Is Unique even made anymore? Does it exist?

[Ark]

The only sites that ever show it in stock anymore are obvious scam websites with no location and too good to be true prices.

I use it in all my revolver loads because of the high case fill, which avoids the positional issues and squibs I got with W231/HP38.

Is Unique still made? Does anyone actually sell it anymore? Or do I need to reformulate to a new powder that is actually obtainable, like I had to walk away from Varget a few years ago?

 

[nucular]

I have close to a pound left from a container I bought a few decades ago when I was hand loading 44 special. I would be happy to trade it to you for a like quantity of some other powder.

 

[billybob44]

I would be happy to trade you 1# of sealed Unique for 1# of sealed H-322, if you have it to spare??

 

[Leadeye]

A good powder that covers a lot of squares in reloading. Midway lists as no backorder which sounds ominous.

 

[Whip_McCord]

A similar powder to Unique is AA#5. I have been using it for my medium speed pistol powder. For lighter target loads I use Clays. It is quite fluffy and fills the case better than most. I also use Clays for 12 gauge shotgun loads.

Once when switching my powder measure from using Clays to AA#5, I checked out their weight for the same volume. I was loading 3.8gr of Clays for some 38s. I emptied the measure and poured in some AA#5. For the same volume of 3.8gr of Clays, AA#5 weighted 9 grains. I thought that was a good example of how Clays fills cases compared to another powder. Red Dot is similar, but maybe not as fluffy.

 

[Brian's Surplus]

We had some in the store about a year ago. It sold out in 20 minutes and I had a limit of 1# per customer. We have not been able to get it since Alliant raised their prices 30%. We have a ridiculous amount on backorder.
Alliant is owned by Vista, so if it got sold along with everything else hopefully that means availability will improve. It can't get much worse...

 

[Gingerbeardman]

I don't reload and probably won't but it intrigues me to no end. Can someone explain case load, the weight importance, and positional issues? Oh and medium speed loads? How does the powder affect the speed, and why does the speed matter? I assume that sounds basic and ridiculous but please bear with me. Thanks to anyone who replies!!

 

[Leadeye]

I don't reload and probably won't but it intrigues me to no end. Can someone explain case load, the weight importance, and positional issues? Oh and medium speed loads? How does the powder affect the speed, and why does the speed matter? I assume that sounds basic and ridiculous but please bear with me. Thanks to anyone who replies!!

Powder speed of burning can impact a lot of what comes out of the barrel of a gun and how well it cycles. Lots of different firearms respond differently so it's hard to use anything more than a general rule. Semi autos usually need something a little faster burning. A reloading manual will usually show that you get your best velocity with slower burning stuff, but often that won't cycle a gun reliably. It really depends on the firearm though. A bolt action rifle with slow burning powder will usually bring out all the possible velocity you can get out of a cartridge.

Some powders are position sensitive and slower burners in small amounts in a large case can cause big variations in velocity even producing squibs giving you a bullet lodged in the barrel.

 

[Ark]

I don't reload and probably won't but it intrigues me to no end. Can someone explain case load, the weight importance, and positional issues? Oh and medium speed loads? How does the powder affect the speed, and why does the speed matter? I assume that sounds basic and ridiculous but please bear with me. Thanks to anyone who replies!!

"Case fill" refers to how high the powder fills the empty case when you use a powder measure to drop a charge of powder into it. Different powders have different densities. Some are teeny little balls, while others are big flakes. Unique is a brand of powder that has big flakes, so it fills up the case a lot more for the same power.

The reason this matters is that .38 and .45 Colt are both cartridges originally designed for black powder, which has a much higher volume in the case than modern smokeless powder. So when you charge a .45 Colt with a modern automatic handgun powder, you get just a little bit in the very bottom of a big, empty case.

The "positional issue" comes from the fact that if powder is loose enough inside a big empty case, it's not sitting right up against the primer when it goes off. So, you get erratic velocities, squibs, or even failures to ignite at all.

A "medium speed" load would just be one where the powder charge is measured to be neither light nor heavy. With reloading, you can vary the amount of powder you put into each case. Since revolvers are manually operated, for example, you can load very light charges with low velocities for easy target shooting. Or, if you want full power magnum loads, you can increase the powder and get more velocity.

Automatic pistol cartridges tend to have narrower ranges of powder charges, because they have to cycle the action. In any reloading data book or website, you will see "starting loads" and "max loads". This is basically minimum and maximum for that cartridge, that weight of bullet, and that powder type. The idea is that you start at the low end of the range. For example, with a starting load of 3.5 grains and a max of 5.5 grains, you might go to the range and test ten rounds at 3.8 grains, 4.5 grains, and 5.0 grains. A dedicated reloader would probably use a chronograph to read velocities, and settle on a powder charge that hits the target velocity while cycling the guns reliably. The maximum powder charge corresponds to the specification for maximum chamber pressure in the cartridge, if you exceed that you could have problems.

