Alliant BE-86 And .357 Magnum

[ditto1958]

I recently bought a pound of Alliant BE-86 powder that was on sale. It's a pretty new powder, so it's not listed in my Lee book.

I went to the Alliant website and loaded about 20 rounds according to their data.

At the range today, the rounds with the new powder were all over the place.

I'm not sure how to handle this. Unlike most reloading books, where there is a starting load, and a "never exceed" load, Alliant just gives one load for a specific bullet. If I want to modify the load to try to get accuracy, can I'd do it? If so, how would I know how much up or down I can go?

 

[NikA]

I think you need to read the instructions. Most powder manufacturer data is listed at (their) max loads and they want you to start 5-10% below the load they list. I suspect that Alliant is -10% but you should read all the warnings and boring addenda they provide to know exactly.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

They do say the powder is a high energy (fast) powder good for 9mm and .40 S&W. Alliant is very stingy with data even for Unique. If you notice the load for BE-86 and a 158gr lead bullet has a somewhat higher load and FPS (8.1gr - 1156fps) than for a 158gr JHP bullet (7.8gr - 1075fps). Now they have a 158gr Gold Dot bullet and Unique at (7.7gr - 1040fps).

Using that data I would interpret that they are giving you a mild load but one that should not be exceeded without other good data that provides some pressures to look at.

I would run 158gr bullets at around 7.0 - 8.0gr and check recoil against other loads that you might have worked up or factory ammo as a comparison. Try 7.0gr and then 7.5gr and then 8.0gr and see if there is anything you like.

Just my $.02 - Jimbo

 

[mikld]

When a manual/manufacture only gives one load, it is normally a maximum load. Reduce that load by 10% and go from there. Get a couple more manuals other than the Lee (my Lee manual is the last place I look for load data).

 

[NikA]

In the disclaimer info that must be clicked through on Alliant's website:
"USE THIS DATA WITH ALLIANT BRAND POWDERS ONLY.

REDUCE RIFLE AND HANDGUN CHARGE WEIGHTS BY 10% TO ESTABLISH A STARTING LOAD.

DO NOT EXCEED THE LOADS DISPLAYED ON THE SITE OR ALLIANT'S RELOADERS GUIDE."
There you go, they are book maximums, exceed at your own peril!

 

[Rclark]

I am going to be testing it in .357 sometime later this summer with 158g SWCs. Have tested BE-86 with .45 Colt and have .44 Special loads almost ready to test. It appears to be is a bit slower than Unique from what I can tell. If 'I' was loading it today, I would use Unique data, and work up from there over the the chronograph. YMMV of course. But that is what I'd do.