Is there a big difference between Unique vs Bullseye powder? 9mm Powder recommendation?

[gmerkt]

What do you think about Red Dot or CFE Pistol? Or any others? I use 115 grain FMJ for basic practice rather than any competition. Thanks.

Red Dot, once again like Bullseye and Unique, is one of the older powders and I think there are better choices now. I used to use Red Dot in .45 ACP a lot, no longer. I still have a partial bottle (old enough, it's actually a cardboard cylinder) of Red Dot, can't remember when I last used it. It was originally a shotgun powder but secondary uses in handguns were found for it.

CFE pistol, I've had mixed results with it. It didn't do well in .38 Super loads that I put together. I got way different chrono. results from what Hornady publishes. So I put it back on the shelf for a while, then decided to give it a try in .45 ACP and it worked okay there.

There are so many new pistol powders available now. True, both Olin and IMR have eliminated some of their older products. But new stuff has more than made up for that. At a guess, I think I've got about 15 or maybe more different pistol powders. Why I even bought CFE Pistol, I don't know, because copper fouling isn't typically a problem with handguns.

One powder that I liked for 9mm Para. was Olin (Win.) WAP but it came and went fast in their powder line-up. Supposedly Ramshot Silhouette replicates it. WAP isn't on contemporary powder burn rate charts, but when it was, it was right near to Silhouette. Charts vary. But on Hodgdon's version, AA#5, HS-6, Olin AutoComp, CFE Pistol, Silhouette, and VV 3N37 are all next to each other. These are all appropriate powders for 9mm Para, with some caveats as to bullet weight.

I still use some (new version) Unique in .45 Colt and .38-40 Win. It has it's uses but for me, not in 9mm Para.

Not well known nor popular with American hand loaders, I've gotten into some of the Vectan powders made in France. There's some good stuff there.

 

[Hayshaker]

None of the above post talk about the barrel length. If your using a short barreled gun unique will not burn fast enough. Up side is if you miss the target~~ it'll still get badly burnt. Unique works good in the larger calibers with a 6" barrel. My .02 from 50 years from reloading

 

[TTSX]

Jeez, sounds like unique isn't that great or even, well... Unique. Disappointing as I just bought a couple pounds on the cheap

 

[Retired Guy]

Jeez, sounds like unique isn't that great or even, well... Unique. Disappointing as I just bought a couple pounds on the cheap

The only way to know for sure is to try it. It is my preferred handgun powder these days. I used to have a half dozen different types of powders on my reloading bench. Everything from W231 to 2400 to CFE and so on. This powder worked great for that caliber but not so great for others. I finally decided that it wasn't worth stocking all these different powders just for that small difference gained. I now just use Unique for all my handgun loads. Is it the best powder? No, but it does work well across the spectrum.

It used to be a lot dirtier but it was reformulated a while back and burns cleaner now. The only way to keep your firearm clean is to not shoot it. So try it and decide for yourself whether it's worth your while.

 

[gmerkt]

None of the above post talk about the barrel length. If your using a short barreled gun unique will not burn fast enough. Up side is if you miss the target~~ it'll still get badly burnt. Unique works good in the larger calibers with a 6" barrel. My .02 from 50 years from reloading

In the original post, he said he was shooting 9mm so bbl. length shouldn't too much of an issue. But I agree with you, Unique has many appropriate applications for other uses. As I said, I use it in .45 Colt and .38-40.

The only way to know for sure is to try it. It is my preferred handgun powder these days. I used to have a half dozen different types of powders on my reloading bench. Everything from W231 to 2400 to CFE and so on. This powder worked great for that caliber but not so great for others. I finally decided that it wasn't worth stocking all these different powders just for that small difference gained. I now just use Unique for all my handgun loads. Is it the best powder? No, but it does work well across the spectrum.

One of these days I will get smart and come to the same conclusion. But maybe not with Unique being the answer. I like 231 as a powder with a wide range of applications.

It used to be a lot dirtier but it was reformulated a while back and burns cleaner now.

