I also posted this on the reloading forum, however it is the readers of this forum that it was done to share with...





Powder Tested: Unique

Caliber: 223 Rem

Firearm Used: Ruger 77 Mk 2 Sporter, 22 inch barrel

Cases: Lake City

Primers: Winchester Small Rifle

Bullet Tested: Win 55 grain FMJ


6 grains:
a. 1747 fps
b. 1823 fps

7 grains:
a. 2028 fps
b. 2010 fps

8 grains:
a. 2127 fps
b. 2140 fps

9 grains:
a. 2273 fps
b. 2276 fps
c. 2262 fps

10 grains:
a. 2404 fps
b. 2405 fps
c. 2403 fps


Results:

1. As shown, velocity spread was reduced to almost zero at a 10 grains charge.
2. This was shown that Unique is a good powder to duplicate the performance in a 223, from that of a 22 Win Mag right up thru a 218 Bee and a 22 Hornet.
3. The 10 grain Charge, meant that a pound of ‘Unique’ would be good for reloading 700 rounds!
4. This load with a 55 grain FMJ was a very accurate and useful round.
5. Barrel heat: 30 shots in a row out of a sporter barrel, still didn’t result in an overheated barrel, so this load would also have good use in a varmint shooting scenario involving high rate of fire.
6. With the 55 grain bullets, one would have an easily obtained point blank range of 200 yds or meters with this load.. which is where about 90% of all the sage rats and prairie dogs that I usually take are at.

As a point of interest, I did some quick chronographing of loads with other bullets below 55 grains to check their usefulness. 10 grains of Unique seems to be the accuracy ‘sweet spot’, and also the point where deviation spread was at a minimum.. another indicator of its accuracy ‘sweet spot’

Here are load results with a charge of 10 grains of Unique, with the following bullets…

1. Calhoon 30 grain HP
a. 3077 fps
b. 3077 fps ( again)

2. Hornady 35 grain V max
a. 2846 fps
b. Errror Reading

3. Calhoon 37 grain HP.. ( a strongly recommended load!)
a. 2911 fps
b. 2918 fps

4. Sierra 40 grain HP
a. 2770 fps
b. 2767 fps

5. Winchester 46 grain HP
a. 2641 fps
b. 2613 fps

6. Speer 50 grain TNT
a. 2545 fps
b. 2541 fps

Max charge for Unique was 11.5 grains in this rifle. Using these bullets. However, best accuracy was at 10 grain charges and the gains weren’t worth the extra risks in my opinion… if you want more velocity, use a slower powder.

The goal was an economic load, that provided great accuracy, with readily available bullets ( with the exception of the Calhoons)

In my opinion the 35 grain V Max is too short a bullet for my liking…ON the contrary, the 37 grain Calhoon is as long as the Nosler 40 grain Ballistic Tip, just as accurate and is very explosive. This load also gives it very good velocity for a low dollar load.

My goal also was to duplicate the 22 Hornet, with a better accuracy rate than many Hornet’s give. This succeeded quite well in my opinion. It will also give a better barrel life on the old barrel than will other loads. Something we high volume shooters have appeal to us. Barrel heat is also substantially less, or takes much longer to reach the “cooking†point on the barrel.. where it is hot enough to brand cattle.

This is also an experiment to see if I can stretch the life out on a barrel that has seen at least 10,000 rounds down it already. Ironically, some of these loads in 223s with shotgun powder, can tighten up groups substantially once the accuracy of a 223 barrel has started to go south ( in a bolt gun that is.. recoil is not enough to cycle an AR)….

With component prices skyrocketing, we varmint shooters have to get a little more crafty about stretching out our shooting dollar. This little experiment, showed that it could represent an economic, accurate varmint load, that worked well in high volume shooting environments.

Cheers
Seafire
June 26, 2007

Hmmmmm, thanks for that. I've got a 20 year old can of Unique that I think I'll have to do some experimenting with.

Excellent info!!

Your input is greatly appreciated!!

seafire, Good post!! I may have to look at using that powder in a 222Mag just for the fun of it. If I try it, I'll let you know! GHD

I was out testing the 10 grains of Unique with a 40 grain Sierra HP today... Accuracy was excellent...

Tomorrow I am playing hookey with another fellow forum member and I will get an opportunity to test the load in the field...on some unsuspecting sage rats,little do they know that are currently in their hole enjoying their last night of sleep on this planet!!!

Tomorrow they will be sleeping in that big alfalfa field in the sky, and their little tattered remains will be crow, eagle, seagull and coyote shit come Thursday!!!!


R.I.P. you little rats!

So how do you feel about Unique vs. the Blue Dot loads you worked up some time ago?

AZ223,

I see the Unique loads so far as an alternative to Blue Dot, not a suppliment or replacement...

Blue Dot is head and shoulders above Unique in accuracy across the board, except within a small niche, where Unique gets in around the 40K psi range....

I kind of did this, as an additional resource to low cost varmint shooting.....

The 10 grains load seem to work quite well within that range of bullet weights tested...

But for some, a pound of Blue Dot yields between 500 to 525 reloads in the velocity range of 2700 fps to 3200 fps..40 to 55 grain bullet weights..

Unique will deliver 700 shots per pound with bullet weights from 30 to 50 grains within the 2500 to 3000 fps range...

so a shooter can decide what his priorities are...

Blue Dot is more accurate across the board, but also '10 grains of Unique' Loads is deinitely minute of sage rat out to 200 yds...

I was out shooting sage rats yesterday, and nailed one at 100 yds or so, and took a picture of the carnage, that 10 grains of Unique and a 40 grain Sierra HP did... I will try and get it posted in the next day or two...

The people I was out with, definitely noticed and commented on how much less noise there was when I shot a 223 round off versus one of the other guys shooting a 223 with a factory loaded round...

With both the Blue Dot loads and the Unique loads, one didn't need ear muffs in the field...

a nice feature when it was 100 degrees outside...

Seafire,

I was out today trying some of the blue dot and unique loads. I used 10 grains with both blue dot and unique. I decided that was just the velocity range I was looking for. I was really impressed with the blue dot. All of the bullets that I tried grouped equally well. The Unique was more difficult. I only had time to try two bullets with Unique. The 50 grain Sierra's opened up quite a bit, but the one that suprised me was the 55 grain remington power lokt hollow point. 5 shots were in a nice tight little cluster. Have you done any experimentation with different primers? I have a bunch of CCI small rifle magnum primers that I would like to use up. These reduced loads might be just the ticket to use them up. My rifle is a Savage .223 16fss with a 2 X 7 Leupold on it and it is an absolute delight to shoot. By the way, thanks for your work developing the data, it has really sparked my interest in using these reduced loads. I think that the blue dot is going to be the way to go for me.
Mark

Marangcan:

Thanks for the post.. this sort of bare's out my results also...

As far as those interested on the effectiveness of 10 grains of Unique and a 40 grain Sierra HP at 100 yds on a Sage rat....here are a few pictures of yesterday's outing....

There are a few pics of a wasted sage rat, shot with this load... forgive the inclusion of the ugly old fat guy holding it.....

http://www.imagestation.com/album/review.html?id=2090389297

cheers
seafire

Thank You . Good stuff. ALL