It is a Unique day

[Magload]

I been reloading handgun and rifle for over a year and a half how and got my first bottle of Unique. Called the outdoor range this morning to see if they had Tite Group on the shelf and she said yes. I hit the road and when i got there there sit 3 one pounders of TiteGroup and right beside it 3 one pounders of Unique. Grabber 2 of each with a smile on my face till she said the limit was one pound a day. I took the Unique and she said good choise as she hasn't seen it on the shelf in a long time. Will go back tomorrow. Only members can buy and the price of $22.20 seamed good. There was only a box of a thousand WSP and I got those. Now what am I going to load.

 

[Alk8944]

Nearly anything you want, including many cast bullet loads for many rifle cartridges and a lot of shotgun too! Unique is probably the most versatile propellant that has ever been manufactured, with the only exception being Black Powder! There are three powders that together will do anything that needs to be done when it comes to handgun cartridges, Bullseye, Unique and 2400.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

I haven't seen a pound of Unique available for over 2 years up here.And now,SP primers seem to be getting scarce(again).When will it all end?I've been selling things for all my life(now retired)and had to convince people to buy my product.The powder manufacturers sure don't seem to have that problem lately!Guess I wasn't selling the right thing.
BTW,glad for you.Grab all you can!
Qc

 

[DWalt]

Fortunately, I still have 4 pounds of Unique. But I am getting low on Bullseye. I still have some duPont 700-X, and based on some tests I did last weekend, I am not now too worried about running out of Bullseye, as I think the 700-X is close enough to Bullseye for my needs. I don't believe anyone would suffer much if there were no other handgun propellants available on the market other than Bullseye and Unique. Both have been on the market far longer than any other handgun propellants, and that should tell us something about how good they are.

"And now, SP primers seem to be getting scarce (again)."

Then just switch to Small Rifle primers. I have used them in .38 Special, .357, and .38 Super since the late 1960s.

 

[Magload]

I load 6 different calibers with CFE Pistol and my 223s with CFE 223 so if that is all I can get I would be fine. I sure it is not the best there is for some of the loads but I poke petty nice groups with it.

 

[ontargetagain]

Learn with the powders. In my opinion Unique does not meter well at all. Bullseye and Titegroup on the other hand meter excellent. I like Unique but not the way it meters for me.
Pricing was very pleasing, you did good! Enjoy.....
Karl

 

[silentflyer]

Have had a can on Unique on my loading bench for 40+ years now, it works for me...

 

[retiredbadge8091]

For years Unique was the only powder I used. Of course the powder shortage forced me to experiment with more powders, but I still buy Unique whenever I find it.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Two pieces of equipment that go with Unique.

1st: Lyman's No. 55 powder measurer. It has a "hammer" hinged on the front, to bang the last few flakes of powder out. So you get consistent loads at .5 grains of other tiny loads. (The No. 50 has the hammer but has become a highly sought after Shutzen loading item. After all, Harry Pope used a Lyman No. 50!)

2nd: Any copy of Lyman's 45th edition loading manual. They have a Unique load for every metallic cartridge that existed in 1970. It may be cast, it may be slow, but it is in there. This edition has been out of print for a very long time. If you can't buy a used one, photo copy one, it is a must!

Unique burns a bit dirty, just get used to it! Unique is a lot easier to clean up after than Black Powder! Since it makes a fantastic 28 gauge skeet load, you can usually find it with shotgun reloading suppliers. My brother goes through a 8 pound keg a year, so he always keeps a second keg as a spare. My 8 pound kegs last around 3 years with half shotgun and half metallic usage.

Ivan

 

[rwsmith]

I finally have.....

Just in the last few months I got a couple pounds after several years of none, or hardly any Alliant products.

Unique is even good in some reduced rifle loads that I use.

 

[Calliope]

Never tried Unique until last year. Tried it in .357 with light loads with 158 plated and 125 coated, very nice accuracy, even shoots clean with the coated/plated bullets. Very good load density with light loads.

