I've never used Unique. I'm now loading .38/.357/.44 Special/.44 Mag/.45 ACP and .45 Colt.

Does anyone use Unique for all? I've always used 231 or Bullseye for my .38/.45 loads.

Or....should I stay with what I'm familiar with for the others, and buy another powder (296, or?) for .44 Special/.44 Magnum, which I'm just getting into reloading for?

I'd love to use one powder for all of 'em!

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matt

I've never used Unique. I'm now loading .38/.357/.44 Special/.44 Mag/.45 ACP and .45 Colt.

Does anyone use Unique for all? I've always used 231 or Bullseye for my .38/.45 loads.

Or....should I stay with what I'm familiar with for the others, and buy another powder (296, or?) for .44 Special/.44 Magnum, which I'm just getting into reloading for?

I'd love to use one powder for all of 'em!

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matt

I use Unique in all those cartridges. There are better choices for high end magnum performance and less expensive choices for light target loads but medium power loads with unique should work well in all of them.

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Big bang, much smash'em.

If you don't mind having "generic" loads for all of those cartridges, go ahead and use Unique for all of them.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are some folks out there cringing right now because I dare to speak this way, Unique is a very versatile powder. You have cartridges listed there that for certain purposes Unique will really shine. Some of them are going to be mediocre at best with it.

Powder should be picked on basis of needs/desire of round performance and availability, not ONLY versatility. Versatility should play a part but not the MAIN criteria, at least in my opinion.

If you could list the usage of the rounds by caliber, forum members would be glad to make suggestions.

I know I will. If I had Accurate Arms powders available I would use them for all the calibers listed. AA#2 for 38 & 45 target loads, AA#5 for mild 357mag & 44spl, AA#7 for stouter 357mag & 44spl & mild 44Mag loads. AA#9 for full power loads in the magnums.

Hope this helps!

W231 has proven itself about as versatile as Unique for me. As with Unique, you may have to settle for a tad less desirable performance in some cases, but she'll load'em all

In the past I have used Unique for 38/357,44Spec/Mag,45ACP,45Colt,20Ga and 28Ga.
Currently use 231 for the 45ACP,trying 231 in 38/357.
Primarily have 296 on hand for my .410,but would use it for 357,44Mag loads if need arises.
Most of my shooting is informal paper punching,tin can rolling anyway.

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U.S.A.F---E-7--Retired

I've used Unique for all the calibers you mention except .45 Colt. Don't have anything in that caliber.

Unique won't give you the max performance in the .44 Mag, but will give you a pretty good all purpose round. 7.5 gr and a 250 gr Kieth bullet in .44 Spl is a wonderful load.

6.5 gr Unique and a 230 gr FMJ was the .45 hardball match load for decades.

5.0 gr Unique and 158 gr SWCHP in .38 Special was "the thinking mans substitute for +P" per Skeeter Skelton. 4.5 gr does nicely for other purposes and exceeds factory velocities in my snubbies.

In the .357 you won't get max 158 gr loads, but you can do very well with 125 JHP slugs.

Smith crazy and I are going to agree on this. I wear a 36" waist 32" inseam. Fits me like a glove at 6'3" and I weigh 190 lbs. Pretty specific, right? Someone 5'8" with a 30 inch waist and a 28" inseam can fit into my clothes but they won't work very well. Lot of cinching up on that belt and a mighty big cuff. A big boy could probably squeeze into them but still wouldn't be a good fit.

The point is one size in reality does not fit all if you really want a good fit. Experiment and find the powders that work well for each load. In the end you'll probably wind up with 3 or 4 powders but the cash outlay will still be the same.

Amen, Brother, Amen!

I use Unique in .38, .357, .44 special, .44mag.,.45acp. always accurate with cast bullets, which is all I can afford to shoot !!!

I have used Unique in .38 Special, milder .357 Magnum, .45 ACP (bowling pin loads), and .41 Magnum (also bowling pin loads).

It worked great in all of them and could be used in shotshell and reduced rifle loads if I ever got around to making some of them.

I am just using up an eight pound keg of Unique so you can see I like it a lot.

Ifeel the same about HP 38. It will load every caliber I have in handguns. .380, 9, 38, 357, 40. 44mag and 45 acp. Perhaps not the best for each but for general taget range use it will get the bullet down range.Not real magnum loads but I usually do not shoot those.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I use Unique for all my loads, just bought some W 231, just to have something different.

Thank you all for the helpful responses!