 

[Cynical]

The only sites that ever show it in stock anymore are obvious scam websites with no location and too good to be true prices.

I use it in all my revolver loads because of the high case fill, which avoids the positional issues and squibs I got with W231/HP38.

Is Unique still made? Does anyone actually sell it anymore? Or do I need to reformulate to a new powder that is actually obtainable, like I had to walk away from Varget a few years ago?

I started using a Unique 30+ years ago when I bought my first loader for . 38 special. I was using Lee dies and a dipper to load. I bought it for $16 a lb. from Downhams in Logansport for a long time. I also used Red Dot for shotgun and pistols as well as Bullseye which I love except for the “ It’s dirty argument”, I clean my guns when I’m done so it’s a non-starter for me. If you can find anything Alliant it’s $50 a lb so I’m going to nurse my existing stock and have found other options. I think the Unique might be hiding with the 8208xbr.

 

[Kdf101]

I still have about 8pounds of it left from when I bought a bunch of it several years ago. I like it because I am lazy and I use it for both pistols and shotgun loads that I am satisfied with.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Easy question to answer. Reach out to the manufacturer's customer service. They'll likely tell you whats up.
I know this firsthand.
(a year ago)
me: Dear Savage, I want a 93a but I cant find any anywhere. Whats up? Has it been discontinued?
Savage: No. it is not discontinued. Its still in production but we are not making any at this time. We will be making more in the near future. We do not sell direct, so check our website for a list of distributors for when they are available again.
The hilarious thing is a year ago if you looked at their distributor list, they only listed Dicks. Which quit selling guns altogether at least a year before their suggestion.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Easy question to answer. Reach out to the manufacturer's customer service. They'll likely tell you whats up.
I know this firsthand.
(a year ago)
me: Dear Savage, I want a 93a but I cant find any anywhere. Whats up? Has it been discontinued?
Savage: No. it is not discontinued. Its still in production but we are not making any at this time. We will be making more in the near future. We do not sell direct, so check our website for a list of distributors for when they are available again.
The hilarious thing is a year ago if you looked at their distributor list, they only listed Dicks. Which quit selling guns altogether at least a year before their suggestion.

I’m still waiting for the MVP in 300blk a rep told me was out at dealers 9 years ago.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I’m still waiting for the MVP in 300blk a rep told me was out at dealers 9 years ago.

Sometimes ya gotta rattle their cage for updates.
Just sayin.

 

[Gingerbeardman]

Thank you both! I assume how fast a powder burns depends upon its chemical characteristics? Do these also determine its shape?

 

[Mike Maddox]

Have many pounds on hand. I has to understand what has happened in the last couple of years. Raw materials and labor shortages. The biggest is consolidation in this and so many other industries. We are down to two major suppliers in the Country. A company that used to make 30 powders is not trying to produce 300. One of those is a friend and we have had that talk. My feeling is that names may live on and be be labeled as new and improved, and one powder now be marketed under several labels.
With ammo shortages, had hoped there would be an increased interest in classes. Has been, but not enough. Have been to surrounding States to hold classes.

 

[indyblue]

Thank you both! I assume how fast a powder burns depends upon its chemical characteristics? Do these also determine its shape?

Chemical composition and shape all affect the burn characteristics.

 

[92FSTech]

I'm a big fan of Unique, especially in revolvers, and was hoping to switch all of my HP-38 recipes over to it after I got through what I have left of that. I've been pretty unhappy with how HP-38 leaves a lot of unburned powder in the longer cases, and I have to push it to max charge weight or even sometimes a bit above to get a complete burn.

Unfortunately, I'm encountering the same thing everybody else is...it's pretty much impossible to find. I scored a couple of pounds at a shop up in South Bend last month that the guy told me he'd found at an estate sale, but that's the first I've seen in over a year and it clearly wasn't new production.

Companies do tend to produce in batches, and I'm hoping that is what is going on here. After the COVID shortage, one of the first rifle powders to come back was IMR 4064, which I was happy to see as I use it in a lot of stuff. The supply of that seems to have dried up in recent months, though, while other different varieties are back in stock. I think the back-stock got completely bought up during covid, and since they're basically starting from zero we're now seeing shortages of specific varieties as they rotate through production batches. At least I hope that's what's happening, as I want to see Unique on the shelves again.

 

[singlestacksig]

Still made, very popular, and almost every powder manufacturer is making for military contracts right now.

 

[DadSmith]

The only sites that ever show it in stock anymore are obvious scam websites with no location and too good to be true prices.

I use it in all my revolver loads because of the high case fill, which avoids the positional issues and squibs I got with W231/HP38.

Is Unique still made? Does anyone actually sell it anymore? Or do I need to reformulate to a new powder that is actually obtainable, like I had to walk away from Varget a few years ago?

Madison Outdoors has it $49 1lb.