% of the time). All the ranges I frequented had restrooms with soap and water, so I would clean up before I went home. When I shoot outdoors today, I bring along water and can clean up a bit when I'm done shooting.

But, I expect to get a little dirty shooting (anything except my M1), that's the nature of the game. I don't wear my white tux when shooting and I usually clean up at home before I go out after a day of shooting. I don't change the oil in my car without expecting to get my hands dirty and the same applies to my shooting. As stated earlier; if you don't want to get your hands dirty (sooty) while shooting, don't shoot...

[el roboto]

I dont understand why people act like its so taboo to want to take care of a 1000$ piece of machinery.

[roysha]

I would say that "sooty" would be a more accurate term. I use it exclusively in my 44 Mag. and at the end of a 100 round or so session, because I use primarily a modified Weaver Stance the thumb and fingers of my left hand are literally black. However, I usually get around 750-800 rounds through my 629 before I need to seriously clean it and like others have alluded to, it is mainly because of the lube from the cast bullets making the ejection difficult.

That said, I don't particularly like it in auto loaders because of the sootiness and especially since I have a much better and efficient powder available. But if that was all I had, I would use it without a second thought!

[MtGun44]

I see zero connection between "dirty" and "taking care of". Wipe down a gun after shooting,
and clean the chamber area occasionally and your $1000 gun will last for 200 years.

Bill