Should have mentioned that I'm no longer interested in full Magnum loads, opting instead for mild to moderate, with cast bullets. I only own one .44 Magnum, which happens to be a newly acquired 329PD. Initially, I figured I'd work up mainly moderate .44 Special loads for her, but am now thinking milder .44 Magnums, as I already have plenty of brass.

My only "push the envelope" firearm would be the 7.5" Vaquero, all of my others are used for pleasant plinking and such.

I'm more than happy with "generic" loads, for the time being, as long as they're fairly accurate.

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matt

Unique a good powder, no doubt. W231 meters much better.

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Lost in Penn's Woods

Good point! I found trying to throw small charges of Unique difficult.
For what it's worth I use both,my loads tend to be on the mild side.
Win 231 for 38spl,38super,9mm
Unique for 41mag,44spcl,44mag,45acp
Kevin

Matt,
That being the case, you have made a wise choice.

Just for curiosity sake, what are you loading on, what kind of equipment?

Still using my trusty 25 y/o RCBS single stage press, Lee handprimer and Lee Auto Disk Powder Measure.

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matt

I use Unique in all,but then again I also cast all my centerfire stuff,and my calibers are .357/.38,.30/30,.30/06,.375 WCF,.45 Long Colt,.44 Magum/Special,.222 Remington

Unique for the .38 Special and .45 Colt; those are two pistol cartridges I reload for.

xrmattaz....
Take a look at HERCO as your one does it all powder. Herco is a little better suited [slower] for heavier magnum loads that Unique but can also be used for light target loads. It is also cheaper than Unique in a 8# keg. I use Herco for .38/.357, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .44 Mag.

I'm fairly new at reloading but I really like Unique for 38 loads and mild 357 loads, get good results. I also use AA #5 for 38's. Trouble is, I can't find any Unique locally right now. I called about 8 different places this morning and no one has Unique. I guess Unique is too popular. I may have to make the 1.25 hour drive to Cabela's, heard they had Unique yesterday.

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USN 1959 - 1981

Unique for 38, mid-357,44spl mild 44mag

I use Unique for about all my stuff too (really hadn't had the chance with the range snowed in to experiment as much as I like. But I use 6.0 grains in my .357 behind a 170 grain SWC (Lyman 358429), 8.1 or 8.2 grains behind a 210 SWC in my .41 Magnum, and 8.5 grains behind a 250 grain lead RN in my .45 Colt.

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Vaya con Dios

I use it in all those calibers plus 9mm. It's served me well since 1962.

Only other pistol powder I have used to any extent has been 2400, and since all the T-Rexes quit coming around I don't shoot much .44 Magnum anymore.

Power Pistol meters very well and is similar to Unique in performance. I'm using it in 9mm, .40, .44, 45ACL, and .45LC. It can also be pushed to near .44Mag performance, but I use H110 for magnum strength loads.

I start with Unique when I'm developing loads for all of those cartridges, and I usually get something pretty good right out of the gate. But then I usually find something measurably better using a different powder.


Okie John

I like Unique. Started using it in 1973 in a Ruger Old Model .45 Long Colt and it worked fine for pushing 250 gr. cast bullets at 850 to 950 fps.
Very accurate. Burned clean if I used a hard crimp.
BUT I learned something about using Unique in the .45 Long Colt: if you use Unique in the large capacity .45 Colt, never fire cartridges that are very cold!
One Spokane winter, when the temperature was about 10 degrees above Zero, my buddies and I went camping (18 and dumb ... today I'll stay indoors by the heater, thank you).
Anyway, temps at night got down to 10 below zero. At day, it rose to about 10 above.
We decided to do some shooting.
I loaded up the Ruger .45 and proceeded to hit all over a stump, upon which we'd placed a can.
You could hear that each shot had a different report, indicating incomplete ignition.
Bullets were hitting in an 18-inch vertical area, at about 50 feet, up and down that stump.
I stopped shooting after about 12 rounds, recognizing that something was wrong.
Later, in the spring, I fired the remainder of that box of ammo and it fired just fine. In the spring, the ammo had warmed to about 60 degrees.
Some years later I read that Unique, in large capacity cases, doesn't deal well with extremely cold temperatures.
Smaller capacity cases apparently don't exhibit the same problem.
I later switched to Magnum primers with a heavy crimp and that solved the "Unique hates the cold" problem.
Now, bear in mind that this was Unique dating from the early 1970s. Today's Unique may not have that problem.
I don't know; I have fired a pistol in such extreme cold for a long, long time.
The above is yet another good reason to carry a pistol in a shoulder holster or pocket if you're out in cold weather. This also protects the pistol from snow or sleet.
Anyway, the above is a warning. If you're going to use ammo in very cold weather, test-fire it in cold weather before you gamble your life or trophy hunt on it.

