Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Unique lovers willing to pay $60/lb?

Powder prices have gone waaaay up. If you are clinging to your fantasies of Unique's superiority - you're going to pay dearly.

Here's an example of prices at Sportsman's Warehouse
https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...ng-equipment-supplies/powder/c/cat100151

Yep, pretty pricey nowadays. Glad I have plenty on hand. 2400 also.

Ditto. I have enough Unique and Bullseye on hand that I should never have to buy it again. All of it either bought way back when it was dirt cheap or gifted to me by pards who hung up their reloading spurs. Bottom line: I don't even figure powder costs in my handgun loading.

But in reality if I were having to buy it at today's prices, my use of it in .38 Special for example at 4gr./shot would yield 1750 shots/pound for a cost of 3 1/2 cents per shot at $60/pound. Still pretty cheap in the whole scheme of things. Same with Bullseye for an even better cost per shot when usage dictates only 2.0-3.0 grains in the stuff I use it in.

Even if/when powder hits those heights in price it remains that primer prices are what really drives the cost of handloading traditional pistol cartridges. Just add the cost of a couple bricks of primers you'll need to ignite that pound of Unique and you'll see what I mean.

Good thing is a bottle of Unique will load a lot of ammo. That last $50 jug of IMR4350 I bought won't go nearly as far.

Unique, like so many other powders…..I’m glad that I bought in bulk years ago! memtb

I just saw Longshot yesterday for $60.99 a pound! Went to the same local chain today, and a pound of Longshot was $39.99. They also had several Alliant pistol powders with no prices on them.

Yeah, primers would be another damn thorn. Glad I don't need any of those either.

I might need some more in about 2224 , I'll worry about it then.

The alternatives are getting expensive also. True Blue is now $47.99 @ Sportsman's.

10+ years ago during one of the powder shortages I discovered that AL 20/28 to be practically a grain-for-grain replacement for Unique in the .38 Special, .44 Special and 45 ACP. I'd just as soon use it as Unique.

And FWIW, I just found Unique for $44 per lb.

Luckily a little bit of Unique goes a LONG way in my 38 Spec………..

I bought a keg of bullseye when I shot indoor pistol in the 70’s. I am pretty sure over half of it is still there. If I run out of unique, I suppose I could shoot bullseye. But I won’t run out of unique.
I don’t tend to shoot much high power pistol loads much anymore, do my 2400 will last a long time as will my H110.

There’s a few other powders I use. 5744 worked good for medium level loads if I remember correctly.

I have plenty of Unique & I just smile when I walk past the powder isle at Sportsman's & see guys buying rifle powder for $45-$60 lb. Since I don't own a rifle I don't have that problem of burning a lb. of powder with 75 to maybe 200 rounds.

Damn! You must have a room just for Unique storage. I thought I had a lot at 9.5 pounds left.

I'm not a hoarder, honest! It's just that this crap finds me - mainly from old gents who hung it up (and whom a couple were genuine hoarders) - and I'm not dumb enough to turn it down, even if I already have decent amounts in my own right. Couple months ago a fella gave me a full 3 pound can of W-231, then called a couple weeks later and said he found another one plus a couple pounds of Surplus 4831 and Unique, Bullseye, etc. - two big cardboard boxes full of powders, and would I like that too? Primers out the wazoo also. And a nifty Remington Rolling Block in 7mm Mauser.

If you can't be smart, be lucky.

What I really wish is somebody would hand me a Ferarri Dino or an XK-120, but so far no luck.....

I know what you mean. A few years ago, I assumed I'd never again get into reloading, and gave away all my old cans of powder from the 1980s and '90s. Now I wish I hadn't, since I'm back into it.

Yep, same here at Sportsman’s. I want to say it was $34.99 the last time they had it. I found LPP so I bought some. I should be good to load 2 years of hard cast 10mm loads now.

No joke. Not sure what the deal with Unique is (it is "only" $45, and has been), but a lot of other prices have really jumped in the last week. I had thought the increases came in early January? Thought wrong. Examples of Sportsman's shelf prices last week vs. yesterday:

Longshot $37-->$45
CFE Pistol $36-->$46
244 $36-->$47
HS6 $40-->$47
HP38 $38-->$45
572 $38-->$47

I wish I could find a jug of Unique and one of 2400 without paying separate hazmat fees for each one. I'd really love to add a brick of small magnum pistol primers and a brick of Winchester large pistol primers. You can find one of these in stock somewhere, but not all.

G….,

Greed is not an attractive quality!

…but then neither is envy…so, please disregard my comment above!

Iv heard alot of talk the all reloading stuff and ammo going up 20% next month, hope it's not true!

Ah, but Grasshopper it is true. In fact it's already happened.

earlier this past year, they had it at Sportsman's Warehouse, in several 4 pound containers...

With a military discount, $113 out the door. No sales tax here in Oregon...

