Out of touch

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Charliefrank

Charliefrank

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I love reading the posts here. So much information to be attained. I see all these recipes for rounds I currently shoot. What I don't see are many people using Unique or bullseye. Am I just getting old and out of touch? Do all these other powders I read about work better? Maybe I'm just stuck in my ways. I do tend to stick with things that I find work for me. I use the Bullseye for my 38 special hbwc target loads and I use the Unique for my swc reduced 44 magnum loads.
 
I personally don't think your missing out on anything.

Many of the newer powders give a bit better velocity with jacketed loads and leave a bit less soot on the gun but that seams to be the extent of 120 years of pistol powder development. Bullseye has been made since 1898 and unique since 1900.
 
someguy2800 said:
I personally don't think your missing out on anything.

Many of the newer powders give a bit better velocity with jacketed loads and leave a bit less soot on the gun but that seams to be the extent of 120 years of pistol powder development. Bullseye has been made since 1898 and unique since 1900.
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Well, if in fact your using the two afore mentioned powders that makes me feel a little better thank you.
 
I dont use much Unique, but go through more Bullesye than any other powder I think. Offhand I load .32s&w, .32h&r, .38, 9mm, .44spc, and .45acp with cast bullets and Bullseye for range/plinking loads. As Charlie mentioned its not my go to for top end loads, but for economical fun practice loads its hard to beat.
 
I love Bullseye. For quite a while I couldn’t find any, so I tried other powders and saved my Bullseye for 38 spl. Now I have other powders, so I can’t justify getting any more at this time. But if I run low, it’s always a good choice.
 
I use Bullseye as well for my lower power plinking loads but stopped using Unique as I also use Universal and wanted to make sure I would not be able to grab the wrong one...
 
Bullseye has never left the bench along with W231/HP-38/WSF since I started reloading but I did leave Unique because I could not meter it well enough. I also left Universal since finding BE-86.

Since then, I tried Power Pistol, Herco, BE-86, AutoComp, CFE Pistol, Vectan Ba9, Shooters World Auto Pistol/Lovex D036-03 and found myself really liking BE-86 enough to call it modern Unique that meters well. I like BE-86 so much that it has replaced my long-time favorite WSF for full-power loads (BTW, I like Herco for 40S&W which burns clean and even leaves inside of cases clean).

Having said that, I recently picked up some Unique to give it another try with C-H 502 micrometer powder measure and to use it as reference powder for comparison.
 
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I also use a ton of Unique and a good amount of Bullseye for my 44 Mags, 44 Specials and 40 S&W. Also quite a bit of Red Dot. ;)
 
Duster340 said:
use ... quite a bit of Red Dot
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I used Red Dot before the "shortage" and since, use A LOT of Promo (on my 5th container) and like it to the point I won't be buying Red Dot when my current 8 lb container is gone.

When I checked the two newest containers of Promo, I noticed smaller granules that were more consistent in size which could explain why Promo has been metering more consistently for me dropping essentially all 4.2 gr for my 115 gr 9mm load (Perhaps Alliant finally took notice from this squeaky bearing - Thanks Paul from Vista Outdoor if you had anything to do with Promo granule size change :)).
 
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I was a bullseye and unique user for several years and I started using w-231 for all my low to mid power loads. Unique always bothered me because of its poor metering w-231 has worked great for me over the years but with all the new powders coming out I figured that they had to be something that was better/cleaner than w-231 so when I got low I bought some sport pistol and so far it has been great. I also got some be-86 because I wanted a little slower powder for the high performance loads. Be-86 so far seems to be a newer better version of unique so to me the newer powders are better.
 
Dwb1957 said:
with all the new powders coming out I figured that they had to be something that was better/cleaner than w-231 so when I got low I bought some sport pistol
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So far, Sport Pistol is showing good promise with claim of being less temperature sensitive for those needing to meet power factors.
 
