New Unique vs Old

[Boats]

Have always used W231 for Automatics and Unique for Revolvers. Loading for a S&W M&P 9 compact could not come up with the right W231 load. Right one is between rotor sizes I have on hand. Found a load that works good with Unique. But ran out of my old supply and bought a new canister made by Alliant. It's different. In my fixed rotor Bonanza pistol meter the the same charge rotor throws more weight with new Unique compared to old. Load with the New powder and same charge rotor seems hotter too, I was also getting some weak loads. Have never had this problem with that measure and either W231 or Unique.

This morning charged 50 9 mm cases using the Bonanza and went back and weighed them. Very inconsistent. Varied from 4.7 down to 4.4 grs. None higher than the intended 4.7 though. I am a experenced loader and am familar with "bridging" in powder measures and remideys so went back and charged them again using specific methods, shake when the chamber is filling then a tap on the top when dumping powder. Better but still not perfect.

Anybody have this problem ?

Boats

[HSMITH]

My Dillon and Redding measures are really consistent with the new Unique.

[wide45]

Using old Unique was so aggravating, I swore off it. Been over 10 years, and I don't miss Unique at all. Too many other powders that work well.

[Jman]

No problems here. I'm using heavier loads in .40 S&W however. I can see were Unique could be a little finicky with lighter charges.

Jim

[revchuck]

Boats - This may not be what you want to hear, but it sounds like it's time for an adjustable powder measure. That would eliminate having to put up with whatever charge the rotor wants to dump. My measures don't vary anywhere near that much.

New Unique is much better than the old version. It's my favorite powder for .357 Magnum loads (6.8 grains under a 158 grain RNL gives ~1100 fps and hardly any residue). I don't use it for 9x19 because it's too bulky and spills in my Dillon 550, but that wouldn't be a problem loading on a single stage press. I use 231 for 9x19. I have some jacketed .40 bullets I want to load to Major and will probably use the Unique for that.

[scribble]

Just made up 500 with no problems what so ever also.

[Boats]

It could have something to do with that particular rotor on my measure. Loaded 200 just now with 5.3 of 231 for the 45 acp using a different rotor no problem. Seems to not be a problem when using larger charges of Unique for the 45 Lc or 38/357 with the little Bonanza

Unique gave me a fit loading 200 9 mm's. at 4.7 grs. I do have a couple of adjustable measures. One is a high dollar Harrells click adjustable I use for my Schuetzen rifle but it's not good at small charges. Old C-H or Lyman 55 don't throw pistol charges good either.

If there is a good adjustable pistol measure out there would like some advice.

Boats

[revchuck]

If there is a good adjustable pistol measure out there would like some advice.

The one that comes attached to the Dillon 550 works pretty well.

I've used an RCBS Uniflow since I started loading about 24 years ago and it has worked well for pistol and rifle. It comes with two cylinders, one for small charges and the other for larger ones. I only use it for rifle now, since I load almost all my handgun ammo on the Dillon.

[HSMITH]

The Redding 3BR is absolutely awesome, if you stick with single stage it is the measure to have IMO.

[jfrey]

I use the new Unique all the time for .45ACP and .45 Colt loads. My Dillon SDB measure is accurate to +-.01 either way. I have been tempted to try other powders but really can't find a good reason to change. As powders go, Unique is also pretty forgiving as long as you don't double charge a case.