On three different trips over 6 weeks or so, I bought 3 or 4 of the four pound jugs.





Also loading approximately 9 grains in a bolt action 223, played with it last spring shooting steel at 300 and 400 yds
Went thru a little over a pound in 5 months... 750 rounds or so...

another

Was using Unique yesterday. Sticker on it was $23. I have enough.

Used up the last of my Unique ~$20/lb a couple weeks ago. Have a little Bullseye to use up left but have switched to Titegroup for most of the shooting Unique or Bullseye used to be used in. Meters way better, accuracy & velocity about the same, cleaner burning and $30/lb last time I bought it. Long way of saying No, I will not be paying $60/lb for Unique.

some other flavors of powder are now at 70

This morning, Powder Valley had 2400 for $354.99 per 8 lb jug ($44.37 per lb), and Unique for $47.99 per 1 lb bottle. Right as I was getting on their site, they sold their last 8 lb jug of Unique.

So what is the price to your door?

Wow……I’ve got almost $500 worth sitting on my powder shelf ! memtb

No, I won't pay that much for Unique. It's great powder in various cartridges but, not that great. Herco is close in burning rate. Just a little slower.

when's the last time you seen Herco ... ? my bet it's just as high when you find it

Imagine that! Went to the market today ,ain't no different! Plenty of unique on the shelf today.

Hodgden is starting to out price alliant, even the cheaper hodgden powders like longshot or H335 were $55 at my local academy.

How many hours of shooting fun will you get out of a pound of Unique? Then calculate the unit cost per hour. Bullets and primers are a bigger per-shot cost anyway.

Maybe six months ago I was visiting one of my LGS's and found an 8#'r of Bullseye for $210. It's been years since I have used it but it came home.

Terry Wieland has published a couple of pieces on powders everyone should try to keep on hand. Unique and Bullseye were among them. Just before things started getting tight in 2020, I stumbled onto some stuff I used and snagged it. Since then I’ve only picked up a pound or two of powder and a brick of golden (apparently) CCI41s. With some exceptions, I’m pretty flexible about what I shoot and how I feed them, so I’ll get by very well with what’s on hand, all except shotshells which are an ongoing expense, but not too awful right now.

I see what you're saying about availability but, I have some of it and do use it. As far as seeing it in stores or online, I've not looked.

Unique & Universal are side by side on the burn chart

Why not sub Universal for Unique ??

https://hodgdonpowderco.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/updatedburnrateschart-1.pdf

Universal is Hodgdon's answer to Unique.

I've used it interchangeably quite a bit, but with a disclaimer: I don't dance around anywhere near max loads in anything I shoot but if I did I would knuckle down to obeying published loads for both powders. Being side by side on a burn rate chart doesn't indicate how closely respective powders behave pressure-wise in hotter loads.

I really like Unique, partially because it was the first powder I bought for my 357 along with a Lee Loader. Then as I progressed with reloading and additional calibers Unique kept working well. I watch for it listed on local forums and buy it when I can. I haven’t seen it on a shelf in over 2 years.

A friend called this morning wanting me to load 1K of 9mm ammo for him, I agreed when he offered 8# of Unique and 1K of CCI LRP as payment. I've avoided high prices on reloading components by bartering for them, works out really well.

I'd say your winning here. A fun pastime,helping a friend, and coming by good quantities of tough-to-find items!

I got a decent deal on an 8 pounder of be86 and an 8 pounder of vvh110. I've never been big on unique or 2400 but I do have a bit.

I've used a lot of tightgroup, Longshot, power pistol and a few others over the last 25 years or so. Before that it was mostly hs6 and some others. I've always wished for a better metering 800x because it's s great speed for 10mm and moderately hot 44s.

I started using vv powders a few years ago as everything else started getting just as pricey. I really like vv and just leaned to love n105 and it was discontinued. I'll be staying some lighter loads of vvn110 as a substitute this spring.

Bb

Sad how prices have gone up.. It was only about 13yrs. ago I bought a a few lbs of Unique for $13.50 with tax. I thought to myself that is very reasonable. I shoudl have bought 5 lbs.. I dont shoot much anymore . I used to but am mostly a bow hunter and do more fishing than anything.. We can control the price. Just shoot a little less. I go and shoot 20 rounds, four five shot groups and I'm happy with that.

Yeah,

I've got a 4 or 5 pound container of Unique, that was marked $59 or something close to that in the 50 to 60 dollar range.
Wonder how old that is....

Last year I played with Unique in the 223 for like 5 months. Went thru 750 rounds of it.

With a charge of 8.5 to 9.5 grains, I use a hair over 1 pound of it.

Right scope and right settings, it was pretty consistent at ringing Steel at 300 and 400 yds.

I used it at times further out, but by that point, the bullet was so much out of gas, you couldn't hear the 'tink' when it hit..
BUT it still would make it out there...