The 32-20 is a mild mannered cartridge. Easy on the body to shoot, not hard on the ears (always use ear plugs!), and fairly frugal to load for.

I slogged through 40+ pages of posts in the reloading part of the forum, but I'm not seeing the love for Unique (actually, not many posts with Unique). Yes, there are better flowing powders, perhaps more uniform SDs, but an 8 pound jug makes up for the little ankle-biters...

Using 115gr cast bullets, looking for 1,000 - 1,200 fps. 50 yards or so with iron sights.

Any dependable loads?

From Lyman's 47th for Unique with 115 gr under #311116 GC bullet. This bullet basically the old standard #311098 with GC.
4,2 gr gives 1110 fps and 5,5 gr gives 1390 fps in Winchester cases with Remington 6 1/2 or Winchester 6 1/2. 

Lyman's 44th gives data for Unique and #311116
4,0 gr 1175 fps and 5,0 gr 1385 fps
Savage Sporter 24 1/2" barrel, same rifle but 24" barrel for 47th (0,313 groove diameter).

Other 110-120 cast will work as well. I use SACO 322 120 gr 0,314" in original Win LW rifle with 0,313" groove diameter

Lotsa folks use Unique in 32-20. I much prefer 4759 for cast in rifles, of which I have most of an 8 lb jug remaining.

Starline cases give longest life in my guns, Remington almost as long. Winchester cases give me shortest case life.

I have long used Federal Small Pistol primers, usually "Magnum".

I have several 32-20 rifles and use 11.0g of 4227 in all of them with the 115 grain gas checked bullet.  I originally put that load together for use in a Remington #2 rolling block, but it has worked very well in 1892 Winchesters and an original LoWall.

George

coljimmy wrote on Sep 9^th, 2018 at 10:02pm:


You are not first to overload 44-40 with Unique -- easy to do in 1873 Winchesters and early Colts, ditto for 45 Colt. Easy to do same with 32-20 -- plenty of space left to overload it.

My light load for 32-20 is 8,5 gr 4759 for 1,177 fps in my old rifle and a standard load in older loading manuals. 

Hi James!

Agree about too deeply seated bullets and faster powders giving serious over pressures. Bullseye and HBWC seated too deeply in 38Spl target loads have been reliable damagers of target pistols for a long time. 

I was once present when a vintage 45 Colt SA blew off top half of cylinder and busted top strap. Shooter was using a common Unique load and, afterwards pulled all the remaining bullets and found no overcharges. What was the cause? Thin cylinder walls in those guns scare some of us away from "pistol" powders in such guns. Often to Ruger Blackhawks and Vaqeros.

marlinguy wrote on Sep 10^th, 2018 at 10:48am:


Other than an instance of headspace and timing error with Trailboss (yes, it does compress solid, and I did pull every one without shooting any...), I load on a single stage, all operations done in order on ALL rounds... Size as needed, then prime, then bell, load powder, then seat.

Part of the method is to visually inspect all cases after charging. If I loose track of the throwing / weight, I dump that charge in the powder hopper...

marlinguy wrote on Sep 10^th, 2018 at 10:48am:


All depends how you want to structure your approach to safe loads. I do not like such low volume loads that two charges will fit into the case unnoticed. Personal preference. In addition, my experience has been that powder charges that nearly fill cases and still keep chamber pressures within safe limits have been reliable in the hunting fields.

For years and years, I used BP loads for nearly all my target shooting with rifles and revolvers, even trap shooting. Simple loading, excellent accuracy for what I was doing. Later I moved on to slow "nitro for black" loads and used them until bad eyesight and other physical degradations greatly curtailed my shooting. 

I might also add, my standard reloading process for sized and primed cases is designed to be extra safe. Step 1. Verify primed case is empty, Step #2. pour weighed powder charge into this case. Step 3. Seat bullet immediately. IF attention wavers, stop for a while. That is the mechanical part. The other "half" is load selection.

 

svartkruttgris#369 wrote on Sep 10^th, 2018 at 3:23pm:


I don't know different ways to structure safety? Safe is safe, and I've always tried to double check everything when reloading, regardless of caliber, powder, charge, or any component.
There are always issues with case capacity and deviations in velocity. And there are powders that were never designed to be used in certain cartridges. But Unique was always listed as a powder for reduced charges in much larger cases than the .32-20. 
If people prefer to not use it because they don't trust themselves to not double charge a case, then they probably shouldn't use Unique. But I wonder if those people who are concerned about making mistakes when reloading should even be reloading?
I've used Unique in a huge variety of cartridge reloading for decades, and I plan to keep using it myself.