|
|
Post by rjm52 on Feb 14, 2024 8:45:12 GMT -5
UNIQUE...except for the TOP END loads that a slow burning powder is needed UNIQUE will do everything... I use a heavy crimp and have zero issues with unburned powder or the "dirt" that many report...
Bob
|
|
gnappi
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,609
|
Post by gnappi on Feb 14, 2024 9:32:42 GMT -5
I've been shooting Unique for 52 years. I'm tired of hearing that Unique is dirty, Alliant has cleaned up a lot of their powders. What are you guys doing, shooting your guns in a surgical operating room? If you want to know dirty shoot BP. I never found Unique dirty, I like it a LOT. I DID find AA7 the snottiest dirty stuff anyone produced short of black powder. Did AA clean that up too? |
|
|
|
Post by marlin35 on Feb 14, 2024 9:53:54 GMT -5
I've been shooting Unique for 52 years. I'm tired of hearing that Unique is dirty, Alliant has cleaned up a lot of their powders. What are you guys doing, shooting your guns in a surgical operating room? If you want to know dirty shoot BP. I never found Unique dirty, I like it a LOT. I DID find AA7 the snottiest dirty stuff anyone produced short of black powder. Did AA clean that up too? I doubt it. My AA5 is also quite dirty. |
|
pleadthe2nd
.327 Meteor
Enter your message here...
Posts: 952
|
Post by pleadthe2nd on Feb 14, 2024 13:13:21 GMT -5
The #7 I recently bought, has been clean in 41 and 44 mag, at max loadings
|
|
|
|
Post by hunter01 on Feb 14, 2024 20:11:16 GMT -5
The #7 I recently bought, has been clean in 41 and 44 mag, at max loadings I think a certain pressure is the key to any powder burning "clean" or not leaving much residue behind. Low pressure=more residue. |
|
|
|
Post by revolvercranker on Feb 14, 2024 21:10:42 GMT -5
The #7 I recently bought, has been clean in 41 and 44 mag, at max loadings I think a certain pressure is the key to any powder burning "clean" or not leaving much residue behind. Low pressure=more residue. Maybe it's the amount of nitro in it? |
|
|
|
Post by flattopdan on Feb 14, 2024 22:33:32 GMT -5
I’ve been using a lot of HS6 since it’s been available throughout the recent shortages while unique has been spotty and It’s also $20 more a pound up my way. I’ve used HS6 in my flattop 45 colt ruger but can’t remember the exact charge I used. I use it in 38/357, 9MM, 45 acp/colt 44 special/magnum and 480 ruger. Unique is a great powder and I still load with it.
|
|
jeffh
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,749
|
Post by jeffh on Feb 14, 2024 23:12:48 GMT -5
I know a lot of people here have a lot of experience with Unique and I'm not trying to claim some kind of cred' for being a Unique expert, but I've focused intently on it for a long time for reasons stated in my earlier post.
INDEED, if you hit a certain optimum pressure, Unique will leave a lot less "shhhh-tuff" in the bore. As if it even matters, right?
Much is made of a "firm crimp" with slower "magnum" powders, but I found some time ago that it also makes a big difference in how well or how efficiently Unique will burn - before I knew much about anything.
Unique will work VERY well within a certain pressure band, but CAN also work acceptably at lower pressures - to a point. It will leave a fair bit of debris in the bore at lower charges/lower pressures, but can dip down there enough and still not be too erratic to facilitate the use of some very quiet loads. If you go too low, you will see considerable variations in velocities and vertical stringing as the targets get farther away, but for out to about 30 feet, you can still get some very accurate, very useful, very quiet, very economical loads which will dispatch vermin and harvest small game.
If a fella were down to his last four ounces of Unique, he could still render several hundred loads to put to good effect.
|
|
diddle
.30 Stingray
Posts: 475 
|
Post by diddle on Feb 15, 2024 18:37:46 GMT -5
When possible, I prefer a powder bulky enough that a double charge is very obvious. 4227 is my go-to powder for Blackhawks and M83’s in 45 Colt. With a 255 +/- grain bullet, it is very versatile load.
|
|
|
|
Post by mart on Feb 15, 2024 18:59:37 GMT -5
I’ve never been known to exhibit good judgment but during the last administration when powder was readily available, and I was flush with oilfield money, I bought 8 pounders of every powder I thought I might need or want. And primers. Bought lots of those though I wish I’d bought more.
