Measuring Unique

[CJofWolfcreek]

Bought a Redding Master Measure awhile back and it ran BLC-2 fantasticaly. Accurate to within a tenth of a grain. Well, I got some 38sp dies so I could load for the wife's S&W 637 and started throwing some Unique. Most were spot on but occassionaly the rotor would catch and then I could get variations of more than half a grain which is unacceptable when you're dealing with a starting load of 3.8 grains. The gun is rated +P but I don't want to punish the wife's wrists, and I've heard that a squib is risked going under 3.5 grains. Ended up trickling each case. I'm assuming the rotor catch was the unique getting cut? My Lee autodisk on my loadmaster handles H-110 great. Will the Unique measure smoothly in that? I did plan on setting up a turret for 38 but wanted to run the first batch by hand. Glad I did. Any suggestions, advice or experience is welcome

 

[sunday bill]

Unique meters a lot like I always imagined oatmeal might.

 

[Bearcat74]

I tried it one time, I figured it was like what fish tank gravel through the measure is a good example.


The oatmeal is a good one too.

 

[Dragon88]

Same problem here. Try Bullseye instead.

 

[Dale53]

Dillon's newer powder measures handle Unique quite well (+or- a tenth of a grain). So does my Redding Bench rest measure. As does my Lyman IF you properly adjust the powder slide. I also use the Lee Pro measure but it has a spring return - you DO need to monitor the return of the powder slide (disc).

FWIW
Dale53

 

[Steve C]

If you are running charges of less than 5.0 grs of powder you need to use the pistol chamber for your Redding measure to get accurate light charges. The universal chamber is for 5 to 100 grs of powder, the pistol chamber is for 0 to 10grs of powder. Depending upon which package your bought, you may have a pistol chamber included. If not they can be purchased.

The problem exsts with most powder measures that will reload rifle and pistols if you try to load light charges of fast powder without the right metering unit installed.

 

[CJofWolfcreek]

Steve, it's an OLD Redding Master measure, don't think they had but one chamber for it and I'm not sure if the new model chambers will fit it. This micrometer adjusts from 0-100. The box is printed with it's price back in the day, $18.50 I'm thinking it is even older than I am Got it off ebay for twice its original price and it's in perfect condition. The box and instructions sadly aren't in as good a shape.

Dale, do you mean the Lee autodisk pro? That is what is on my Loadmaster. That took just a little fiddling with to get set up using the H-110 for my 357 mags. I've since gotten the double disk kit so should be able to get the right cavity combination to drop the 38 sp loads. So long as the Unique doesn't bind the disks like its doing with the redding chamber.

 

[shovelwrench]

The Pro-disk should work ok @ 3.8gr. Mine does'nt give me a fit till I go under that. If you find it to still be inconsistent, try the micro disk setup.

Actually that might be too small...

 

[jibjab]

I couldn't get Unique to meter well either, so I've been using AA#5 instead.
Some folks find Hodgdon's Universal to be a good alternative but like Unique it's not very clean at lower pressures, for milder loads in .38 spl I like W231.

 

[CJofWolfcreek]

Ok, just finished setting up the loadmaster turret for 38 sp and once I found the proper cavity for 3.8 grains of unique, the pro autodisk was spot on. Measured and dumped the first ten and then one in ten. Variance was less than .1 grain! Wiped the hopper out with a used dryer sheet first. After the fits Unique was giving me in the Redding Master measure I can't believe how smooth and consistant it went through the pro autodisk.

 

[growr]

Unique measures exceedingly well in my Dillon powder measure. I have used 4-5 8lb kegs of Unique in 9mm,38 Spl, 45 ACP and several others with VERY good results.
Randy

 

[cxm]

My Redding is +/- .1 grain using the pistol michrometer...

It is worth the extra cost IMHO.

FWIW

CHuck

 

[hogblue]

My Redding is well over 50 yrs old and still measures to +or - one tenth if not perfect every time. Even extruded like 4895.

 

[couleeflyfisher]

Have had no problems with Unique in Little Dandy or RCBS Uniflow w/ small cylinder. I check every 10 or so drops, right on. Most important ingredient is being consistent with your stroke!!!

 

[flat top]

....hard to throw....dirty....(and from another thread...sensitive!). I dont know how I ever got by using this powder for almost 50 years!

 

[Noah Zark]

Unique measures exceedingly well in my Dillon powder measure. I have used 4-5 8lb kegs of Unique in 9mm,38 Spl, 45 ACP and several others with VERY good results.
Randy

+1. My Dillon measures throw Unique to within 0.1 gr or less.

Noah

 

[Skip Sackett]

Well, I haven't been using Unique as long as some folks, I'd of had to have been 3 when I started reloading if it was so, , but in my Lyman #55 powder measure, when it set up right, I can get consistent enough throws to make a go of it.

Mostly because I don't use it in the 3-5gr range either. Get the charge up into the 7-10gr range and it will be very consistent.

Dirty, don't get me started with that! Things that go bang behind a chunk of lead is going to make a mess. Just plan on cleaning it up and everything will be fine!

 

[Joed49]

I had such bad luck with Unique in my Dillons that I won't buy it anymore. The problem with Unique is that you can get 200 rounds with no problems, then comes a squib.

Unfortunately I had about 10 lbs of the stuff so it took a long time to go through it. I'm now switching to Power Pistol. That one flows like water through my Dillon measures.

 

[Skip Sackett]

You could always buy a fish aquarium air pump for your Dillon's, Joe!
That is if you don't mind looking like a real life "Rube Goldberg"!