I've done some limited testing with be-86, by limited I used:
2 different lots of power pistol
2 different lots of unique
2 different lots of be-86
Did test loads in the 38spl (2"/4"/6" bbl's), 357's (4"/6" bbl's). 9mm (3.2"/5" bbl's) 44spl (2 1/2" & 6 1/2" bbl's), 44mag (6 1/2" & 10" bbl's), 45acp (5" & 8 1/2" bbl's). Testing was done with a high of 10 different bullets in the 38spl/357 to a low of 3 different bullets in the 9mm. The strings were only 10 rounds for each load tested. They were shot over a cheap competition electronics chronograph that was setup on a tripod 10' down range. The testing was done over a course of 6 months and when a bullet/caliber combo was tested with the 3 powders, they were all done on the same day/same range session. While 10-shot stings don't do much in the way of testing there's always 2 sides to every street. Take the 38spl p+ loads I tested for example. I did 10-shot strings with 10 different bullets using BE-86, unique & power pistol. A 10-shot string, so what. But I've always added the results of the different bullets/stings together to get an idea of how a powder with perform with a specific caliber/bbl length setting. The end result is a 100-shot string (10 10-shot stings put together). Some bullets perform better than others but putting shot stings/bullets together it gives the reloader a real world idea of how a powder performs. There's a huge difference between a cherry picked bullet/powder/caliber combo and blanket testing. The blanket testing results from a 10 bullet, 10-shot stings (100 shots total) for power pistol, unique & BE-86 in a 2" bbl'd revoler using 38spl p+ loads of each powder.
Unique ='d 833fps
BE-86 ='d 845fps
PP ='d 887fps
Don't know why but I've always did 10-shot stings and blanket testing with different bullets/powders. Then I go back and cherry pick the top performers and fine tune them.
Head to head comparison power pistol vs unique vs be-86
Unique has been around a long time, lots of data. I've burned a lot of unique over the years and make no mistake about, I do like unique and use a lot of it. Unique really shines in the 44cal's and has more of a push/softer feel to it's loads. It was however more position sensitive with huge es's when the firearm was pointed up vs down. And as always, it performs best with near max loads.
BE-86 did extremely well across the board with all loads tested. It is a bit snappier than unique. BE-86 really shined in the 45acp, the other 2 powders could only equal it's performance at best. BE-86 had the lowest es's & sd's of the 3 powders tested. The light/starting loads were a little dirty but when I got to the middle and above of the recommended powder charges it burned clean.
Power pistol had more snap/jump than the other 2 powders and is at it's best with heavy/hot loads. PP burns clean with mid to full house loads and the es's really drop when you use heavy loads.
Fullhouse loads (magnum and p+)
At the end of the day BE-86 performed the same as unique. The only reason BE-86 had a high velocity than unique for a bullet/caliber combo was because it was extremely consistent/ low es's & sd's. BE-86 and unique were pretty much within +/- 20fps of each other when standard loads were used. I believe the difference is the sd's over a 20-shot string. The end result was that the BE-86 performed with consistently higher velocities over a wide range of bullets/calibers. Power pistol on the other hand outperformed the other 2 powders. But it was loud, a lot of flash and recoil compared to the other 2 powders.
Most powder do extremely well when compared to other powders with specific calibers, these powders were no different.
Unique while being the poorest performing of the 3 powders (overall/50+ bullet/calibers/loads tested) is better than the other 2 powders in the 44cal's. And it really shines in the 44spl.
BE-86, this powder meters extremely well, burns clean and is very consistent shot to shot. It really shines in the 45acp p+ loads.
Power pistol was the top performer over all and shines in the 38spl p+ loads.
BE-86 meters well, burns clean, isn't real snappy with recoil and has less flash than power pistol. For the most part it was slightly better in performance to unique but had the performance characteristics of power pistol in cases with small case capacity. Power pistol has always performed extremely well in cases with small case capacity like the 9mm, 38spl, 357, 45acp. BE-86 has those same qualities and will rival power pistol with some loads in those calibers.
After the testing was done I viewed BE-86 to be power pistol with a flash suppressing agent in it that changed the burn rate making it burn faster.
I would use BE-86 to replace unique, it meters better, burns cleaner and out performed unique in the majority of the loads tested.
Make no mistake about it bullseye and BE-86 are 2 different animals.