Hodgdon Universal

[waco]

I'll kick off the new powder section. I have used this powder very little here and there over the years. Never enough to really form an opinion on it. Recently I bought a ne CZ 75 variant 9mm pistol and used this powder along with the Lee 120gr tc mold with great success. I also decided to load up some NOE H&G68 clone 45ACP loads with this powder. I am very happy with this powder and it is fairly clean burning. I just opened an eight pound jug I have had for awhile and it's the newer purple looking stuff. Hope it runs about the same. Sounds like it should with weighed charges being the same. What is your take on this powder?

 

[Ian]

I bought a couple of 4-pounders of it a few years ago because I was in the middle of a 10K run of .45 ACP and it is the one powder that cycles all my autos well with the Lee 230 TC and is both clean and drops pressure pretty quickly compared to its burn rate companion, Unique. The new stuff looked like it could be Barney's dandruff. I did a little load testing with a chronograph, function-checked the picky guns, bumped up a Lee disk size and kept right on running with it. I did notice the purple Universal leaves the rainbow scorch marks on clean brass just like Titegroup does whereas the older, greenish Universal did not.

I also use it in .45 Colt with 250-260 grain bullets.

Bottom line I liked the old ADI Universal and like the St. Marks? Universal just as much.

 

[fiver]

the new stuff is Canadian.

Alliant powders are American made.

 

[Spindrift]

I use Universal (purple) for reduced loads in bottleneck rifle cartridges. Typically in the 8-9grs range for 308 or 30-06, which give velocities in the sub/transsonic area, depending on bullet weight. In the .223, I have had good results with around 6grs. It works well for me, good accuracy and clean burning. I like it!

 

[Ian]

I know Dan (Quicksylver) used Universal for his very accurate .30-'06 loads. I never have tried it in any bottlenecked cases.

Canadian Universal, right, I just couldn't remember the name of the plant. Is St. Marks the plant in Florida?

 

[Ole_270]

I’ve got a supply since I use it for 1 oz loads in my 16gauge. It’s also what I use for plinking loads in 38-55 with cast 250 gr bullets(1225 FPS), and medium 200 gr loads in the 45 cap. Starting to think I might need to pick up another jug, maybe an 8 lb’er

 

[Tomme boy]

Hodgdons version of Unique. Burns cleaner too

 

[Ian]

Hodgdons version of Unique. Burns cleaner too

But they are nothing alike actually. Unique burns long and slow after the peak and Universal falls off quickly. Same thing with Bullseye and Titegroup, they are fairly close on the burn rate chart but in reality, Bullseye is a lot closer to Unique than Titegroup or Clays.

 

[RicinYakima]

The "bomb test" only looks at time to peak, and that isn't the whole story.

 

[Mitty38]

They must have switched over right before I started reloading. Just bought an 8 lb jug and it meters and looks the same as my 1st lb. Kinda like little perfect round disks. I refer to them as oats.
Now it has seamed that the Lee disk has always needed to be set at 1 hole bigger then what the Lee book said. Guess I know why now.
It has always been very consistent in the disk measure though.

 

[fiver]

yeah St Marks is down in Florida I think they specialize in nothing but ball powders.
I would imagine their process is a lot more streamlined than flake powder production is.

I think Tomme is referring to Unequal, it's in that red-green lineup hodgdon brought out after Alliant brought out clay-dot.
you'd think all this competition would drive prices back down to the 18$ straight pound price and closer to 15 for a Jug.[pistol-shot gun powders]
but nope, they went up because now they have to keep switching stuff around to make it all.

 

[Ian]

Lee discs and scoops are accurate for the volume they represent. However.....Lee's VMD calculations are intentionally dumbed-down about 5-8% for liability reasons knowing that a certain percentage of their clientele will be too cheap/ignorant/assuming/dumb to purchase an accurate reloading scale to verify every powder lot.