The Firearms Forum banner

New reloader question Hs-6 vs Unique for 9mm

5K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  Tacticool 
#1 ·
Hi, I have been setting up and using my Hornady AP press for about six months now. I treated it as a single stage until I had mastered each station to my satisfaction. Currently I have only reloaded 9mm at 115 and 124 gr and with the current powder situation I have a question about the differences between Hodgdon HS-6 and Alliance Unique. This question is about 9mm 124gr lead bullets with copper TMJ plating. I was using HS-6 exclusively and was very satisfied with the results. I am reloading for target practice only and not trying to push any performance limits. I was charging each case with 6.3 to 6.5 grains of HS-6 and the case filled up by eye balled volume to about 60% and looked to have plenty of room for the bullet to seat. I ran out of HS-6 and finally found some unique. From the loading data on-line and in the speer #14 manual the range should be 5.2 to 5.8 gr. I am getting a consistent 5.3 to 5.4 gr's into my cases with the unique. My question is that with unique the case is filled up to around 75% to 80% of the volume and I am pretty sure that seating the 124 gr bullet is compressing the powder. Am I in any danger of an over pressure situation? I am using the Hornady GS-1500 electronic scale. (Any reason to use a balance scale??) I guess that there is a density/formula difference between the two powders and it's no big deal, but want to be safe. Thanks for your help here. If there is another thread I couldn't find please direct me over there so I don't create noise that doesn't need to be here.
 
See less See more
#3 ·
You are loading about the same as I do. Yes Unique is a bulkier powder and does fill up the case more, but it is still in specs. Some of the older manuals would load up to 6.3 grains of Unique behind a jacketed 115 gn. I won't try that. That's a lot of powder in the small 9mm case
 
#4 ·
Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate this forum. I have been lurking as a non-member for quite a while and, while I was very cautious as a beginner, I have gotten a very thorough intro to reloading here and, having fired over 300 rounds or so of my own reloads am feeling pretty confident in my abilities to load safely. Thanks again for being willing to discuss.
 
#7 ·
Hi Soldier,
I don't have a chrono, but looking at the Speer #14 book, according to them, you are loading light and are getting a higher FPS than they do at 5.6 grains. They show 1166, so the difference is a rounding error, but they don't mention how long a barrel or what maker/model of handgun was used in their testing. Nosler's #7 shows 5.1 grains out of a 4" barrel will yeild an even 1000 FPs. All this is interesting and gives me some measure of reassurance that I am loading safely. My goal is to safely load practice rounds at under 15 cents apiece. I think I am there.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I have 1 lb of Unique powder but I have not used it to load anything yet. I have been loading 9mm with RED DOT powder with great success. I think I have probably loaded approximately 300 rounds using the RED DOT and they all have performed great on the gun range. I am using 3.7 to 4.2 grains (depends on how much recoil I want to get), and 115 Berry Bullets (copper jacket round nose). I have been shooting at 15 yards with them and they are very accurate loads at this range. After I run out of RED DOT I have a lb of Green Dot that I want to dial in, and then the 1 lb of Unique. Primers were difficult to find in Virginia in the past several months, so I was able to find Federal at one point, then CCI at another point and finally Winchester. I have tried all 3 types/brands and can tell no difference in 9mm loads with the recipe above.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top