When a friend and I were qualifying for our CCW permits, I used a 4" S&W 28 and the friend used a 6" Redhawk. When were using 38 Special wadcutters loaded with Bullseye. They make a stainless cylinder filthy also!
I shot 11grain Unique 44mag loads in a 629 3 weeks ago, it was filthy in one cylinder of shooting! But some of the best snubby groups I ever had!
They're all dirty to a degree, not just Unique, but it seems today's fastidious shooter is a product of the Internet age. Some years ago, no one really thought much about powder residue as it takes about the same effort to clean a little or a lot. Solvent makes it a pretty easy job.
They're all dirty to a degree, not just Unique, but it seems today's fastidious shooter is a product of the Internet age. Some years ago, no one really thought much about powder residue as it takes about the same effort to clean a little or a lot. Solvent makes it a pretty easy job.
^This^
Unique? I love it! Good sprinkled on corn flakes in the morning. Good for what ails ya'.
I use lots of Unique for general purpose range and field loads in all sorts of handguns, revolvers and automatics. Sometimes Unique fuels favored self-defense loads too.
I spent my whole life getting my hands dirty . I don't give much thought to how dirty my gun is or my hands after a shooting session . Unique has been getting guns and hands dirty since 1899 , according to Aliant . We just keep buying it , for a very good reason . Regards, Paul
Personally been loading it for about 40 years, but these cans are older than I am. I picked these up about 5 years ago. 2 were still sealed and 1 had been opened by the seller that inherited it from grandpa. He wanted to know what gun powder looked like. I was tickled to give him $5 per can. I did load and shoot the powder out of all 3, and yes it was just as filthy as the stuff in the cardboard cans, and the modern plastic bottles.
I got the full meal deal of a full six pack, plus a can and a half of Alcan AL-7 as a bonus. The price tag on the Bulleye says $2.79. Sadly these have all been emptied and fired. Wish I could stumble onto anther deal like this one.
I just got through reloading 200 44 mag 240 lead with 8.5 Unique one hour ago. It will wipe right off when I get through having fun. A full charge load is not that dirty.
If stuck with only one powder and that one powder would have to be used in revolver , auto-pistol , rifle and shotgun reloading ...guess which powder could do it all.......old fashioned , out of date , flakey , dirty , good for nothing ......... Unique.
Introduced in 1898 ...why is it still around...The easy answer is ...
It Works....and works well if you know how to load it ...and some of us know how .
Gary
Praise for Unique: The No 45 Lyman reloading manual has a Unique load for ever popular cartridge in 1970! It may not match factory velocity, but with a can of Unique You could load for any and every gun in the house. Older shotgun loading info usually included data for every pistol powder a company made. Some of the velocities were considerably below 1200 fps, but so was the recoil!
Unique is not the longest continually produced smokeless powder, Herco is, by about 6 years. Aliant still has a few pound sample from the first batch.
If stuck with only one powder and that one powder would have to be used in revolver , auto-pistol , rifle and shotgun reloading ...guess which powder could do it all.......old fashioned , out of date , flakey , dirty , good for nothing ......... Unique.
Introduced in 1898 ...why is it still around...The easy answer is ...
It Works....and works well if you know how to load it ...and some of us know how .
Gary
There is one other powder: Black Powder! And some people complain about cleaning after Unique really don't know how "fun" cleaning can be!
When asked by others what caliber to choose when buying a reproduction levergun, I tell them anything but 45 Colt. I have Winchester reproductions from the Henry to 1886s and only one in 45 Colt.
Unique is a popular cowboy powder, mostly because of the manuals out there and the fact that the powder has accepted for years and years as a good target load, but shooting a straight-walled case with Unique in a levergun is typically a dirty proposition. At the lower velocities in most 45 Colt rifle rounds, the brass does not expand enough to seal in the chamber, so produces blow-back. If people out there are familiar with a Model 1873 mechanism, it will start to bind when dirty and are a bear to disassemble for cleaning, so finding the cleanest powder has been a mission of mine for a long time. Unique is the absolute worst out there for my rifle. Other calibers I shoot are 44-40, 45-70, & 45-75 and I can shoot them all day with Unique. A combination of shouldered cases and/or high power caliber eliminates blowback.
