BE-86

[JamieC]

Bought some BE86 last weekend at a local gunshow, also have some HP38 I bought a month ago. Finally getting around to loading both in 9mm and 45 acp. I plan on loading some .380, just need to have my wife with me to test...it's her gun! 9mm will be shooting Precision Delta 124gr JHPs, 200gr LSWC Bayou Bullets in my 1911. The wife's .380 is also Bayou Bullets, 105gr LSWC.

 

[Toprudder]

Soooo, picked up some BE 86 today to try and after reading the awesome amount of information in this thread, somewhat confused where to even start with the load?? I see that there is only one load listed in alliants data and none of the other books I have, Hornady, Lee, amd Lyman (all newer editions), have any data. So the only listed load is max, but even dropping that 10% doesn't even come close to what some people are loading at the low end.
So do you just keep dropping the charges after the initial test another 10% until the slide does not function, if I was not happy with the first test rounds, i.e. too snappy?
Planning on loading 9mm, 115 fmj, and 124 xtreme plated, OAL at 1.10.
45 data in the thread seems fairly consistent and might try 40SW

Just as a point of reference, I've loaded Xtreme 115gn plated RN, seated 1.150", with 5.2gn BE86 and saw 1043fps out of my 4.5" barrel Witness pistol. That is a good low-recoil load for me. I went as high as 5.6gn in my tests. If you want to seat 1.10" you should probably drop the charge some more.

 

[bbqreloader]

Just as a point of reference, I've loaded Xtreme 115gn plated RN, seated 1.150", with 5.2gn BE86 and saw 1043fps out of my 4.5" barrel Witness pistol. That is a good low-recoil load for me. I went as high as 5.6gn in my tests. If you want to seat 1.10" you should probably drop the charge some more.

Thnaks TopRudder, I never play near max loads, mainly becasue I am looking for good practice loads. But never have had to go below minimum. Just trying to find some sage advice on how to approach to go below it and with this powder it sounds like I may be all over the board. Thanks for your reference point!!

 

[mamanes]

I bought some Rocky Mountain Reloading 124 gr HP and have settled in at 4.5 grains of BE-86 with COAL of 1.07. This seems to work well in my Glock 17 1st generation.

 

[bbqreloader]

Just as a point of reference, I've loaded Xtreme 115gn plated RN, seated 1.150", with 5.2gn BE86 and saw 1043fps out of my 4.5" barrel Witness pistol. That is a good low-recoil load for me. I went as high as 5.6gn in my tests. If you want to seat 1.10" you should probably drop the charge some more.

TopRudder, went RMR 115 FMJ, 5.0 gr BE-86 at the 1.100 oal. Laddered from 4.8 to 5.2, the 5.0 seemed to work very well. Thanks for the info. Shot out of Ruger p89 4.5 inch stock barrel. Want to see what these loads will do in my Shield however.

 

[bbqreloader]

I bought some Rocky Mountain Reloading 124 gr HP and have settled in at 4.5 grains of BE-86 with COAL of 1.07. This seems to work well in my Glock 17 1st generation.

MaManes, ended up with Xtreme 124gr plated FP. Laddered from 4.5 to 4.9. The 4.7gr at OAL 1.100, also Ruger P89- 4.5 inch barrel. The load worked really nice, seemed accurate for target purposes.

 

[z7]

I dont remember oal but MBC small ball 9mm cast lead, as low as 4.5g but settled on 5.0, oal was set to not jam the lands in my lone wolf conversion barrels, very accurate load with no apparent leading issues

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[bbqreloader]

Finally got out to use my new Caldwell that I have had for months. Here are some results with the BE-86. Emailed Alliant to get some better data and basically was told that the bullet manufactures needed to produce some data because they wouldn't do plated or others. So hats off to everyone on this forum for throwing out results along with the reinforcing of the 10% off max loads, which is the only thing Alliant offers. I ended cutting off a couple more %'s because offered loading data, although below max, was all over the board depending on weapons used, bullet's etc. All loaded rounds are from previous ladder tests. Here goes: 9mm was Sig Sauer and the 45 was Sig p220

Description: 9mm OAL 1.100
Notes 1: RMR FMJ
Notes 2: BE86- 5.0gr
Distance to Chrono(FT): 10.00
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.000
Bullet Weight(gr): 115.00
Temp: 86 °F
BP: 24.51 inHg
Altitude: 5619.00
# FPS FT-LBS PF
5 975 242.79 112.12
2 946 228.56 108.79
Average: 960.5 FPS
SD: 20.5 FPS
Min: 946 FPS
Max: 975 FPS
Spread: 29 FPS
Shot/sec: 0.2
Switched shooters, buddy of mine shot while I organized data, so take the two shots for what they are worth if anything , but nothing blew up and it the final choice from a previous ladder test.

Description: 9mm OAL 1.100
Notes 1: Xtreme Copper Plated FP
Notes 2: BE86 4.7gr
Distance to Chrono(FT): 10.00
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.000
Bullet Weight(gr): 124.00
Temp: 86 °F
BP: 24.51 inHg
Altitude: 5619.00
# FPS FT-LBS PF
10 927 236.64 114.95
9 920 233.08 114.08
8 920 233.08 114.08
7 920 233.08 114.08
6 885 215.69 109.74
5 890 218.13 110.36
4 909 227.54 112.72
3 945 245.92 117.18
2 880 213.26 109.12
1 909 227.54 112.72
Average: 910.5 FPS
SD: 20.4 FPS
Min: 880 FPS
Max: 945 FPS
Spread: 65 FPS
Shot/sec: 0.6

Description: 45 ACP OAL 1.200
Notes 1: Xtreme Copper Plated FP
Notes 2: BE86- 6.6gr
Distance to Chrono(FT): 10.00
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.000
Bullet Weight(gr): 185.00
Temp: 87 °F
BP: 24.51 inHg
Altitude: 5619.00
# FPS FT-LBS PF
9 826 280.32 152.81
8 799 262.29 147.82
7 791 257.06 146.34
6 825 279.64 152.62
5 869 310.26 160.76
4 909 339.48 168.16
3 826 280.32 152.81
2 870 310.98 160.95
1 731 219.54 135.24
Average: 827.3 FPS
SD: 52.0 FPS
Min: 731 FPS
Max: 909 FPS
Spread: 178 FPS
Shot/sec: 0.4

 

[Jim Watson]

Interesting.
Load 1 is ok, 2 is passable, 3 is poor.
Might be what you get for that "couple more percent" in a medium pressure round like .45

 

[Potatohead]

Wow, I see this thread marches on.

