I wish I could find 8#s for only $140. Unfortunately it wouldn't last all that long since I use it under the W231 label for at least 7 different cartridges.HP-38, and I only say that becasue I found 8lbs on sale for $140 so it will have to do it all, and do it for a very long time
IIRC, wasn't Unique's 1st named Infallible? Which was produced by Laflin & Rand.They named it Unique because it was, well, Unique. Its application was broad enough that it spawned two other imitators; Universal and Unequal.
I don't use a lot of Unique because I always sought to optimize my handgun loads at the expense of commonality of my supply, but if I had to pick one powder as the "all purpose handgun powder", I'd vote for Unique.
My choice would be universal. It works ok in about anything. I loaded high side of load data with it. If I'm just plinking I would choose titegroup.When I first started hand loading, I couldn't afford lots of different powders for each caliber, so to keep things simple, I used the Hodgdon website to see which powder had load data for the majority of things I wanted to reload. As it turns out, there is a Titegroup load for nearly everything. I'm not saying it's the best option in many cases, but it can be used for nearly all common handgun calibers/bullet weights. As time went by, I experienced a few difficulties with some particular loads, and began to add a few powders here and there as my budget allowed. When I bought a can of Bullseye, I realized that it, like Titegroup, could be used for nearly every handgun caliber, and was a better option in some cases. Now that I have acquired a variety of powders, I realize that there are several other powders like Red Dot and Unique that could also be called "all purpose" powders; maybe not the best in all situations, but usable across the spectrum.
I know ideally we would all like to cherry pick loads for each caliber/bullet weight, but sometimes that isn't an option. If you were just beginning, and for one reason or another, only had access to a single powder for a variety of calibers, what would you choose.
Unique in all my pistols, and 20ga and 28ga
Which cartridges do you load?
During the powder shortage when other popular powders were hard to find, I bought Herco for 9mm and 40S&W to test. Yes Herco, the cousin of flaming dirt Unique.Without hesitation, Herco.
I load 380Auto/38Spl/9mm/40S&W/45ACP/45LC and after using Bullseye, Clays, WST, Red Dot/Promo, Red, Vectan Ba 9.5, Titegroup, Target, N320, Sport Pistol, Green Dot, W231/HP-38, Unique, Universal, Power Pistol, BE-86, Herco, WSF, HS-6, Auto Comp and CFE Pistol for different pistol loads, my powder of choice would be W231/HP-38 as it is flexible powder that can produce decent accuracy even with lighter target loads. Yes, there are other powders that can produce greater accuracy than W231/HP-38 but none has been proven as flexible.If you were just beginning, and for one reason or another, only had access to a single powder for a variety of calibers, what would you choose.
hey named it Unique because it was, well, Unique.
I used it for a lot of stuff, and yep, still have an old partial three pound metal can of it.30+ years ago I used 231 for everything. I haven’t used it in volume for so long now my stock of it is still in metal cans. Jack of all trades is often master of none.