Why not Unique?

[kBob]

I note that Unique is recommended by Alliant for all shotguns EXCEPT .410. I know there are loads for most rifles using Unique and most pistols for Unique. So why not the poor little .410?

Oh I know that of late there have been powders like lil guns and 410 but I have to wonder what is "wrong" about Unique.

I understand BP works in .410 loading in brass cases to include .444 marlin brass. How about the various subs and Trail Boss?

I have been thinking about bird shot, cards, cork, and elmers with Marlin .444 cases of late so as to not have to buy shells or set up for reloading plastic hulls etc no more than a little .410 will get shot, and I like the idea of shotgun hulls or in this case .444 brass that will basically last for ever and need no specialized loading equipment.

So why no Unique?

-kBob

 

[kBob]

well that did not take long.....moving that is. I placed this in shotguns as it is specific to a specific shotgun shell and expedient, the .444 cases, that have been discussed on the shotgun board in the past and figured to have more folks notice and offer opinions there.

Oh, well.

-kBob

 

[Blue68f100]

Your talking about reloading so this is where it belongs.

 

[cfullgraf]

Magtech makes brass .410 hulls. They work well.

As far as the powder, I assume the powder folks know what they are doing.

If you look at the loading tables and the burn rate charts as the gauge get smaller, the trend of burn rates for the selected powders gets slower.

 

[rcmodel]

As noted, Unique is too fast burning for the little .410.

The powders used it it are closer in burn rate to Alliant 2400 then Unique.

rc

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Because of physics. .410 being smaller than 12ga, it must use a slower powder to keep the pressures down. A 12ga chamber has a lot more volume to be filled to get the payload moving, so it can use faster powders. That's about as simple as it gets. I'm sure if there were loads for .410 using faster powders the charges would be TINY compared to most shotshell charges. Such loads might be economical but my gut tells me they wouldn't work as well as loads using powders like Lil Gun and H110.