Unique is the only shotgun/pistol powder I own. I have 6-8 different rifle powders, however.

Unique is great if you honestly believe that medium-burn-rate smokeless powders haven't improved over the last 110 years... But then who am I to talk? Some of my favorite cartridges are the .44 Special (1907), the 9mm Luger (1902), the .380 Auto (1908), and the .38 Special (1899).

Personally, I've found Unique to be dirty, and less than stellar in the metering department (which probably explains the larger than normal extreme spreads and standard deviations it has produced for me).

Oh, and that 7.5gr Skeeter Skelton load for the .44 Special? It produces over 19,000 psi (SAAMI max for the .44 Special is 15,500 psi). It may not damage your revolver or lever-action rifle, but I always like full disclosure. The Speer #14 manual shows a maximum of 6.9gr of Unique with the 250gr Keith bullet, which is still "healthy".

If it was good enough for Skeeter, it's good enough for me. Of course, Skeeter knew a thing or two about what he was doing and didn't have a lawyer looking over his shoulder either. Personally, I always work up to a load, but I've never had any issues with the older loads.

Bullseye and Unique are the only two powders you need.

Well sure, Bullseye. It's only 96 years old...

I've used quite a bit of Unique and it is a very versatile powder. I've since switched to Universal Clays. It has a similar burn rate and it burns a lot cleaner.

I'm sure this statement will raise some eyebrows. I've used some Unique in my loading days-still have a can on the bench. My impression is that it's a jack of all trades, master of none propellant. It will do a pretty decent jobs in a lot of mid velocity handguns loads but there are invariably better choices available for each.

It's versatility is what endears it to most hand loaders in my experience. It will shoot well enough that most, but not all, of them usually don't look any further. While this isn't a bad thing, like I said, there usually are better choices.

Ok, the cross & nails can come out & the floggings may begin.

Bruce

I pretty much agree with BruceM, but the better alternatives may only be found with much experimentation, and they may only be minimally better. The loads that are better may also be with expensive Vihtavori powders.

Velocities attained with Unique are decent but if you want top speeds try something else.

Better powders probably have been made since Unique came out, but it is impressive how good of a powder was available 100 years ago.

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To be a rock and not to roll

For target to warm loads in everything from .380 ACP to 500 S&W I only use Unique. When top end velocities are needed then I switch over to H110.

Made life very simple...Bob

I load .357 Magnum, .44 Special & .44 Magnum, I have been very pleased with Bullseye and Unique in these cartridges. I have used HP-38 and 231 and have just loaded some Universal Clays after having read a Sheriff Jim Wilson article commenting on this powder's merits. If I only had Unique with which to load these three cartridges I'd be perfectly happy too!

I like Unique-I load .38,.357 mag. .44 spec. and .44 mag. with it. I have a friend who swears by it.
Lately I like Titegroup for my .38 practice loads.

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My Dad once said-"You ain't the best shot I ever saw, but I wouldn't want you shootin' at me!"

I use Unique for the .38 and .357; have only one load these days, to mimic the Remington 158gr LSWC defense load which is in my house gun. I use 2400 for the .44magnum and .45LC to practice for carrying the Federal cast core and Buffalo Bore stuff in the field. Unique and 2400 are the only two powders I use. I gave up on Bullseye only because I couldn't tell the difference between it and Unique. I do like to keep it simple. I practice for all the above with the K-22.

1x2

I use Unique, 231, Power Pistol,2400 and Trail Boss for light 45 Colt loads. Unique is a good powder but you arent going to get full power 357 loads with it, hence i use the 2400. Its fine for everything else providing you want mid range loads. im no big fan of full power loads anyway, i hate when i start flinching,

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It seemed like a good idea at the time.

I use Unique in my 9mm, .357 magnum and .44 magnum loads. I also use 2400 in my magnum loads.

I'm going out this weekend to test and chronograph a 9.4 grains of Unique with a 200 grain GDHP in my S&W 329PD and my Marlin 1894. I think it would be nice if it works in both.

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Hook686

I use Unique in my 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 44 Mag, 32H&R, 32-20, 357 Mag, and my 45-70. It may not be the cleanest, but it has always given me great results in everything I have tried it in. For pistol, I keep it, HS6, H110, and 2400 on hand, don't really see a need to change, unless someday I can't get one of them. Surprisingly it meters well through my Dillon's powder measure. I shoot my own cast bullets 99% of the time.

Dave