Is Unique really “dirty” ?

I'm okay with Unique. It was the first powder I ever used to reload with 42 years ago. For a time when I first started reloading, the local hardware store and gunshop only stocked two pistol powders and that was Unique and Bullseye. So I started with Unique and used it for years in both .38 Special and .45 ACP.

I love Unique for: .380, 9mm, .45 acp, 20 GA target loads, and .30-30, 30-06 cast bullets.
Dirty? I always clean every firearm after firing it.

Unique IS cleaner than it used to be, but, I still prefer running ww231...meters great and powder charges are similiar to unique

Riomouse911 said:

(I stuck bullets in barrels with light titegroup loads, never again!)

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I loaded up a bunch of 38 Special 148 grain wadcutters using the manufacturer's data for Titegroup. I stuck several bullets in 4" and 6" revolvers. I had to up the charge a few tenths of a grain to prevent the sticking bullets.

Fortunately, the "light" loads I loaded would shoot fine in a 2" J-frame so I was able to consume the ammunition without having to disassemble it.

Titegroup is off my list for the present.

I don't know where the low end was with it, I used loads CAS shooters swore by and they stuck. That was enough for me, I gave the rest of the pound away and went back to Unique/Bullseye.

Some guys swear by Titegroup, and for them it works very well. I just had a bad experience so I went with what I know.

Stay safe.

How "cream puff" are we talking about here? Unique is extremely sooty below 10k psi which is why it's generally not recommended for shotguns even though it is certainly flexible enough to be used for them. Above that it's only really dirty (and smoky) with cast, because it's double-based so burns hot enough to ignite the bullet lube. With high-pressure jacketed, the dirt is mostly graphite and not soot.

jski said:

Does anyone know what Alliant did to Unique to make it “burn cleaner” ?

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Unique was created in 1900 as simply a thicker flake version of Infallible from 1898. It was 40% nitroglycerine back then (like Titegroup!) and exactly the same formula as the Bullseye of 1898, which was identical except for smaller diameter flakes. In 1960 Hercules halved the amount of nitroglycerine in Unique to the present 20% (same as all the new Dots). Around 2001 the then ATK-Alliant decided there had been twice as much graphite as was necessary to eliminate static, so halved it for "now 50% cleaner burning." In 2018 they further updated Green Dot and Red Dot again to "new and improved," "clean burning with the same lot-to-lot consistency and density as before" but "burns with far less fouling and offers better flow characteristics." Looks like Unique and Blue Dot were unchanged this time so Unique has only changed twice in 119 years.

At least before 2018 it was widely believed that Unique and Red-Green-Blue Dots were all the same powder only with different deterrent coatings to adjust burn rate, except Red Dot had none. If any lot failed to match the burning curve of a canister-grade powder, the coating was washed off and the resulting powder was sold as Promo in 8lb jugs, which strongly resembled Red Dot but with varying density and of course no red flakes.

Note that Unique has a reputation for a lower velocity SD with thrown charges than the perfect-metering ball powders, even though the charge weights end up all over the place thanks to the large corn-flakes

Some of the ball powders aren't too dirty but what dirt there is can be gritty, incompletely-burnt particles of powder if pressure isn't high enough. Titegroup may be famously dirty but at least it's sort of a greasy-dirty that does not make guns malfunction. Red Dot or Unique will gum up gas ports in a semi-auto shotgun by 250 shells fired, so application and load matters.

2400, unquie and bulleyes were the powders i started reloading pistols with in the early 70's. it was the only powder i could get. i all ways heard unique was dirty, but i have other powders that seem the same as unigue when the day of shooting is over. come to think of it the unique of the 70's/80's was dirty compare to the unique of now.

The only issue I've had with Titegroup and squibs was a whole 50rd box of .44Colt that I forgot to charge.

Never understood why someone should want a 45 to recoil like a 22. Most of the complaints about “dirty” powder seem to involve reduced loads. If you want less recoil get a smaller caliber.

One of the advantages of handloading (versus reloading) is the ability to tailor a load to fit a purpose. With the .45LC a handloader can build buffalo hunting ammunition (assuming the right gun) or low recoil CASS loads.

I never understood why someone would recommend that others spend the jack for an expensive new firearm when for a relatively low cost they can build handloads to fit their needs. I guess money is no object for some....



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Not if you ignite Unique with a lead free primer.

See: https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/experience-with-lead-free-primers-clean.822136/

jski said:

A creampuff for the 357 is pretty much a
38 Special +P. And those powered by Unique are gentle on the paws, hence creampuffs.

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Most of my 357 Magnum shooting is with 158 grain SWC bullets loaded to about 950 fps from a 4" gun using Unique as the powder. They are pleasant to shoot from a 3" J-frame up to a 6" revolver. I have not shot them in my 8-3/8" Model 27 yet.

jski said:

Higher pressure means more powder. Or heavier bullets. Wouldn’t more powder just mean there’s more powder to burn and it’s more likely some won’t burn completely?

Put another way, if I have to loads with the same bullets (same weight), I’ll need more (Unique) powder to guarantee a cleaner burn?

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Nope. Some powders are like this. I first noticed it with 2400. Once I crossed a threshold, it started burning a lot cleaner.

jski said:

I’ve been loading some creampuff .45 Colts using Starline’s Cowboy Special brass, .41 Specials (again Starline brass), and 38 Specials +P using Unique and haven’t really noticed it being any dirtier than other powders. I know it now says on their 1lb jar, “cleaner burning”. Not sure that means anything in particular.What’s the consensus?

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I've used Unique for 40 years, and never really noticed it being "dirty" until I started reading on the internet. I have only shot it in my 357 Magnum revolvers, so can't speak to other calibers, but it shoots fine in my slightly hotter than +P .38 loads in any of the revolvers I've used it in. I clean after every range session, and don't worry about it.