And now that I've figured out how to rig my powder measure to meter it accurately, I might just stick with Unique for the bulk of my handgun loading. I've got 3 pounds of it, and at my slow pace, that should last a couple years.

 

[Magload]

Picked up another pound of Unique and my son picked up a pound of TiteGroup for me. They had WSP primers on the shelf so I got one brick as they are now a brick a person.

 

[Clovishound]

I finally picked up some Universal. I understand it is very similar to Unique, but meters better. Been very happy with it in .38 and .357.

 

[CScott]

Ahh, Unique. It meters so "poorly" that in 40+ years of reloading I have never once had to reset my RCBS powder measure after the initial setup to thow consistant charges of +/- .5 of a tenth of a grain.
And it is so "dirty" that I have to clean my revolvers after about 300 to 400 rounds or so. Big deal.
I use other powders as well but Unique is my "Gold Standard" for revolvers.
So when I was looking at the powder list at Sportsman's Warehouse two weeks ago and saw 8lb jugs of Unique in stock, I wasted no time.

 

[Warren Sear]

I don't know how the notion that Unique does not measure well got started, but that is not not a problem. I have used an RCBS powder measure since 1980 and it has served me well. No baffles or hammering needed, or wanted.

Unique burns clean. The soot that some BMW's complain about comes from reduced loads and cast bullet lube.

If I could only have one handgun powder, it would be Unique.

 

[DWalt]

"I don't know how the notion that Unique does not measure well got started, but that is not not a problem."

Ever since I started reloading many years ago, I have used the same Lyman #55 measure, with the powder knocker. I do not use it. I have a simple home-made cardboard baffle in the powder chamber, and that seems to promote good powder charge consistency. I also have never had any difficulty in charge weight inconsistency with either Unique or Bullseye, and my tests have indicated that a +/- 0.1 to 0.2 grain charge-to-charge variance is typical. I always set the measuring drum by throwing multiple charges, i.e., if I want to throw five grains, I set my scale to 25 grains and throw five charges, adjusting the drum setting until I get 25 grains. The only time I have charge weight inconsistency problems with the Lyman 55 is when using tubular powders, such as IMR rifle powders. But I usually weigh powder charges individually when reloading rifle cartridges anyway.

 

[TripleLock]

I've never had any problem with Unique metering through any of my measures - Hollywood, Lyman, RCBS, or Redding. A suitable Unique load can be found for just about any cartridge you can safely use smokeless powder in. And I've never understood the "dirty" complaint. If I could have only one powder, it would be Unique.

And even though I'm already sitting on 8+ pounds of the stuff, I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get my hands on more. Same holds true for Bullseye and 2400. You can't ever have too much of the "Holy Trinity"!!

 

[cowboy4evr]

I have no problem measuring Unique through my Lee Perfect Powder Measure . It's those really fine grain powders that I have problems with , as they leak through / past the working parts of the Lee unit .
Dirty , I really don't care ? Take some hand wipes to the range . IMO-- Accuracy to me is king , not cleanliness .

 

[da gimp]

Unique measures well thru our old RCBS powder thrower & our Dillon 550B powder throwers... It is no dirtier than any other powder. I don't think you could double load a maximum powder charge of Unique in my pistol cartridge without major spill over... it'd certainly be apparent if you double charged a case.............unlike Bullseye...

with Bullseye you could easily put 2 max loads in a case & perhaps 3 without having any spillover... I urge beginner re-loaders to forgo using Bullseye until they gain experience & develop a strong method/rhythm to their loading & learn to NEVER reload if distracted...

 

[Calliope]

I don't know how the notion that Unique does not measure well got started

My Redding 10X is spot on (+/- .1 grain) with every other powder I've used except Unique, so it's no myth to me. I would get some throws that were +.3 or more over the average, probably not out of the safety margins, but enough to make me wonder if I couldn't do better. Read somewhere that if you leave the handle in the dump (up) position between throws, you get better consistency. Tried it, it seemed to work, but my handle kept falling. Glued a couple small magnets to my measure to keep the handle up between throws. Seems to eliminate the heavy throws with Unique, bringing it into the +/- .1 zone.