BE-86 or W231, which to use ?

I am about to run out of Aussie Universal and the Canadian Universal is junk. It will not meter in my Uniflows. It sticks and jams up the throw AND I will not buy any more measures to TRY and use it. So, after reading a bunch of posts from a lot of people and tests by Rclark I will get one of these powders. I load for 44 mag with a 240gr RNFP and have been using 7.0 gr up to 9.5 gr. with 75% of my stuff being 7.0 gr. So, when powder is back on the shelves which would be your choice ? Thanks, Jerry

I've never used BE-86 so no clue there. However, I prefer W231 over Bullseye for my .38 Spl. wadcutter target loads. Bullet is the Lyman #358495 over 3.1 gr. of W231. Accuracy from my K38 S&W is better than some Winchester factory .38 Spl. target ammo I bought. Bullets mentioned are my own home cast.
Paul B.

I like 231 have never used BE-86.

BE-86 was my go-to powder for 9mm until I got 4 lbs of Silhoutte. Cleaner than unique. I don't have any complaints about it.

It looks like these two powders for 44 mag are not very popular.

As our old friend Flatgate would say; "Read the manuals!" Follow the reloading manuals. The folks who publish those manuals test things before they publish data. If the manuals don't mention it,, there's a reason.

onehandgunner said:

It looks like these two powders for 44 mag are not very popular.

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They're too fast burning for serious Magnum handgun loads. They will work for moderate loads though for fun and practice.
Paul B.

Exactly. In a way I think that is a 'failure' of the manuals as they list mostly 'only' .44 Mag loads and not list light/moderate loads. Suppose they expect you to just look at .44 Special loads and interpolate from there.... That said I liked BE-86 (from my testing) performs much like Unique/Universal. Nothing wrong with W-231 either though. Your call. My goto powder is still Unique for moderate .44 Mag and normal .44 Special loads as I still have 'lots' of it on hand.

I need to apologize for not getting back and thanking you for your comments and suggestions, Thanks, Jerry