Charliefrank said:
Well, if in fact your using the two afore mentioned powders that makes me feel a little better thank you.
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I have used Unique in the past for 38+P and 45 acp and liked it alot but I don't load either anymore. I haven't been able to get either for years so I switched from bullseye to 700x which is another old school flake powder. Pretty much the same thing. Now that its available again I have stocked up on bullseye for when I run out of 700x.
 
I've been doing a lot of 9MM load testing with different powder and projectile combinations since I picked up a chrono earlier this year. So far the most accurate and consistent round that I have found uses Unique.
 
I guess I'm old and out of touch, too. Bullseye is perfectly suited to lower PSI cartridges (380acp, 38spcl, 45acp), and Unique is right up my alley for nearly everything else. 9mm Luger, and 40s&w especially put it to fine use. I use unique in the magnums too, but if I want to push them hard, I'll go ahead with the H110 or 4227.

I made it through the shortage without running out, so I never had to find alternatives. Maybe there's something better? Don't know. I'm blissfully ignorant.

I will say that given everything I've read about it...I kinda wanna try Sport Pistol
 
I still use a fair amount of Unique but I do have alternate powder loads for many of the cartridges that I use Unique in. When I was shooting competitive skeet, I used Unique in my 20 and 28 gauge shells but I have not loaded shot shells in a number of years now.

I've not used Bullseye in many years but would if the need presented itself.
 
I don' have my usage charts in front of me (I track my overall powder consumption for trivial purposes), but I have used over 20 pounds of it that I remember - and in pistol cartridges only no less. That doesn't count the copious amounts of Bullseye that have been consumed. I also have a pretty decent amount (20 pounds at least) of the two powders combined sitting on the shelf. So you aren't the only one using it by far.

I did finally pick up some BE-86 to test with. I see it a lot while Bullseye and Unique are usually a little more scarce. I figure if I have loads built up with BE-86 I can still keep loading/shooting if the other two are unavailable.
 
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I don'T see old or out of touch. I'm the same way/. I've been reloading over 40 years and I'm still using the same loads I developed way back. They work for me. Thats all I care about. I reload fro about 15 different rounds and use 4-5 powders. Most of the rifle rounds are either IMR 4895 or 4198. Definitely old school but they work. My biggest new revelation was LiL" Gun for my .22 Hornet. I'm in the KISS camp on reloading. I'm not a "load chaser"
 
Scooter22 said:
I don'T see old or out of touch. I'm the same way/. I've been reloading over 40 years and I'm still using the same loads I developed way back. They work for me. Thats all I care about. I reload fro about 15 different rounds and use 4-5 powders. Most of the rifle rounds are either IMR 4895 or 4198. Definitely old school but they work. My biggest new revelation was LiL" Gun for my .22 Hornet. I'm in the KISS camp on reloading. I'm not a "load chaser"
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How are you making out with the Hornet. I've always used 2400 in mine
 
I would offer counter evidence that there has been a lot of Unique and Bullseye info shared on this site, so your expectation of being "out of touch" likely is apt - what you say you're looking for here IS here.
 
Charliefrank said:
How are you making out with the Hornet. I've always used 2400 in mine
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So did I. Look up info on LiL Gun. It gives higher velocity and lower pressure. There are some loads you can dip the case full, strike of the excess, seat the bullet and get great accuracy and max velocity with no pressure problems. That powder is like magic for the Hornet and other small capacity rounds like it. The burning rate is perfect.
 
I love Unique. I use it in .38 Spl., .357, .41 Mag., .44 Spl., .44 Mag., and .45 Colt.
It does everything I want it to when I load mid range to semi-stout handgun loads...and I could even use it with the classic 10.0 gr in just about every rifle I own.
H110 is better for magnum level loads, and Bullseye or Titegroup is better with target wadcutter loads, but Unique does it all IMHO.,
 
I’ve never been able to meter Unique well. I’ve never tried reach peak velocities with Bullsye but it has never failed me and given me lots of accurate rounds. It just works. And it’s easy to use.

My .38 planking load has become my small game Load thanks to Bullsye.
 
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