Alliant Unique

[Bill in Oregon]

Sent this email to Alliant this morning and got this reply:

Will you ever produce Unique again?
Inbox

William Powell
6:35 AM (45 minutes ago)
Gosh I miss this classic and incredibly versatile powder. Does Alliant ever plan to produce it again? It's hard to find the truth among all the Internet rumors.

Alliant Reloading
7:18 AM (2 minutes ago)
to me





It is still being made and by no means discontinued.

Currently the bulk of the issue with powder (all powder companies) is the Lack of Nitrocellulose. Nitrocellulose is a key component in double base powders. All our powders are double base. The shortage of Nitrocellulose is caused from supply and demand. There are only two suppliers that manufacture Nitrocellulose. One out of the two currently shut down for the foreseeable future. Causing our current shortage. We only sell to distributors, who then sell to retailers. Distributors can sale any where at any time. They do not share that information with us.




Perry L. /Technical Service Rep.

CCI/Speer/Alliant

2299 Snake River Ave.

Lewiston, ID 83501

(866)286-7436

[wvfarrier]

My favorite "all around" powder.

[Bill in Oregon]

Mine too. Universal is close, but it is very hard to find as well.

[COSteve]

In the "Better to be lucky than smart" category, I was fortunate to get a great deal on 8 lb kegs of Unique from a local supplier just before the panic and so I stocked up heavy. So I'm good for the foreseeable future. However, all is not rosy as I'm getting short on TAC, Power Pistol and W-748 with only a keg of each.

[Ysabel Kid]

green with envy

[ikocher]

Seems like the same response that's been seen lately. I really wish I knew how powders worked because there's all these recipes with Unique but can't get it. Win 244 is right next to Unique and I can get 244 but the density is different so I don't know if there is a way to translate charge weights from Unique to 244.

If I could use 244 in place of Unique, I would be a very happy camper.

[Grizz]

is it time to make nitrocellulose GREAT again ? sounds like an opportunity for someone . . .

[GunnyMack]

is it time to make nitrocellulose GREAT again ? sounds like an opportunity for someone . . .

You would think the US would have its own plant just to keep our military in powder. Just think about it, no nitrocellouse to feed our troops and no war fighting. I'm not a war monger by any stretch but common sense tells me we SHOULD make our own!

Isn't Hogdin Universal supposed to be their version of unique?

[Grizz]

is it time to make nitrocellulose GREAT again ? sounds like an opportunity for someone . . .

You would think the US would have its own plant just to keep our military in powder. Just think about it, no nitrocellouse to feed our troops and no war fighting. I'm not a war monger by any stretch but common sense tells me we SHOULD make our own!

Isn't Hogdin Universal supposed to be their version of unique?

that's a good question, are they close on a burn chart? and volume wise?

i have maybe a tenth of a small bottle of Unique, waiting for the inet herd to discover it . . ,

[JB]

Unique was my favorite 38 special and 44 special powder for years.

[GunnyMack]

Unique is #34, universal is #35
https://hodgdonpowderco.com/wp-content/ ... EBSITE.pdf
I don't have to any unique but I have used Universal, but not enough to make an informed opinion about the two.

[Bryan Austin]

44 W.C.F., by Winchester since 1873
Bullseye, by Laflin & Rand since 1898
Unique, by Laflin & Rand since 1900

The last three of the originals to still exist!

[Scott Tschirhart]

Personally I would like to see new Unique on the shelves. I was able to restock recently and I’ll use what I have.

Still my favorite powder.

[marlinman93]

Unique was one of the first powders I used when I began reloading almost 50 years ago, and I still use it. It's also one of the oldest smokeless powders still in production! As my late friend used to joke, "I think Moses reloaded with Unique"!
Fortunately I still have one 8 lb. jug unopened, plus probably 4-6 one pound bottles unopened too. So I'm probably good until I can't reload anymore.

[Griff]

I don't use much Unique, but still have a partial 8 lb jug and whatever is in the 1 lb can I work out of. On the other hand I use quite a bit of RedDot and am down to just 2 jugs of it and whatever is in my working pound bottle.

[yooper2]

I'm getting a bit short on Unique which is of course a favorite. I do have a few pounds of Herco and Green Dot which will serve the same role in handgun cartridges.


Eric

[Scott Tschirhart]

I swapped over the powder measure on my Dillon this afternoon and set it for 8.5 gr Unique.

I’ll see how my test loads shoot this weekend.

[jeepnik]

I normally don't do a lot of experimenting. I find a load that works and stick with it. But when the powder/primer mess hit I had to change my ways a bit. Frankly I tend to buy whatever powder and primers I find. I have enough reloading manuals that I can usually find something for whatever combination of components I have on hand. I admit I have a few powders that I have never used stored away.

I do wonder if the lack of raw materials for powder makers has anything to do with the prolonged war in Ukraine and the current conflict in the middle east. I heard tell the US gave/used quite a bit of small arms ammo over the last few decades. Is it possible that the military is getting a lions share to restock? It does seem that since the advent of repeating rifles each war uses ever increasing amount of munitions.

[Paladin]

My favorite powder for the revolvers and lever guns. Only have a few pounds left.