Metering issues with UNIQUE and the Lee Perfect Measure

[73-Captain]

Unique

"If you flip the clock back 30 or 40 years most reloaders had Unique and 2400 and Bullseye"


"With a service life and reputation THAT long..."



30 or 40 years?

You MUST be kidding?

Unique, Bullseye and I think 2400 have been around for over 100 YEARS!!!


See below from another source...

"Hercules and now, Alliant Unique is one of our oldest staple reloading powders having been in continuous production since the late 19th century."

"The revealed history of Unique varies among a number of sources. My favorite version comes from my first reloading handbook, The Speer Reloading Manual No. 3 from 1959. According to Speer, the propellant was introduced in 1890... under the name Infallible. ...only six years after... the first smokeless powder suitable for use in small arms."

"Some sources report that Hercules Bullseye came out in 1898 with the newly labeled Unique following a couple of years later. Others insist Bullseye derived from Unique..."

C.

 

[Sevens]

Oh YEAH, I know that Unique has been around since the earth cooled, and way more than 40 years. I'm well aware. I simply went with "30 or 40 years" because I've got a heap of gun magazines from the early 70s and nearly every thing they EVER list load data for has UNIQUE splattered all over it.

It was popular as all heck in the 1970s, and I think that popularity is really starting to wane. There are a lot of powder companies putting hard work in to newer, better and easier to use powder and all of it will come at the expense of dinosaurs like Unique.

It might be argued that the "golden days" of handgunning were the years that Keith and later Skelton were shooting and writing, and those two guys used Unique for everything from .45 Colt to sprinkling in with the laundry.

Didn't mean to imply that it's only 30-40 years old. Heck, I've got some Win 473AA that I bought new when I started reloading and it must be from the mid 1980s -- which is *gulp* nearly 30 years old. It's still good. I know that Unique has been around a helluva lot longer.

 

[WESHOOT2]

pee on my leg

Hodgon Universal Clays ("Universal") is the modern easy-metering clean-burning ballistic equivalent to Unique.

Recommend (but I still have a can of Unique at hand....)

 

[Sevens]

(but I still have a can of Unique at hand....)

Yep, me too, only because I never use it and can't get rid of it!

 

[WESHOOT2]

LOL me either......

 

[ClemBert]

Thanks guys. I decided to take your advice and make a powder scoop instead of fighting the Lee Perfectless Measure with Unique. I took an old 45 ACP casing and used a grinder to get the volume component correct. Then I pushed it into a 2.8 cc Lee measure. It fits perfect and snug enough. That way I didn't have to solder a handle to the casing nor did I have to permanently modify a Lee measure. The casing pops out with the help of a paper clip and viola my 2.8 cc measure is still intact.

There seems to be consensus here that Universal (aka Hodgdon Universal Clay) powder is the way to go for loading different calibers while using a Lee Perfect Measure. Titegroup looks interesting too. Fortunately, I only bought 1 lb of Unique. Something tells me this is the last pound of Unique I will ever own.

 

[Unclenick]

I think you've gone the right route short of getting an electronic dispenser. Universal was recommended because it is close to Unique in many load combinations. IME, it is between Unique and Bullseye in some situations (as the pressure climbs), but there are few instances in which you cannot get similar performance from it to what Unique provides.

Tightgroup, on the other hand, is faster. Better for lighter loads. But if you want a good light load powder that will make you proud of your Uniflow, I would use Hodgdon HP-38 or Winchester 231 (actually the same powder in different branding). These are fine ball powders that the Perfect won't be quite as happy with. If you want a powder that either measure can work well with, Vihtavuori N340 often does about what Unique can do, and will be cleaner burning, but more expensive.

 

[jmortimer]

Thank you for the pictures ClemBert. As indicated, I am a devotee of the powder dipper and your idea is fantastic. I will always promote powder dippers for safety and simplicity. You can never go wrong with Unique but to each his own. For my purposes Unique is perfect - .45 Colt and .38/.357. Moderate loads and great results.