This is true, quite a few years back now. New Unique still isn't the cleanest powder around. I currently have a couple of pounds of New Unique, but also I have about a pound and a half of Old Unique. Back around 2001, my cousin gave me a cardboard drum containing 20 pounds of Old Unique. As you know, it takes quite a while to burn that much of it up at typical pistol charges. Oh, I gave away pounds of it here and there and still have that last bit. The drum was dated 1974, the Old is still good but I've run chrono tests on it to compare energy content with New Unique. Depending upon the cartridge, the Old produces about 5 to 10% slower velocities than the New. I don't have any science to explain whether this is due to age or reformulation. Logically, I wouldn't rule out a bit of energy loss from drying out over 45 years.

 

[orygun]

Bullseye for loads that can barely operate the slide of an auto. Was (is?) a long time favorite for light 38 Special match loads.
Unique for loads that can come pretty close to "full throttle".
Both of these powders have some flexibility, but this is the gist of it.
Because Bullseye didn't do anything for me that Unique would, I probably never bought more than the one pound I started with. I use Unique in my 45. The only downside is it's kinda dirty.

 

[Steve M]

I load 124gr 9mm for a S&W Shield so my findings reflect the realities of having a shorter barrel. I started with Blue Dot because it was 2014 and that was what I could find. It needs to be run at the max charge to keep the soot down enough to not turn your hands black while shooting. I don't like to run max level charges and velocity wasn't all that so I moved on to Unique when it became available.

With Unique at two steps under the max load I was 100 FPS under book expected velocity and 100 FPS under what I was getting from Winchester white box ammo. Velocity standard deviation wasn't anything to write home about either. So I stepped it up to one level under max, which is my max, and lost 20 FPS. Perhaps there was some human error in running the chrono, but it was enough to put me off of Unique for my 9mm handgun. Yours may be different.

Next I tried Accurate #7 and found my desired velocity and a good standard deviation at one step under max, but it was using 7.6gr of powder. Desiring to burn less powder to accomplish the same result I moved on to Winchester 572 and got similar velocity and SD with 5.5gr which is closer to Hodgdon's starting load than it is to the max. Until I have time to play with some other powders that makes W572 my favorite for my 9mm loads.

I have loaded a good number of 40 S&W with 800X cornflakes (due to the circa 2014 shortages) so I laugh at anyone complaining at troubles getting flake powders to meter well. It can be done if you practice your powder measure technique. So any of the aforementioned powders in the thread I consider to meter well. Let's not forget the other qualities of powders. Where was it made? (if that is important to you). It is fine grained ball powder like Accurate #7 so that the slightest static will cause it to fly up out of the bottle and stick to the ceiling? Or is it a flattened ball like a dense flake that stays put? Does it have a strong chemical smell like #7, a mild swamp smell like W572, or little no no odor like most of the pistol powders out there? Don't tell me that you people don't sniff your powders!

Only you can determine which powder you are going to enjoy in your firearm(s) with your chosen components.

 

[gmerkt]

Jeez, sounds like unique isn't that great or even, well... Unique. Disappointing as I just bought a couple pounds on the cheap

Well, use the Unique anyway. There are worse powders for 9mm, and you already have it now. It's good enough, 90% shooters of handguns don't notice differences in loads from one powder to the next.

I have loaded a good number of 40 S&W with 800X cornflakes (due to the circa 2014 shortages)

Well I remember that time; a good friend went out and bought the big jug of 800X. One time he violated one of the safety rules of hand loading, he had two jugs of powder on the bench at the same time. He loaded some .223 Rem. cartridges with 800X instead of rifle powder. Blew up an AR but luckily only speckled his arm.

Anyway, that 800X was one of the few powders available shows how popular is was/is. I've tried 800X in heavy bullet loads of 10mm Auto, didn't find it to my liking much, gave it away.

 

[Twodogs]

I use W-231 with 115 gr bullets and titegroup for 147 gr sub loads.
run W-231 for most 9mm, 40 s&w, and .45 acp loads.