Unique Powder Comparison

[Jesse Heywood]

I have been wondering about Alliant Powder and their advertising claim of Unique being cleaner burning. One concern is that my “older” bottle says cleaner burning on the label. So I loaded a few rounds and went to the range, not knowing what to expect.

The rounds:
.357 Magnum
Starline brass, new
Winchester small pistol primers.
Missouri Bullet 158 gr. SWC .357 Action, Brinell 18
Unique smokeless powder. Lot 580 Aug 5, 2009 (referred to as old) and Lot 634 12/19/2013 (new).

Loaded 5 rounds each with powder charges of 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0 grains.
Gun: S&W 686, 6” barrel fired at an indoor range. Cylinder wiped clean between charges.
Results are visual, comparing between charge weights.

4.5 grain:
Old – little smoke
New – little smoke, more soot on cases & cylinder

5.0 grain:
Old – moderate smoke
New – moderate smoke, more soot on cases & cylinder

5.5 grain:
Old – smoky
New – smoky, more soot on cylinder, soot burnt on cylinder, cases about equal

6.0 grain:
Old – very smoky, more soot on cylinder, cases about equal
New – slightly less smoke.

My test showed less smoke with the new powder only at the highest charge. While I did not test accuracy results were very good to excellent. Leading was minimal.

 

[noylj]

Umm, sorry, but who cares?
Group size is important.
If you concentrate on target, you shouldn't even see smoke
Most people over-clean. If you have soot on your gun, clean it.
Soot on cases is only important if indicative of low pressure, case not sealing chamber, and hot gasses passing over chamber walls.

 

[blarby]

I've found the new unique is cleaner at lower loadings than it used to be.

At full tilt, they are so similar I couldn't tell them apart.

 

[GRIZ22]

Group size is what's important as has been noted.

I've used Unique for years and your loads are very light for .357. That's why the cases are sooty as the low pressure doesn't expand the case that much. In my guns 6.0 grs of Unique get to only about 1000 fps at best. Still a light load for 357.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Thanks for the comparisons and photos!!

I'm a big lover of Unique and use it for all my handgun loads. I used it 30 years ago and when I returned to shooting sports I resumed reloading with the "new" Unique. Between the new and old? The new *is* cleaner burning by a long shot *but* it is only noticed at the higher end. Lower end and "powder puff" loads especially with lead bullets is still smoky and leaves a lot of carbon on the cases and on the gun.

Higher end loads with plated or FMJ? I don't even have enough residue to warrant cleaning a pistol after 200 rounds. I just wiped it down with a Breakfree treated cloth and put it away.

I do love my Unique - at higher loadings it's cleaner than any factory I shot thru the same pistols to harvest the brass.

VooDoo

 

[Walkalong]

Soot on cases is about pressure, case expansion, and sealing the chamber well.

Load fifty of each in a midrange to upper range load, shoot them in similar guns, and see if either is harder to clean up, don't worry about the cases.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I'm a big lover of Unique and use it for all my handgun loads. I used it 30 years ago and when I returned to shooting sports I resumed reloading with the "new" Unique. Between the new and old? The new *is* cleaner burning by a long shot *but* it is only noticed at the higher end. Lower end and "powder puff" loads especially with lead bullets is still smoky and leaves a lot of carbon on the cases and on the gun.

That is what I was trying to confirm or disprove. After hearing several claims of the new Unique being so much cleaner than the old I wanted a side by side comparison. When things slow down I will probably try Walkalong's suggestion.

 

[plmitch]

So it boils down to no real differance.

 

[osprey176]

Great pictures,but wow,I thought I had OCD!