 

[bbqreloader]

Potato- great thread with lots of info and was able to learn a few things along the way. Was glad I could add some reference info to it.

 

[larryh1108]

As a BE86 fan I enjoy this thread and appreciate all those who share their experiences.

 

[Potatohead]

Potato- great thread with lots of info and was able to learn a few things along the way. Was glad I could add some reference info to it.

Ahhh, yea I do believe I've got a pic or two in here somewhere of some of my fine shooting, great group if I dont say so myself, it was my first time w Be-86...

Luckily we don't have to post how close we were standing to the target when we post these pics

 

[Artofgolf]

Ahhh, yea I do believe I've got a pic or two in here somewhere of some of my fine shooting...

Heck of a time findin' those, Tater
Good to see ya back!

 

[Potatohead]

Yea I think THR had some trouble with their server a few days after I posted those pics and they were all deleted. Was a real shame

Thanks AoG, good to be back.

 

[Toprudder]

Description: 9mm OAL 1.100
Notes 1: Xtreme Copper Plated FP
Notes 2: BE86 4.7gr
Distance to Chrono(FT): 10.00
Ballistic Coefficient: 0.000
Bullet Weight(gr): 124.00

bbq, did you plunk test those in your barrel? I had to seat the Xtreme 124 FP to 1.050" for my guns. If I seated them longer than 1.080", they would not plunk for me.

 

[bbqreloader]

bbq, did you plunk test those in your barrel? I had to seat the Xtreme 124 FP to 1.050" for my guns. If I seated them longer than 1.080", they would not plunk for me.

Top Rudder,
Yes, ran them thru a ruger p89, shield m@p, and a had my friend try em in his sig. All worked, initially was running a longer OAL but was jamming up in my shield. The 1.100 works smoothly and all weapons function perfectly

 

[Toprudder]

Top Rudder,
Yes, ran them thru a ruger p89, shield m@p, and a had my friend try em in his sig. All wroked, initially was running a longer OAL but was jamming up in my shield. The 1.100 works smoothly and all weapons function perfectly

Perfect! I have one 9mm (Witness Elite) that has a slightly tighter chamber and shorter leade. I have to seat a bit shorter for that one.

 

[Fatelvis]

I was going to load the popular 8.5grns Unique under a Keith style boolit for my 44 mag, so naturally BE-86 comes to mind, since it's easier to measure and burns similar to Unique. Has anybody tried it in their 44 as a light/mid range loading?

 

[Mauser69]

I was going to load the popular 8.5grns Unique under a Keith style boolit for my 44 mag, so naturally BE-86 comes to mind, since it's easier to measure and burns similar to Unique. Has anybody tried it in their 44 as a light/mid range loading?

I have not tested BE-86 with the .44 yet, but I was quite disappointed with it in the .357 with light bullets - not consistent at all, and only moderate power.

Do note that the velocity numbers posted for any and all BE-86 loads in Alliant's printed data are total and complete BS (but the online numbers for the same loads are realistic). So if you want to get some idea of how a particular load might perform, be sure to look at Alliant's ONLINE data instead of the book.

 

[Toprudder]

I have not tested BE-86 with the .44 yet, but I was quite disappointed with it in the .357 with light bullets - not consistent at all, and only moderate power.

Interesting. BE86 worked very well for me in 357mag, with 158gn plated bullets. I never tried anything lighter, though. I was trying to stay under 1200fps with the plated bullets.

 

[forty5]

I was going to load the popular 8.5grns Unique under a Keith style boolit for my 44 mag, so naturally BE-86 comes to mind, since it's easier to measure and burns similar to Unique. Has anybody tried it in their 44 as a light/mid range loading?

One of my favorite plinking loads for the 44 Magnum is 8.9 grs BE-86 under a 240 gr SNS Coated SWC. It chronographs at 1087.6 fps (10 shot average) out of a 7 1/2 inch barrel). It is as accurate as I am and has an SD of 5.2 FPS.

 

[LeftyTSGC]

BE-86 w/ 124gn Xtreme FMJ

Range update: Was able to shoot a few today.

9mm STAR30M 4.33 inch barrel
Xtreme 124gn FMJ bullets OAL 1.160
F-C Brass, TuLammo SPP
86 degrees and humid

LD SD/ES Average
5.4 11/32 1083
5.5 12/27 1110
5.6 15/34 1116

Shot 5 each for 5.4 and 5.5 and 10 of 5.6, the best accuracy was with 5.5 and 5.6. will go back and repeat with 5.5 and 5.6 with larger sample size to confirm data. These were 10yd shots with Chrono at 5yd line.

LeftyTSGC

 

[medic15al]

BE-86 a ball or flake powder?

 

[bbqreloader]

BE-86 a ball or flake powder?

Medic, it's a flake. Look at page 2 of this thread. Resident photo expert, bds, posted comparison photos of other powders that come close it. Maybe if ya ask, he can get a picture for you