OK, Here is what I did. I took the same brand of cases from the same lot, RP. Same thing with the bullets, all cast from the same alloy at the same session. Sized to .431" and lubed with my homemade lube. I did have some leading, not excessive. The firearm was clean when I finished and that was surprising seeing as I used dirty old Unique. (Get the pressure up and it will work just fine!
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Also, all of them were loaded on my Lee Classic Turret in 4 hole press. It is the cast iron version. On top of the powder die was old faithful, the Lyman #55 powder measure I got with my first reloading setup. I think the numbers will speak for themselves on how Unique metered through it.
Primers were Wolf Large Pistol Magnum and none of these loads even began to make them flatten out at all. Still, as mentioned previously, I stayed below the Lyman data posted above.
Once again, the firearm for the pistol testing was a newer M629 Classic with a 5" barrel.
Well, here goes:
(all numbers are in feet per second)
10gr Unique
Low 1084
High 1120
Avg 1103
ES 36.6
SD 12.44
11gr Unique
Low 1151
High 1193
Avg 1174
ES 42.46
SD 13.45
12gr Unique
Low 1228
High 1254
Avg 1240
ES 25.96
SD 8.71!
12.6gr Unique
Low 1288
High 1323
Avg 1303
ES 34.68
SD 12.08
Rifle data:
12.6gr Unique
Low 1468
High 1507
Avg 1483
ES 39
SD 1724
To be honest, seems to me that 12gr is some kind of sweet spot. Whether it is in my reloading equipment of that 5" little hand cannon, something seems to click there.
I didn't do any accuracy testing as that is really a shooter function at these levels.
I think those numbers are really remarkable from this old veteran powder. Hope this helps someone!
I am going to look into this just a little more as a matter of fact. That is, after I get the middle daughter married off this weekend!