After years of shooting different rifle and handgun cartridges and shotshells, I finally burned up the last of an 8-pound keg of Alliant’s Unique. All that shooting shows Unique truly is the most versatile propellant on the market and has been since it was introduced back in about 1898. Unique is a circular, flake-type, double-base powder that contains nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin. Nitroglycerin plasticizes powder kernels somewhat, and this coating makes the powder impervious to moisture in the air and also keeps it from drying out. That gives the powder more consistent velocity and pressure, and in the end, better accuracy. A jar of Unique powder sits on the shelf at the Alliant Powder plant in Radford, Virginia. The Unique in the jar was made in 1899 and still performs to original specifications.

Old Unique supposedly left a few partially burned flakes in a bore. That was the only residue Unique left in the bore, but shooters thought that meant Unique was a dirty burning powder. So a few years ago, Alliant made Unique powder flakes more uniform, so the powder burned more completely. Alliant also did a few other things to make Unique burn more completely, but that’s its secret.

Unique’s flake shape helps it meter precisely from a powder measure, which is a big plus while loading hundreds of cartridges. However, because only a light amount of Unique is normally loaded in handgun and rifle cases, care must be taken to make sure only one charge of the powder is dispensed into a case. I load a block of 50 handgun cases with the powder and then put the block under a light to make sure the proper amount of powder is in each case. To check rifle cases, I shine a light in each case to make sure a charge, and only one charge, of powder is in the cases. Here’s how Unique works in various rifle, handgun and shotshell cases.

Shotshells

Unique makes a good target load in the 12 gauge with 11/8 ounces of shot at 1,200 fps. Over the years, though, it has lost out to Red Dot powder, because Red Dot burns about three grains less powder for the same 1,200 fps of velocity. Pressures with Unique, however, depending on what case, wad and primer are used, run from 1,400 to 2,700 psi less than Red Dot.

Unique can also fire 11/8-ounce loads up to 1,310 fps, where as Red Dot tops out at 1,250 fps with 11/8 ounces of shot. Unique can also fire heavier 11⁄4 ounces of shot up to 1,220 fps. To go faster and heavier than that requires an additional 15 grains of slower-burning powders like Blue Dot.

Unique is one of the best all around powders in the 16 gauge. It works great for mild recoiling target loads with one ounce of shot at 1,165 fps. A few more grains of Unique increase the velocity to 1,275 fps for upland birds. It also provides good velocity with 11/8- and 11⁄4-ounce loads when pheasants are on the menu.

Unique is the only powder I load in the 20 gauge. For a target load, 13.8 grains with 7/8 ounce of shot is easy on the shoulder. Adding a couple of more grains of Unique bumps that velocity up to 1,200 fps for quail and ruffed grouse. With 16.0 grains of Unique in Winchester AA cases, one ounce of Nos. 71⁄2 or 6 shot at 1,165 fps handles even the largest grouse.

 

Handguns

Handgun cartridge reloaders can get along just fine with only a can of Unique on their bench. With smaller cartridges, like the .32 H&R Magnum, Unique shoots 100-grain swaged lead or cast lead alloy bullets at a leisurely 600 to 800 fps. That light powder charge will load 2,800 cartridges from one pound of powder. Up that powder charge by 1.5 grains and velocity increases to nearly 1,000 fps from a 4-inch barrel of a Ruger SP101 revolver. You’d need nearly twice as much of a slower-burning powder to increase that speed 100 fps.

For me, the .38 Special is a target and plinking cartridge. For decades I have used 4.0 grains of Unique withRCBS 38-150-SWC cast bullets for all that

shooting. The bullets are only going 578 fps out the 4-inch barrel of my revolver. An additional 1.4 grains of Unique could crank up the speed of those bullets to 950 fps, about the highest velocity any powder attains from the .38 Special. But how much speed is required to poke a hole in a paper target or a can?

In the .357 Magnum, Unique is one of the top velocity powders with lead alloy and jacketed bullets. You’ll have to load nearly twice as much slower-burning powder, like W-296, to get a 150-fps increase in velocity

over Unique.

In the .41 and .44 Magnums, I use Unique mainly with cast bullets at low to midrange velocities. A Hornady 240-grain swaged lead semiwadcutter (SWC) with 6.0 grains of Unique makes a great practice load. For a bit more oomph in the .41 Magnum, 8.0 grains gives a 210-grain cast bullet 1,051 fps, which is enough speed to shoot out to 100 yards or so.

Rifle Cartridges

Unique is adequate for reduced velocity loads with jacketed bullets in rifle cartridges, but its mainstay is cast bullets. If you balk at paying a quarter per shot for .22 WMRs, consider a cast bullet load in the .223 Remington that closely duplicates the .22 Magnum. Seven grains of Unique launches a 55-grain cast bullet at 1,915 fps from the 20-inch barrel of my .223. Figuring 1,000 rounds from a pound of Unique, primer and gas check cost, these loads cost about a third of the price of .22 WMR shells.

Unique occupies only about a third of the case of larger cartridges, like the 7mm-08, .30-30 and .30-w06. Because the propellant sloshes around in the cases and settles any which way on firing, you’d think velocity spreads would be rather high, but they are no more than other powders that take up most of the case capacity. Velocity variations were only 46 fps in the .30-30 with 150-grain cast bullets and 11.0 grains of Unique. The extreme spread of velocity was only 55 fps in the .30-06 with 165-grain cast bullets and 16.0 grains of Unique. Adding case filler, which keeps the powder charge in one mass tightly against the primer flash hole, doesn’t reduce those velocity spreads either.

Unique is a bit fast burning for top velocities with cast bullets in rifles. Pressures are upwards of 36,000 psi at speeds over 1,800 fps or so in the .30-06, for example. That is about twice the pressure that a slower-burning powder, like IMR-3031, produces for the same velocity. That high pressure can distort a cast bullet and ruin accuracy.

However, there can be an advantage to that high pressure. One time I was trying to work up an accurate cast bullet load for a Winchester Model 1886 .40-82 WCF. The groove-to-groove diameter of the Model 86’s bore was .408 inch. However, the rifle’s chamber would not accept a cartridge with a bullet over .406 inch. The pressure from relatively slow burning powders failed to upset the under-bore diameter bullets enough to fill the bore. The result was bullets hitting the target sideways at 50 yards, if they hit the target at all. In desperation I tried Unique. The sharply rising pressure of Unique slapped the bullet bases hard enough that the undersize bullets expanded and filled the bore. Accuracy was great at 50 yards with about 2-inch groups.

Unique is a most versatile powder and certainly lives up to its name.