So I have an 8 pound jug of Unique as well as an 8 pound jug of HS6. I like them both for mid level 45 Colt loads. I could happily use either the rest of my life.
I don’t have the extensive experience many here have but in my little world of loading for revolvers from 32 S&W to 500 Linebaugh, I’ve not found any that cannot make good use of either Unique or HS6.
|
|
|
|
Post by singleaction on Feb 17, 2024 8:01:53 GMT -5
This post got me remembering a Handloader magazine article from Brian Pearce (#231, Oct 2004 “Freedom Arms Model 1997- A light, handy, and potent 45 Colt”). Due to the short cylinder of the little 5-shot Freedom arms guns, Brian crimped the RCBS 270-SAA over the front driving band, like David suggests. Brian used 11.5g of HS6, and 8.5g of Unique for 960-ish fps from both loads. This was from a 3.5” gun with a tight cylinder gap. I wonder if these loads are under 23K psi, and suitable for the mid-frame vaquero and flattop? I imagine not, but it would be nice if they are.
|
|
|
|
Post by bigbore5 on Feb 17, 2024 9:22:45 GMT -5
This post got me remembering a Handloader magazine article from Brian Pearce (#231, Oct 2004 “Freedom Arms Model 1997- A light, handy, and potent 45 Colt”). Due to the short cylinder of the little 5-shot Freedom arms guns, Brian crimped the RCBS 270-SAA over the front driving band, like David suggests. Brian used 11.5g of HS6, and 8.5g of Unique for 960-ish fps from both loads. This was from a 3.5” gun with a tight cylinder gap. I wonder if these loads are under 23K psi, and suitable for the mid-frame vaquero and flattop? I imagine not, but it would be nice if they are. Handloader #234 has 9gr Unique listed for that bullet in a New Vaquero. |
|
|
|
Post by contender on Feb 17, 2024 10:11:18 GMT -5
Looking at the OP,, and the basic question of just one powder,, is something I've seen often by new handloaders, or others just wanting to be a bit lazy in what they do. The lazy ones look at handloading as a chore & not an integral part of serious handgunning.
If you look at the older reloading manuals,, you will find a burn rate chart with around 50 different powders. Nowadays,, you will find double that number. But look at the older manuals,, and see which powders are still heavily used today. Proven use and performance dictates if it survives.
But I've loaded, tested & used a lot of different powders over the last (almost) 50 years to where I know exactly what was learned so long ago. Each gun is a different machine from another identical machine. Each one can be very different in what it uses to perform the best. Yet,, some can use a very large selection of components very very well, while others are pickier than a father studying a potential suitor for his first born daughter.
As such,, I've tried to keep a selection of different powders that are the most common, (Time tested & proven) to be used in each handgun. And while many can overlap each other,, some guns just seem to perform a tad better with a different combo.
All this long winded commentary is a way of saying that it's very hard to get a powder that will do it all. ESPECIALLY if you have more than 1 or 2 guns in the same caliber.
I have discovered that keeping sufficient quantities of Unique, 2400, 4227, HS-6, Longshot, can do MOST of my needs. But I also keep a fair selection of many other powders to test each shooter to find what IT prefers!
|
|
|
|
Post by magpouch on Feb 17, 2024 11:03:28 GMT -5
Unique, 2400, Power Pistol and Bullseye. Hopefully never be without them, but Unique is first in line...
|
|
|
|
Post by harold89 on Feb 17, 2024 22:13:56 GMT -5
Hard to say how many different powders I sold off a few years ago when powder was scarce. I wanted to consolidate to a couple handfuls or so of powders that I consider always consistently “accurate”. I don’t know 45 Colt well enough to know which powder would be the very best for me. I group powders into 3 categories, target loads, medium loads and hunting loads. For my non-hunting hand guns I only want to shoot the lightest & most accurate load I can develop. For my hunting guns I always develop at least a target load & a hunting load and sometimes something in the middle. It doesn’t seem to me so far that there is really classic “pet” load for my 45 Colts. It feels like a caliber that I’m going to have to work at for each individual gun. Powders I will not be without for handgun - H110, Bullseye, Power Pistol, HS-6, Titegroup and Longshot. There are others that I normally have but don’t keep in bulk - Unique, 4227, VV-N310, Blue Dot, Red Dot, W231, Clays. Probably a few more I can’t think of…
|
|
