unyque des 69

hi people, today in my work(an armory) two persons come to buy-sell a super rare olympic pistol,a unyque des 69,from 60's or 70's. the pistol is super balanced,with ortopedic grips. the owner buy the pistol for only $250.00 including the original box and cleaning rods. the pistol is french made. here in the forum,have experience in this pistol brand?? why i post,because i read about pardini,feinwerkbaw,high standard sw 41 buth unyque,never. in addition,three new old boxes of winchester t22's.

The Unique pistols were mostly made for the French Olympic teams and were well balanced and accurate. The trigger has multiple adjustments and is on par with the trigger in a Model 41.  It should have barrel weights included, but often are missing.  I had an opportunity to buy on of these pistols, complete with barrel weights, cleaning kit, and two five round magazines a couple years ago but passed because parts and additional magazines were difficult to find. I don't recall that it was drilled and tapped for a dot mount, but it did have good iron sights.  An interesting pistol, but even at $250 there are other things I would spend my money on.

A few shooters in my area use them. TradeEx (a local dealer) has some for sale regularly. He sells them between $500 and $700 CAD depending on condition. Other shooters have had theirs for longer than I've been alive and are happy with them. The rear sight configuration is quite Unique.

If I recall correctly, it has a mechanism for dry-firing. A large pin comes out of the rear sight to block the hammer from hitting the pin. But don't quote me here, I may be confusing it with another design.

A great find at $250.

https://www.tradeexcanada.com/content/unique-69-22-lr-1

The Unique does have a dry fire system.

Nice pistols. I've worked on a few and have shot matches with loaners. Accurate pistols. Can be nose heavy depending on the barrel weight. Hard to mount a scope on it.
Jon

These are super accurate with WOLF/SK ammo.

Fantastic grip! But that sight mount   It's a strange looking pistol to start with...

Heck for 250 bucks I would buy it in a heart beat unless it took food off the table for my kids.  You can't buy pistol of that quality for less than a 1000 dollars.

DHMG1 wrote:These are super accurate with WOLF/SK ammo.

beautiful pistol,the mount,is the same for high standard lsp?

I think 69 and HS have different barrel diameters so the LSP mount shouldn't work.
Jon

Jon Eulette wrote:I think 69 and HS have different barrel diameters so the LSP mount shouldn't work.
Jon

thanks for the acclaration jon.

I can remember two USAR shooters each shooting 890's with DES 69 pistols. Once you get it setup to your liking it can perform with the best of them. I personally would buy one if right price came along.
Jon

I've known a couple guys with them.  They both had them for years and were pretty set in their minds to keep them.  I don't recall them ever malfunctioning.
Apparently, there is a guy in France who has a huge stockpile of spare parts.  The topic came up on targettalk.org some years ago.  I seem to remember that a website link or email was provided.  

$250 would be a real great deal for one!

$250 I would buy two one for shooting one for parts.

Where can i find cool grips for the unique des 69?

Andrew Berryhill made these 3-D printed grips for mine.................

picked up a couple from an estate,  or maybe 3, 

Unique's are unique

had no trouble selling them , 
2 were with the factory box and accessories,  and all went for considerably more than $250

That scope mount was made by BME. I had a DES-32/U  for a while. Solidly built pistols but parts are getting rarer by the day.

Here is my unique scope mount for my Unique DES-69.............

Made from a block of aluminum and a 1911 frame mount............

Markus-the-carcass wrote:Where can i find cool grips for the unique des 69?

I have an Italian set of morini grips on my Unique DES 69

I think that the Great Darius Young used a Unique to set a score equal to or very close to the world record in Standard Pistol. I also think that Donald Nygord modified the hammer to make it lighter and get a quicker lock time.

hammerli wrote:I think that the Great Darius Young used a Unique to set a score equal to or very close to the world record in Standard Pistol. I also think that Donald Nygord modified the hammer to make it lighter and get a quicker lock time.

It is unlikely that Nygord worked on Darius’ Pistol. You’ll have to believe me.
Jon

Jon Eulette wrote:

hammerli wrote:I think that the Great Darius Young used a Unique to set a score equal to or very close to the world record in Standard Pistol. I also think that Donald Nygord modified the hammer to make it lighter and get a quicker lock time.

It is unlikely that Nygord worked on Darius’ Pistol. You’ll have to believe me.
Jon

I’ve heard the stories from Jerry!

After coming across all the usual heavy hitters out there such as Walther, Hammerli, Pardini, etc., during my investigation into .22 target pistols, it was an older design that caught my attention, the Unique DES 69. I'd read that this pistol had a great reputation and they weren't a terribly large investment, so I located and purchased one:



Being an "old school" metal and wood guy, I'm impressed with it's build quality and especially the trigger setup as received...it's nothing like I've ever experienced before (see* below). I haven't been able to stretch it's legs at any real distance yet as my astigmatism gets in the way, but with a means of attaching a red dot in the works I have high hopes that I'll be able to shoot it well once I have the help of an optic.

*I'm a complete novice in this realm so I know that I've got plenty of learning ahead of me, but since I'm retired early and on full disability I'll be able to proceed at whatever pace I can muster, and this pistol represents an affordable means for me to get involved in the sport. And even if it turns out that I completely suck...oh well! I located another Unique DES 69 that should be delivered to my FFL early this coming week, which was less expensive and appears to be in even better shape, that comes with the heavier barrel weight. So I figure I can either shoot the second one or keep it on hand as a source of parts should that be required one day.

I doubt I'll ever rise to the level where spending $2,600 on a Pardini would even be remotely justified, so spending a few hundred less than a grand doesn't seem to be much of an expense to give target shooting a whirl. What's the worst that can happen...I burn up some .22LR ammo?!

I believe the wooden grips on the DES are made by Dick Horton