[Nick_C_S]

I couldn't hardly get my 230grn W231 loads over 800fps, without redlining the load.

I get 826 f/s (full-size 1911) out of my "set" 230gn PRN using W231. And that's the "set" loading; meaning, in the work up, I "redlined" (good term - I like it ) it at a higher charge weight and velocity, then backed it down for the "set." I think it's a good stout round.

My max load of Unique (6.5grn) on the other hand does it handily.

No doubt. Unique is a slower propellant than W231 - it's going to win the velocity contest every time. My max load of Unique is a little less than yours; and yields 903 f/s (using a JHP - which generally takes less propellant than the PRN used in the above W231 example - so there's some apples n oranges going on here). I've taken it to 932 f/s, but backed off the charge weight for the "set" load (as usual). I never got to 6.5 grains, btw. I "redlined" at 6.4.

I have a lot more experience loading Unique to maximums than any other powder, I've found that it doesn't give pressure spikes like some of the faster powders at max.

Unique is generally well behaved that way. Of course, in general, faster propellants are going to be more temperamental. So, like the velocity contest, it's not really a fair fight. Apples n oranges; so to speak.

There is no doubt W231 burns cleaner than Unique on the top end, however.

Yeah. W231, being a faster burner, has the advantage there. And W231 has a long-standing, well-deserved reputation of running clean to boot. Unique, not so much. That said however, Unique seems to run plenty clean to me when it's loaded where it likes to run (pumped up).

I used Unique for a while when I first started loading (1984). It fell out of favor with me at the time mostly because I was shooting big magnums and wanted everything full-throttle (youth). I didn't shoot much from the mid-90's through much of 2012. I reached a point in my life when I started to get back into shooting more often. My shooting style changed (age) and I then needed an intermediate burn rate powder - right when the big shortage hit. Out of desperation, I bought 2#'s of Unique; then two more. I was also able to get ahold of other intermediates - AA#5, HS-6 (which I also had previous experience with), and Power Pistol (which is awesome, but that's for another post) - all of which I liked more than Unique.

For about the last two years, I have been working on paring down the number of propellants I am holding in my inventory. Unique is on the cut list. I still have a little over a # and won't miss it when it's gone. It makes good ammo, in some applications; particularly driving 230's in 45 ACP. But it meters wonky as hell. And I find it flighty in 357 Magnum (light bullets), where Power Pistol just beats the tar out of it in every respect. So it's got to go; and I've been loading with it at every opportunity lately - to move it out of inventory. But I have lots of load data, should I need to use it again some day.