.38 Special
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- Joined
- Sep 15, 2006
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- 7,380
after shooting, I clean my guns.
Revolutionary!
after shooting, I clean my guns.
I’ll disagree respectfully with the title “master of none”, as I feel near its universal versatility within a specific set of parameters is a form of mastery.
Everyone has their favorite spotted puppy
I know you really like Unique but I feel the same about W231. I can, like you, load most of my handgun cartridges with it.“Master of none”! I respectfully disagree. Take a look at the Lyman Manual and see how many times Unique is highlighted for “potentially most accurate load” for rounds like .44 Special and .45 Colt. The book ain’t lying! Give me a pound of Unique and I can make you a good shooting round for just about any popular pistol round. My favorites, .44 Special, .45 ACP, .38 Specialand mild .357 Magnums.
Just a note, Universal is just about as versatile as Unique and can make a good substitute if you can't find Unique.
Silhouette gives good case fill at 8.4 grains and has a flash suppressant.This has been an interesting read. I especially liked the pics of the spotted puppies and Slamfire's dirty revolvers. I can relate to both. I started looking for a powder I could easily live with to feed my .357s. I tried 4227, W296, H110, N110, 2400, and a couple of others. I really liked N110 but more or less settled on 2400. A lot of that was due to price and availability. I was(am) looking for a powder that would give upper mid range loads with 2 and 4 inch barrels.. As those barrels are generally on the short side, I saw some pretty impressive fireballs. Here's the caveat. I also prefer a powder that fills the case at least half way. Something that hasn't been really discussed is, how much volume does Unique require? Just for fun, how much of a .357 case would 6.6 grains of Unique fill?
Agreed and seconded. Unique is my Standard. All other powders are compared to that Standard. Ex: For long range .30 caliber rifles, IMR 3031 compares favorably to Unique; conversely, I have never seen or read of a .32 caliber pistol load for IMR 3031. Anyone who doesn’t get the point of that comparison is deliberately avoiding it.Unique is universal, Universal is not Unique... (Just kidding... I know they are quite close... but I love saying that.)
Interesting... W231/HP38 comes up a LOT when talking about 'universal' handgun powders... I've never really thought that highly of it, and particularly compared to Unique.
I thought flaming dirt was reserved for 4227.Unique is basically flammable dirt. It did give some decent velocities but you had to bring the handguns back in a ziplock bag or the soft cases were dirty, your hands were dirty, etc. There are other powders out there that work better for me, YMMV. (just a couple weeks ago I gave my last 2#s of it to a friend of a friend, no compensation needed.)
I don't agree with the "Unique vs. 2400?" title. The two powders are intended to serve different functions.
Unique is working well for me but not in hot loads. It is not a magnum powder, so recoil of high end loads can be quite harsh and presumably with a sharp pressure spike.
I more or less agree with your statement, except it does feature a logical flaw. Nothing is useful for all pertinent matters 'except for'. Those two clauses are logical contradictions.Yes and no. Depending on the cartridges, 2400 is just as worthy of the 'one powder for all' as Unique... as long as we aren't talking 9mm, 32ACP, .38SPC... and other smaller cartridges. You could very easily single out 2400 if all you load is .357, .41, 44, or .45 Colt; granted, they aren't going to be plinking loads. It just depends.
Those two clauses are logical contradictions.
I don't agree with the "Unique vs. 2400?" title. The two powders are intended to serve different functions.