What is be86 good at

I'm also curious. I just haven't found a good "home" for it yet.

Here's all of Alliant's load data for BE86:
https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/Powder.aspx?powderid=38

Looks like a pretty usable powder for all your cartridges. I bet that 8lbs lasts a while!

The issue I see with be-86 is alliant themselves. Their data seems watered down/on the lite side. There's already a bunch of different powders out there for plinking loads, lite loads. I like to see someone like handloader magazine do some testing writ-ups using be-86. It should really shine as a medium burn rate powder if someone would that the hobble off of it that alliant has put on it.

With the limited testing I've done with be-86 it mimics unique's ballistics.

I have used it for thousands of .357 loads.

Have burned a couple pounds of it, primarily in several revolver chamberings. Not likely to buy more when I run out. Just prefer Power Pistol instead. BE-86 might be a good choice for lower flash or cast bullet applications.

It has become my go to for 9x19mm. Great accuracy, high velocities and low report.

Works very well for 45Colt tier 2 loads as well as 44RemMag moderate loads.

I used some for 38Spl in a S&W 10 with 145gr cast HP. The highest charge in the +p Alliant data produced some the best groups I've ever shot with that gun.

There is a 34 page thread floating around here dedicated to this powder. Paul from Alliant says it's basically Power Pistol with flash suppressant added which speeds up the burn rate a smidge.

I've come to find out it is widely used in factory defense loads.

I think of it as Power Pistol without the giant fireball and no need to double up on ear pro.

I like it for 9mm, 38spl. and .40S&W. Especially, 9mm.

It's a fantastic powder for .38 and .357 in most handgun-length barrels. A load near published maximum will reach the practical terminal ballistic limit of either of these cartridges, and it will do it with less recoil and a great deal more efficiency than the "magnum" powders like #9, H110, Lil'Gun, 296, Enforcer, 300MP, or even 2400. Those magnum powders will certainly deliver more velocity, but in 4" and shorter barrels, it will only be a little bit more and with no practical effect in terminal ballistics -- 50fps, or even 90fps just isn't going to kill deader. The difference they make in velocity is most pronounced in carbine-length barrels and a couple-hundred fps can make for a flatter trajectory for a given bullet weight if nothing else.

BE86 has the kind of burn rate that most of it is burned in a 4" or even 3" barrel. This isn't true for a powder like H110 where only half a full load will burn before the bullet exits the muzzle, resulting in a lot of flash. So BE86 needs a flash suppressant less than 2400 or H110 does, but it has it, and those other powders do not.

BE86 is also inexpensive. 8# was selling for around $134 (when it was available). That's about $25 less per 8# than comparable ball powders, some of which need loads of two or three-times the mass. It's not as cheap to shoot as those fast powders that only need three grains for a load, but as a high-performance powder, it's more cost-effective than powders like Blue Dot, 2400, Longshot, or HS-6. It's a lot more cost effective than the magnum powders.

Power Pistol is very similar. It delivers a little more velocity, but with no flash suppressant.

So far I've only used it for a little load workup with 125gr Gold Dots in .357 SIG. It performed well in terms of accuracy. I still need to chronograph those loads though.

9mm, 10mm, 45cap so far for me. If I ever need a good midrange 44 load I will give it a go.
I really like this powder and have another 8# ordered.

Walkalong said:

Great in 9MM. . .

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Funny, your avatar is a LnL AP right? My one memory of BE86 is that a mid-range 9mm charge fills the case enough that some slops out on shell plate indexing.

I'll have to try it in .357 Magnum. I have a stable of hungry S&Ws.

I tried some BE86 on a suggestion from a friend who loves it. I just couldn't find where is was better than what I was using anyway. Never compared the cost since powder cost in light and midrange handgun loads is not that big of a deal from one powder cost to the next. Even $10 a lb difference once spread out over 1200-2000 rounds is really nothing

Shot some RMR Match Winners with BE-86. I like it. Shot some RMR MPR HPs with 5.1 gr, which were really accurate in a XD9 5" Tactical. Can't find the crono data for the XD and the MPR HP.

