BE-86

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KYregular

KYregular

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Becoming a huge fan of BE-86, just laddered some test loads with Speer 124 gdhp in two tenth increments. Best results were 5.8 and 6.0 basically the same SD with 5.8 coming in around 1190 fps and 6.0 around 1240 fps. Being I use a powder dispensers which may be off one tenth or so sometimes, I decided to load 5.9 and it shot very similar with the same SD and about 1225 fps. The good news is if I load and it's off one tenth I still know I'm good. Anyone else had similar results?
 
KYregular said:
Becoming a huge fan of BE-86 ... Being I use a powder dispensers which may be off one tenth or so sometimes ... Anyone else had similar results?
Click to expand...
Another fan of BE-86.

BE-86 is small flake powder (like Bullseye/Power Pistol) but more dense and metered comparable to W231/HP-38 in my C-H 502 micrometer 10 drops thread - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...powder-measure-10-drops.834894/#post-10802441

Alliant BE-86 (Micrometer setting at 4.535): Powder charge range .14 gr
  1. 7.52 gr
  2. 7.50 gr
  3. 7.58 gr
  4. 7.64 gr
  5. 7.62 gr
  6. 7.56 gr
  7. 7.54 gr
  8. 7.50 gr
  9. 7.64 gr
  10. 7.62 gr

Winchester W231/Hodgdon HP-38 (Micrometer setting at 4.535): Powder charge range .12 gr
  1. 7.12 gr
  2. 7.14 gr
  3. 7.24 gr
  4. 7.16 gr
  5. 7.24 gr
  6. 7.22 gr
  7. 7.20 gr
  8. 7.12 gr
  9. 7.14 gr
  10. 7.16 gr
 
It's my new favorite pistol powder. However, that automatically means it's always sold out when I want to buy more. What barrel length you using? That same load gets me over 1300 fps from my 6" barrel. I backed off to 5.8 because I'm using some weaker pulled aluminum cases but man they sure shoot awesome.
 
It's my new favorite pistol powder. However, that automatically means it's always sold out when I want to buy more.
Click to expand...
I will be finding out how well it works with your 124gr MPRs here in the next week.
I'm expecting good things because quality powder, quality bullets, and good quality brass should be a good recipe for success.
 
longdayjake said:
It's my new favorite pistol powder. However, that automatically means it's always sold out when I want to buy more. What barrel length you using? That same load gets me over 1300 fps from my 6" barrel. I backed off to 5.8 because I'm using some weaker pulled aluminum cases but man they sure shoot awesome.
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I'm shooting s CZ P09 with a barrel length of 4.53 I believe.
 
tightgroup tiger said:
I will be finding out how well it works with your 124gr MPRs here in the next week.
I'm expecting good things because quality powder, quality bullets, and good quality brass should be a good recipe for success.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. The gold dot load that I'm working on is primarily for PD in an emergency shortage situation.
 
It is all I use for full power 9MM and 45 ACP loads, and also 44 Special and 45 Colt loads.
I read somewhere that it is Power Pistol with a flash suppressant, and I can believe that.
It is slightly faster than Power Pistol with less flash and boom.
 
KYregular said:
Becoming a huge fan of BE-86, just ladde red some test loads with Speer 124 gdhp in two tenth increments. Best results were 5.8 and 6.0 basically the same SD with 5.8 coming in around 1190 fps and 6.0 around 1240 fps. Being I use a powder dispensers which may be off one tenth or so sometimes, I decided to load 5.9 and it shot very similar with the same SD and about 1225 fps. The good news is if I load and it's off one tenth I still know I'm good. Anyone else had similar results?
Click to expand...


I thought your "best results" sounded familiar so I checked my database and there it was. I load all my SD ammo and my absolute best is the 124GD and 5.95 grains of BE86. These avg 1190fps through my 4.1" Ruger 9E.
 
RodII said:
It is all I use for full power 9MM and 45 ACP loads, and also 44 Special and 45 Colt loads.
I read somewhere that it is Power Pistol with a flash suppressant, and I can believe that.
It is slightly faster than Power Pistol with less flash and boom.
Click to expand...

