How do you measure 5 grains of Unique?

[MachIVshooter]

Also, make sure the amount of powder in the dispenser should always be consistent. A half bottle will spill more gr of powder a little more than a bottle that is near empty.

As well, when you add powder or make adjustments, discard the first charge afterward. It will likely be denser than the ones that follow, and this is especially true of powders that don't meter well (like Unique and other "fluffy disc" powders)

 

[Ty 357]

I've been shooting since I could keep both ends of a long gun off the ground....

Welcome aboard Presto and thanks for the insight. And I like that quote alot...as Doc Holliday might say..."it reminds me of me."

 

[warnerwh]

If you have a press and lee dies you should buy the Pro Auto Disk powder measure. It will save you quite a bit of time. With Unique I get plus or minus .1 grains. The Auto Disk measure will throw loads consistently. Last night loading 9mm every time I checked charge weight it was right at 4.3 grains.
Throwing 7.6 grains for a .357 load is also consistent with some plus or minus .1 grain variation but mostly 7.6 grains. This load will shoot under 1.5" groups at 25 yards consistently. I'm not sure what to think about all the people that have problems throwing charges of Unique.

 

[Ty 357]

I'm not sure what to think about all the people that have problems throwing charges of Unique.

In my case it's quite likely just inexperience. I did a good bit of research ahead of time and settled on Unique as the powder to start with. I have been very happy with the results at the range. I just need to tweek my "dispensing."

All of the comments and feedback is much appreciated. Great group of folks here.

 

[mongoose33]

There are two issues here:

First, you have to pay more for faster. I have a Dillon D-Terminator electronic scale. Fast, reliable, accurate, settles on a value very fast (faster than a beam scale), is sensitive to .1gr trickles.

The only problem with it is cost, at $139.

Faster costs. Whether it's a good powder measure or a scale, you pretty much get what you pay for.

The second issue is Unique. It's not a good powder for metering compared to, say, WST or W231. It's just the nature of Unique. I never had particularly good results metering it out of any measure. But I've had WST remain just dead-on a 4.7gr charge over hundreds of rounds on a LnL press.


I understand the reloading on a budget. Been there. But budget means you're giving up some things, primarily speed and ease of use (fortunately, quality is *not* one of the things you give up).

Perhaps you use up your Unique--or if you have only a little left, hold it in reserve for SHTF purposes--and then try a better metering powder. There are many which will work well. I haven't tried them all, because once I found that WST and W231 work great for me, I stopped looking.