Unique-ish ball powder?

[gbw]

I'm a huge fan of Unique, but it just does not meter well through my old Dillon measure- apparently the flakes are just a touch large and occasionally it bridges. Bullseye, with smaller flake size, does not show this problem.

Does anyone have any experience with ball powders, which do meter well in my powder measure, and are in the Unique burning range? I've considered HS6, which looks like a possibility, are there any others?

Ideally I'd like to find a powder as versatile as Unique for .45 ACP, 9mm, 41 Mag., .357, and .38, cast and jacketed bullets. A tough order!

 

[WmCC]

Accurate Arms #5. Burning rate in the Unique range and always meters precisely. I've had good luck with it and other Accurate powders for over 15 years.

 

[depoloni]

Was going to say "the other Unique" - Hodgdon's Universal.

Might not meter quite as well as #7, not sure, but it's more of a "cube" type powder like 2400 and meters quite nicely compared to Unique. And mimics it in most ways.

 

[zxcvbob]

WSF is a little slower than Unique but faster than HS-6. There's not a lot of load data for it, but from my testing it seems interchangeable with Herco as long as you don't get stupid about it. It should do all of those cartridges pretty well as long as you don't go too low with it in the .38 Special (and it will still work OK there, it'll just get dirty)

What's wrong with Bullseye? Maybe you can use it in the .38 and .45, and WSF in the others.

 

[Ol` Joe]

PowerPistol is close

 

[loadedround]

Off on a different tangent, have you considered buying or making a baffle for you powder measure? This will stop any powder bridging in my opinion.

 

[Yarddog]

I have the least expencive powder thrower from Lee & it throws unique within .01gr throw after throw ; )
Y/D

 

[68wj]

I have the least expencive powder thrower from Lee & it throws unique within .01gr throw after throw ; )
Y/D

That's a precise scale you have there. My Lee meters everything but fine ball powder well (it meters fine, but leaks)

 

[Walkalong]

WSF or AA #5. Not quite as versatile, but good powders.

 

[griz]

I like AA#5 too. Also 231 is just a little faster but works well in the calibers you listed and meters great. It might not be ideal for the 41 and 357 but it will come close to matching Unique.

 

[RidgwayCO]

It's not a ball powder, but VihtaVuori's N340 meters great, burns clean, and performs very similarly to Unique.

 

[Walkalong]

N340 is some really good stuff, but many fuss about paying more for it.

 

[zxcvbob]

I really want to try some N330 powder, but the places I order gunpowder don't sell that one (they skip from N320 to N340), and I haven't wanted it bad enough to drive 150+ miles to visit E. Arthur Brown Co. to buy some.