Is Universal or 231 the cleanest burning?

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showmebob

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I have been shooting Unique in light loads for 380, 9mm, and 357mag. 3.3, 5.3 and 6.5 grains in order with Berrys plated bullets 100, 115, and 125 grain in order.
Now I know powders can get dirty with light loads but these are ridiculously dirty. WW box in 9mm shoots VERY CLEAN so I know there has to be a better powder to use. Would I be better off using W231 or Universal? I have heard that fast powders are dirty so should I go to a slower one? What is the better choice for these 3 calibers?
 
I have never used Universal but use W231 95% of the time. Dirty guns was my major complaint about Unique so switched to 700X and tite-group. WSorked good bug found W231 and there I stay.

Good stuff!
 
If you could find some pistol load data for Alliant American Select you might find that to be the cleanest...
 
I use W231 for all of my range work in 380, 9mm, .38 Spl, 357 Mag 40 S&W and 45 Acp. I've tried other powders, but have always gone back to W231.
 
shooting Unique in light loads
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Like ArchAngelCD posted, all powders burn better and cleaner at higher pressures, some more than others. Unique kind of falls in the middle . It is not filthy at low pressures, but certainly not real clean. As the pressures go up, it cleans up right nicely. It has never had a reputation as being real clean anyway.

700X was posted as an alternative, and it will work for your uses and be a lot cleaner than Unique, or W231, for your light loads. (Light target loads in the .357 brass) Without looking at a manual, I think it will be pushing it to get where 6.5 Grs of Unique gets you. I like Unique for midrange loads in .357---125' at 1200 to 1300 FPS)

Universal Clays is not particularly clean in 9MM, but is real clean in .40 for me, go figure? It is not a good choice for real light loads any more than Unique. They will both work, but need a bit more pressure to clean up.
 
Are you shooting lead bullets?

No powder is going to leave a clean gun because of the bullet lube.

Light loads also are going to leave unburned powder no matter what you use.

If you load light, use the fastest powder you can get.

Even Bullseye burns pretty clean with light loads because that's what it is made for.

rc
 
I have had great luck with Universal in 9mm for medium laods. I find it to be much cleaner than Unique for sure and I even think it is a bit cleaner than
W231. But there again I usually am loading light to medium loads. I loaded up some light .357 mag loads with Speer's 158gr. LSWC and W231 and found it to leave a mess. But I believe this was due to the low pressure as it looked like unburnt powder still in the bore. I'd rather clean the powder mess rather than the lead mess any day!
 
I use W231 for all of my range work in 380, 9mm, .38 Spl, 357 Mag 40 S&W and 45 Acp. I've tried other powders, but have always gone back to W231.
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Yep. 231 is hard to beat. I've been on a powder experimenting thing lately, but 231 is still going to be my go to powder. The only powder I have found that equals (maybe even just a scotia' tad better) is ZIP, made by Ramshot. It feels, loads, and shoots so much like 231, it's hard to tell them apart, except for the price; ZIP is cheaper.
 
he only powder I have found that equals (maybe even just a scotia' tad better) is ZIP, made by Ramshot. It feels, loads, and shoots so much like 231, it's hard to tell them apart, except for the price; ZIP is cheaper.
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That's good to know since I'm a big W231 fan too. Thanks for that info...
 
I tried Zip one time in .45 with 230 Gr Berrys. It put them all but one (my fault I am sure) through one hole at 7 yards. Only 609 Avg FPS in a starting load, but hey, that's good. The only bad thing was I did not record it, and will have to start over. :eek:

Zip seemed a bit quicker to me in .45, but I have not worked with it enough to be sure.

And for an overall great powder for everything except magnums, W-231 is hard to beat. Hard to go wrong as a first powder.
 
I don't know what I would do without W231 on the shelf. It's a great powder and it goes a long way. An 8lbs jug is enough to load 7,000 .38 Special and 5,100 .45 Auto rounds. :)
 
I love 231 but like a lot of powders these days it's getting more expensive. I switched to HP-38 which has very close if not identical burn properties for less.
 
I love 231 but like a lot of powders these days it's getting more expensive. I switched to HP-38 which has very close if not identical burn properties for less.
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kildar,
HP-38 not only has identical burn rate properties as W231, they are identical powders. Now that Hodgdon owns all the rights to Winchester Powders both W231 and HP-38 are the same exact powders. The only difference is the label on the jug. This has been verified by Hodgdon /Winchester /IMR with both phone calls and email correspondence.

BTW,
W231 = HP-38
W296 = H110
HS-6 = W540
HS-7 = W571
W760 = H414
Ramshot Silhouette = WAP
 
all powders burn better and cleaner at higher pressures, some more than others. Unique kind of falls in the middle . It is not filthy at low pressures, but certainly not real clean. As the pressures go up, it cleans up right nicely. It has never had a reputation as being real clean anyway.
Click to expand...

I agree.

LGB
 
American Select

I have found American Select to burn very clean
It is also easy to find as no one seems to use it
I know it is newer
I believe it was developed for light loads in shotguns.
I especially like it for wadcutters, I use Berrys plated
148 HB 3.2 Grains AS 38 Special
4.5 grains in 357 case for my 357 Guns

I also use it in 45 Acp and 44 Special
It seems to work well where Bullseye would have
been recomended.
With different powder loads of course
It is harder to find data for but it is out there

YMMV

PattonTime
 
I would have to pick W-231 just because it is cleaner burning in a wider range of applications, at least for me.

And PattonTime is right about American Select.
 
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