My best solution for 45 Colt is Trail Boss for two major reasons. The powder shoots quite clean and you cannot double charge. So I shoot this powder in my 45 Colt revolvers and rifle almost exclusively.
My best solution for 45 Colt is Trail Boss for two major reasons. The powder shoots quite clean and you cannot double charge. So I shoot this powder in my 45 Colt revolvers and rifle almost exclusively.
Those are some beautiful rifles - how about an ID run-down top to bottom? That 1873? with the tang sight looks like it has a 30" barrel.
Years ago I won a lot of meat and money trapshooting and used Unique, then used it in .45, .38 and now 9mm. Can throw 10 grains in a 30-06 or 30-30 and shoot small game. Don' care if it's dirty, love it.
Those are some beautiful rifles - how about an ID run-down top to bottom? That 1873? with the tang sight looks like it has a 30" barrel.
I will add a photo with ID for each gun. The reason I bought the 1973 was because of the 30" barrel. Apparently, they made this barrel length years ago, but I have not found another for sale recently. Mine is from 1991.
Please don't get me wrong, Unique is a fine powder and I use it in guns that are relatively easy to clean including shotguns, but will not recommend its use in a 45 Colt levergun. Those who have disassembled one will agree that it is not fun to do a detailed cleaning.
I've tried a lot of the new powders and they aren't necessarily better than Unique. The idea that old things aren't as good or outdated is full of holes, mostly spouted off by inexperienced shooters/ loaders. If a powder is producing good accuracy, isn't temperature sensitive, has a wide range of use and isn't so dirty as to tie up a gun, then it is plenty good.
I've tried a lot of the new powders and they aren't necessarily better than Unique. The idea that old things aren't as good or outdated is full of holes, mostly spouted off by inexperienced shooters/ loaders. If a powder is producing good accuracy, isn't temperature sensitive, has a wide range of use and isn't so dirty as to tie up a gun, then it is plenty good.
Yes, you are right, but we're in a different age of of gun enthusiasts and handloaders today. We have an obsessive faction of fastidious among us. Smudged fingertips and fouled cylinder faces from shooting "dirty" powder has become quite unacceptable. Handguns and brass need to be ritualistically polished to eliminate any hint of use.
Things like accuracy, shooting skills, and the temperature sensitivity of powders seems to be very secondary to cosmetic appeal.
FWIW; I don't wear my white tux or my kidskin gloves when shooting. When I was shooting indoors (a lot) there was no concern for "extra smoke" and the range had restrooms with soap and water. My range bag also contained rags/hand towels to wipe a gun with, if necessary. When I go up in the hills shooting I take water and paper towels to get excess GSR off my face and hands. I also clean my guns after a range session, that's part of being a responsible shooter . I have never had a "problem" with "dirty Unique" and I use Unique in my 357, 44 Special and 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 380, 9mm and 45 ACP and if I use light loads of Unique, they may be considered "dirty", but if they are it is of little/no concern to me. I also use "new and improved" powders but my Unique loads are consistent, good accurate loads...
When I get to go to the range and come home with GSR all over me, I am relaxed, tired, happy, just like going to therapy and giving the mind and the body a good work out. I reload Unique in all my pistol and revolver calibers, and have been since 1975 or so.
I will add a photo with ID for each gun. The reason I bought the 1973 was because of the 30" barrel. Apparently, they made this barrel length years ago, but I have not found another for sale recently. Mine is from 1991.
Please don't get me wrong, Unique is a fine powder and I use it in guns that are relatively easy to clean including shotguns, but will not recommend its use in a 45 Colt levergun. Those who have disassembled one will agree that it is not fun to do a detailed cleaning.
I've been shooting a cast 250 gr SWC pushed by 8.5 grs of Unique in 2 lever action rifles for over 20 years. Never had a problem.........Never will.
Never used Unique, when I needed to try a midrange powder I did my research and bought Universal, the new stuff made in Communists Canada. It works the powder that is.
Mostly I use black powder in 45 Colt, that fouling cleans up much faster and easier than nitro powder.
Unique
. I have never had a "problem" with "dirty Unique" and I use Unique in my 357, 44 Special and 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 380, 9mm and 45 ACP and if I use light loads of Unique, they may be considered "dirty", but if they are it is of little/no concern to me. I also use "new and improved" powders but my Unique loads are consistent, good accurate loads...
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