Created: 08-17-2018 10:48:50 AM
Description: 124 g RMR FP 5.3 be 86
Notes 1: M9A1
Notes 2:
Distance to Chrono (FT): 0.00
Ballistic Coefficient: 1.000
Bullet Weight (gr): 0.000
Altitude (FT): 0.0
Temp: N/A
BP: N/A
Shots
# FPS FT-LBS PF
9 1066 0.00 0.00
8 1060 0.00 0.00
7 1049 0.00 0.00
6 1037 0.00 0.00
5 1080 0.00 0.00
4 1051 0.00 0.00
3 1073 0.00 0.00
2 1064 0.00 0.00
1 1072 0.00 0.00
Average: 1061.33
StdDev: 13.60
Min: 1037
Max: 1080
Spread: 43
True MV: 1061.33
Shots/sec: 0.31

Walkalong said:

The powder is burned long before it leaves the barrel, unburned powder is not what causes flash. If half the powder wasn't burning it would litter everything in front of you. When you start getting too slow of a powder for an application you can get low pressure, low velocity, and unburned powder.

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Like Unique in 45ACP. At the range I shoot, there is about 8 feet of concrete pad in front of the shooting benches. When I started reloading, I did a lot of learning with my 1911, the Lee TL452-230-TC and Unique powder. After shooting a 1-200 rounds, I would sweep the floor in front of where I shot and would collect a nice pile of flakes.

Flash is not from unburned powder igniting outside the barrel. If the unburned powder ignited late, it usually manifests itself as a shower of sparks. A fireball is intermediate compounds igniting when it makes contact with the air outside the barrel. Companies can eliminate some of the fireball by what's called "salting" the propellant. Early chemists used actual NaCl to eliminate flash from powder and solid propellants. This of course attracts moisture and causes the powder to be "corrosive" to the barrel so other chemicals are now used as flash suppressants.

I've burned about 12 pounds of BE-86 since it came out.

BE-86 is similar to Power Pistol but with a flash suppressant so the fireball isn't nearly as spectacular. In terms of burn rate, It's a little slower than Unique and a little faster than Power Pistol. I've found that wherever I had a recipe calling for Unique in 9/38/40/45, I usually worked up a load using 5-10% more BE-86. It is cleaner than Unique with less residual soot but at the cost of a higher Nitroglycerin content as I've found that BE-86 stuck more aggressively to the base of my powder coated bullets when left sitting bullet side down for several months.

I just loaded several hundred 9mm rounds this weekend with BE-86 and never had any powder spill out of the cases when running them through my LnL AP.

Walkalong said:

The powder is burned long before it leaves the barrel, unburned powder is not what causes flash. If half the powder wasn't burning it would litter everything in front of you. When you start getting too slow of a powder for an application you can get low pressure, low velocity, and unburned powder.

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The powder is not all burned before the bullet leaves the barrel, not if the barrel is only 3 or 4" long. A full load of H110 will only be about half-burned by the time the bullet exits. I never mentioned unburnt powder, or the powder leaving the barrel unburnt. Practically all the powder burns, but a large portion of it will burn after the bullet has exited.

Walkalong said:

Oh, and H-110, W-296, N-110, Enforcer etc will get you quite a bit more velocity in .357 Mag than BE-86, regardless of barrel length.

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I've loaded book maximums and seen less than 20 fps difference from 3" and 4" barrels with 158 grain bullets. With a 6" barrel, the difference is quite a bit bigger. With rifles, it's night and day.

I've used Alliant Powders pretty exclusively because of availability in my area. I was a big fan of power pistol for full house loads, the fireball is a thing of beauty and loads were pretty accurate.

When I picked up BE-86, I immediately worked it up in all the calibers I used with Power Pistol. 9mm, 10mm, 40sw, and .45acp. IMHO, it works well in all of these. I really like the higher end 9mm and 10mm loads. It don't always use it though. It is however currently what I'm used in my last run of .45acp, 7 grains under an Xtreme 230grain PRN.

The most accurate 9mm I've loaded were with BE-86. Better luck with Unique in .45ACP but haven't experimented enough with BE-86 here.
I've seen the comparison made between Power Pistol and BE-86, "similar but less flash" and so forth. I don't get the results with Power Pistol in 9mm like I do with BE-86...another case of more experimentation needed? Maybe.

Another thing, with Power Pistol in .45 ACP there is way more flash, but also the report is way louder as well. Similar strength loads with BE-86 aren't nearly as "cannon" like.
More than once I've had a range officer come have a look when using less than max loads in .45ACP with Power Pistol. One commented he thought someone was shooting a shotgun!

Russellc