Looking for.380 Recipe with Unique

[tom357mag]

Hello all ,
This is my first post. What I am looking for is a recipe using Berry's Preferred Plated Bullets 100 grn. RNFB and Unique powder. Can't seem to find it on Alliant's site. They only have a 95 grn. recipe. Any starting point would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ants]

Welcome, Tom!

I really didn't like Unique in the 380 because it filled the case (compressed load) with the particular bullets I use (100 grain and 115 grain), but it might work better if you use lighter (shorter) bullets.

The better 100g bullet load I found with Unique was about 3.0 to 3.2 grains, in the middle of the range. Lymans starting load is 2.6.

N320 works best for me, also W231/HP38.

 

[Walkalong]

I agree with ants, if you have one of those others, or 700X or AA #2, they would be better choices, but Unique will work.

Welcome to THR

 

[ants]

Here's the whole thing from Lyman's 3rd Edition Pistol and Revolver:

Hornday 100g FMJ #35527, 0.955" OAL Unique power:
2.6g starting load, 725 fps, 8,600 CUP.
3.6g max load 1013 fps, 15,200 CUP.

 

[zxcvbob]

Unique is a top-performer in .380, second only to N330. A max load will be about 4 grains, but an exact number is going to depend on the bullet length and the overall cartridge length. (I use 4.2 grains with 95 grain RNL bullets @ .980")

.380 is not a powerful cartridge to begin with, and my P3AT only has a 2.6" barrel, so I load them pretty hot (but not "+P")