I haven't been able to find any Unique for quite a while now, but I think I may have found a substitute for a while. I found some Hodgdon cfe pistol powder and decided to give it a try. I looked up data from the Hodgdon website. In the 44 mag with 240 lee cast bullets I worked up to 11.5 grains of powder. This gave me just under 1300 fps out of a 7.5 inch Ruger super blackhawk and just over 1200 fps out of a 4 inch 629.

Accuracy was good out of both handguns. I really like the efficiency with this powder.

I picked up a few pounds the other day. None of the data I've found looks that great but I'll have to give it a try in something .

Bb

I have some CFE223 and its done wonderful in my .223 loads....I want to grab some of the pistol powder when I see it

Assuming that you followed the load data, then that is excellent loading range for that powder - why on earth would you want to go back to Unique?

I just went and looked up this CFE pistol powder for the .45 Auto and low and behold Hodgdon has a load for the .45 Auto.

I'm glad I opened up this thread.

"Why on earth would you want to go back to Unique?"

Because it works!

And sooooooooo many powders work better. Much better.

Yeah, I know. And I've used several of them including Power Pistol, Universal (when I can find it), Blue Dot and a few others, but Unique is like an old pair of boots; it just feels right. I guess that is because I have used it for so many years.

I encourage everyone to double check my loads. The data is availabe on the Hodgdon website. I didn't even work up all the way to the published max load, I like to leave a little breathing room.

I still really like Unique for the 44 Magnum. 10 grains of the stuff will push a 240 grain slug between 1000 and 1100 fps out of my Mountain gun, which is plenty of recoil for me and it will still kill anything I can hit with it.

I paid 25 bucks for the cfe pistol. I used to pay 18 bucks for Unique. When this powder shortage ends I will probably buy whichever is cheaper. I don't care about the copper erasing qualities of cfe because I'm shooting cast lead.

Does the CFE pistol powder shoot cleaner, overall than Unique? Do you know if they list data for a 260gr Hard cast at about 1,000fps? I am another who is using 10gr of Unique, but behind a 260gr bullet in my 329PD the recoil is still pretty stout or harsh. My guess is (and I need to chronograph these loads) is that I am pushing those 260's at a bit more than my goal of 1,000. It could, also, be that a 260gr bullet at 1,000 is just going to be a mean SOB out of a 23 ounce handgun.

CFE is some of the cleanest powder I have seen.....I have yet to get the pistol powder but have the CFE 223 and my AR stays much cleaner than factory loads.....also the stuff meters great. I will buy the pistol powder as soon as I see it

Define better? Good load density, 2" groups at 50yds, why would one look for "better"?

I've been assuming you Chronographed your loads - right?

Yes, I chronographed my loads and I am getting velocities that are predicted in my reloading manuals. No magic here.