Good to know it works well for 45 ACP that’s the next caliber I’m going to start reloading.

I’ve used win231/HP38 and it’s an old standby. It seems to work in most semi auto calibers. But given the choice I’d rather use BE86
 
BE-86 was designed to fall midway between Power Pistol and Bullseye, according to the ballistician I talked to at the SHOT Show a couple of years ago.
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I think Paul from Alliant told me that it falls between Unique and Power Pistol.
This is the reply Paul from Alliant gave me when I started the first thread on BE-86 when it first came out.

titegroup tiger,
I am glad to see you have stumbled onto some of the BE-86 we began shipping into distribution recently. Sorry to take so long to get it to market, but we have been under siege demand wise for all of our existing products in both OEM and canister markets that marketing didn't want to prioritize this new product (for canister). We will continue to get some out as we can, so if you ask for it, those orders should pull through.
I am very confident you will really like this powder. It is the same magic formulation as Bullseye(R) and Power Pistol(R), and virtually the exact geometry of Power Pistol. It is a little faster burning that Power Pistol though, and very similar to Unique(R), burn speed wise. As you mentioned, we have added flash suppressant to this product to moderate the flash response, whereas we do not for Power Pistol. BE-86(TM) is a high energy propellant though, so do not expect it to be flashless. The FS added moderates what would be maybe a basketball or bushel basket size bloom for a stout load of Power Pistol down to more like a baseball or cueball. I find it very acceptable from the shooter's position, and we have several OEM's that use this material for duty applications.
So to summarize, the "so what" on BE-86 is that it has the outstanding ballistics and ignitability of the BE series powders, in Unique burnrate, with great metering characteristics, with FS to moderate the flash bloom.
We worked up a good amount of data for this powder, but if we have left any applications out that you think might be interesting, send a message in through our "ask the expert" on our website, www.alliantpowder.com
Thank you for your interest in our new pistol powder BE-86.
Shoot well,
Paul
Click to expand...

You may be thinking of Sport Pistol
 
I bought a can of BE86 specifically to try in the 9mm... my results weren't as good as perhaps some others.

Loading specifically for my 3.6" barreled CW9 (and, by extension, my 3" CM9) and the 124grn FMJ bullet... 5.4grn BE86 gave me 1050fps in the CW9 and pretty reasonable accuracy. A step up to 5.7grn BE86 only gave me an additional 10fps with the same basic accuracy... but this load was dumping unburnt/underburnt powder on my shooting hand... it was obvious I had hit a plateau in the 3.6" barrel with BE86. The same thing happened with the 3" CM9... 970fps and 980fps, respectively, without the accuracy.

It is my conclusion that BE86 might be a bit too slow for short barrel 9mm's if you are looking for top velocity; I suspect it would work well in a 4.5" or longer barrel. I don't know about it's utility in any other cartridge, I've not used it there, yet. I will likely try it with 200 and 230grn bullets in .45ACP, but those will be fired out of my 4" Kimbers... and I'll be curious to see if I hit a plateau there, although I consider it unlikely. For the 9mm, I've got 2 other powders to work with in the 9mm... W244 and Sport Pistol; the slightly faster burn rate (than BE86) I think will fit perfectly in the role I want it too, that is to say full-house loads in a short-barreled 9mm.
 
Hope to find some next time I’m in the city. Want to try some 38 special loads in my 357 revolver for long range steel target shooting and critter control on our farm and woods.
 
I'll be trying out BE 86 next week. I found an old Speer 13 reloading book and bumped the Unique up to 5.8 with no pressure signs from 5.7, but the chrono says it lost ground going from 1130ish for the 5.7 to barely 1100 even for the 5.8 gr. I did extend the COL but not that much; 1.09 to 1.12. Your loads look promising for what I'm looking for with the 124 JHP MPR's. How deep are you seating the gold dots?
 
Bat Rastard said:
I am not sure why BE-86 is packaged in anything besides the 8 pounder.
I like it !
Click to expand...
Probably because nobody would buy 8lbs just to see if they like it. But I agree with your premise, I notice they don’t sell 4 pounders. ;)

BE86 has become one of my favorite powders. It works well across many calibers.
 
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