Anyone using Unique for 9mm?

[josquin]

Got out to the range this morning with some Unique loads and my Browning HP (5" bbl) & Ruger SR9 (4.15") . Results as follows:

Frontier 124gn TC 1.15" OAL CCI 500 5.2gr. Unique
Average 1053 (BHP); 1029 (Ruger)

(FWIW, my standard plinking load of 4.7gr. of WSF & Winchester SPP @ 1.08" runs about 950 in the Ruger and 1025 in the BHP)

Speer GDHP 124 gn. 1.20" OAL CCI 500 5.5 gr. Unique
Average 1140 (BHP); 1126 (Ruger)

And yes, Unique is kind of dirty!

 

[fralic76]

With sub 5 grains of Unique, the load failed to cycle in a Taurus PT 99, an older Smith 659, and a Glock. I can't recall if I've tried it in my M&P though.

I used it in a stock glock 17 Gen 4 with 124gr campro bullets with 3.9gr of Unique and it cycled fine.

 

[Ganderite]

Unique is very flexible. It works well at high and low pressure. (Hence the name.)

But it is a flake powder and does not meter very well in some throwers.

A good alternate is Clays Universal and IMR SR7625.

 

[angelo]

I myself have tried several powders for 9mm. Blue dot, red dot, power pistol, wsp and HS-6. By far Unique was the best in accuracy, consistency and felt recoil on a 147g RN bullet. A bit dirty but not overly.

 

[gwesson]

I myself have tried several powders for 9mm. Blue dot, red dot, power pistol, wsp and HS-6. By far Unique was the best in accuracy, consistency and felt recoil on a 147g RN bullet. A bit dirty but not overly.

- That's how I see it, too; if Unique is dirty, what powders are everybody using that are significantly cleaner? In the light 9mm loadings I mentioned above, reliable cycling, little smoke and shiny empties - whereas, whatever load of WW-231 the guy next to us was using, drove us off the range in coughing fits.

- And if you think Unique is dirty, I really must recommend you avoid Trail Boss...

 

[kman300]

I just finished working up a load for my g22 with a stormlake 9mm conversion barrel. I'm using the lee 356-120TC bullet and seat to 1.047" since the stormlake has a very short lead to the lands. 4.7gr of unique gets me ~975fps with zero leading and perfect function. However the unique I'm using is probably 50 years old and may not be as potent as it once was. This is a compressed load in my case.