what is your choice for most versatile powders on the market?

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Everybody sure loves Unique..I'll have to snag a bottle of that one of these days.
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Wow. I don't get all the love for Unique. Universal Clays is almost exactly the same without the godawful filthy mess.

I tried one pound and ended up giving away the last third after I discovered Universal. If I could get Unique free or buy Universal, it would be Universal hands down. Next choice would be AA#5 if you want a great metering powder that works in a very wide variety of calibers.

As for Bullseye being an all around solution, I'd be real careful on that. Yeah, it will work, but it's a fast powder and a little variation in charge weight makes a lot of difference in pressure. I'd recommend something a little slower.
 
Unique gets my vote on handguns and shotguns. I load 327mag though 45c in revolvers and 9mm and 45auto. Load 20, 16, and 12 ga shotshells. I've not had any trouble with metering or dirtiness that a lot of folks complain about. For long guns I could get by with Varget.
 
favorite powders.

I load for .270W and .243 and depending on the bullet weight, I like WW760 for the lighter bullets and WW780 for the heavier ones. I don't have to trickle these powders very often.
 
I only reload handgun cartridges. I use HP-38/Win 231, most of the time for .380, 9mm and .45ACP. Titegroup, if I have no HP-38/Win231. I see no need to get away from HP-38/Win 231.

Unique meters awful on my Lee Classic. I have used it for .38 Special/.357. I would use Unique again, only if it was the last handgun powder I could get.
 
No argument that Unique meters poorly - I weigh each and every charge and , yes, it's time consuming and tedious. But the results over a variety of calibers and loads are far more than satisfactory and I have no need to load that much ammunition that quickly anyway...truth is I enjoy loading very much.

I remember the old Unique as being dirty back in the 1970's. The stuff I have now? In 9mm loads and .380 with plated bullets it has been unbelievably clean. No flakes unburnt, no soot, no smoke, and every bit as clean if not cleaner than the tiny bit of factory I have shot the last 2 years.

I really do like my Unique. I'd love to get something identical or nearly so that meters well but right now I'd buy 8 lbs of Unique as fast as I could whip out the card. If only there was any to get. Trying to find a substitute in this environment is not likely this year or next it seems.

VooDoo
 
700X and Unique are similar in the fact that they meter poorly but shoot well.

As long as a handgun load shoots well and gives decent ES & SD numbers, I don't care if the powder meters poorly.
 
H4895 for rifle
Unique for pistols/revolvers

And Trail Boss for both either/or

Not my favorites in all the calibers I have, but I can safely reach maximum velocity and or accuracy with H4895 in my rifles and Unique for my handguns, and if only to have Trail Boss it would shoot safely in either without the worry of overloading if it were necessary to only use a visual check to load.
 
Did you experience that Unique metered worse than 700x?
I have found that with the 700 or 800X is horrible at metering (though I love the 800X in 10mm), and that Unique is just slightly finicky with the Dillon charge bar.


Toprudder said:
A lot of people would say Unique, but I haven't had a lot of experience with it yet. What little I used it, it did not meter that well.

...

I like 700x in 38spl, with TG a close second. Both are very insensitive to powder-forward (case position). 700x is also great in 45acp.

....
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Ex said:
Did you experience that Unique metered worse than 700x?
I have found that with the 700 or 800X is horrible at metering (though I love the 800X in 10mm), and that Unique is just slightly finicky with the Dillon charge bar.
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About the same as I recall. However, between the time I tried Unique (1st) and 700x, I discovered the aquarium pump trick. I have not revisited Unique with the pump yet.

Looking back at my data, in one instance I saw a 100fps difference in velocity with a 0.2gn difference in charge when using Unique. I saw less than half that with 700x. That is one reason I did not like Unique.
 
"most versatile powders"

This is a hard choice. Not because there are not many to chose from but because there are so many.

I can't get by with just one. I'm glade you put the 's' on the end of powder.

Pistols - 231/HP-38 does them all. A hard to not select Unique. It does so well. I will stick with 231/HP-38.

Rifles - Either of the 4895s will do very well in a very wide range of rifles. But here I would have to go with 748 as my choice.

I don't do shotguns. Can I slip in a middle ground cartridge powder? 2400 is so versatile with heavy loadings in pistols and small capacity rifles. 296/H110 is a good option but I don't feel as secure reducing the loads by very much with them. Lt'Gun is my preferred powder for the .300 BlackOut. Oh, the choice to make.... 2400 is so versatile but maxes out too light in the Blackout. Lt'Gun has a bad rep of burning (I have never seen this but being a coward....). I would have to go with the Lt'Gun over 2400. I don't like making this reduction :(

So we are down to"
231/HP-38
748
Lt'Gun

With seconds of:
Unique
IMR-4895/H-4895
2400

Others will not agree with my choices.
 
For handgun, I don't deliberately seek versatility between cartridges, it just happens that way. I also don't load for a bunch of different handgun cartridges, and those that I do load for all run great with either HS6 or Longshot, LS being my most favorite for standard or +p loads. As for magnum .357 or 44 mag, I always use H110 / 296.

For high powered rifle, I don't usually run multiple cartridges with the same powder, I could, but I'm just not wired like that I guess, But even when I find a powder I like, for say .243 win. I commonly find myself doing additional developments with other powders. It provides me with lots of options too, such as when IMR7828 is difficult to find, I always have a back development completed with multiple other powders that will perform as desired, and consistent with 7828.

GS
 
I've been reloading for only about 9mo. & the 1st. powder I got & my favorite is IMR7625. I use it in 9mm & 45ACP. Meters great with my 550. I pick it up whenever I can find it. This is one of the powders that Hodgdon won't be making anymore.
 
Single most versatile powder for pistol, Unique hands down. As others have succinctly expressed, it ain't the ease of how it goes through the measure, it is the final results that count. Would go even further in regards to it is the av velocity and accuracy that matters even more than statistics intended for high count sample size.

For rifle, another user of 748. Mostly based on majority of rifle reloading am doing is 223 and 308 and have favorite loads already worked up. However am of opinion there are lots more "versatile" rifle powders than pistol powders, especially for 223, 308.
 
Unique is a gray flake powder introduced by Laflin & Rand in 1900.[8] Individual flakes are approximately 1.5 mm (0.06 inch) in diameter.[10] It is designed for shotguns and can be used in handguns.[11

It has been around for awhile eh?:cool:
 
Toprudder said:
I have not done a whole lot with BE86 or CFE Pistol, but so far they have worked well in everything I've tried.
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Well, I want to change my vote. I had the chance to try BE-86 in a couple more pistol calibers, and I have to say it performs very well in everything from 380 to 357mag. Not full magnum velocities, but very respectable. And very consistent across the board. So, if I only had to choose one pistol powder, it would be BE-86 with Titegroup a close second. Titegroup would be less expensive per round, though, so if I was limited to only 8lbs of one or the other, I might have to go with Titegroup.
 
Unique is hands down the most versitle powder. You can find at least one load using it for almost every caliber and gauge cartridge made.

I've used it to load .32 Long, .38/.357, 9mm, .41 mag, .45 acp/LC, 12ga Pheasant loads, and lead bullets in 30-30, .308 Win & 8mm Mauser rifle.
 
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