BE86 38spl, 38spl +P and 357 mag Range report.

[DsGrouse]

I'd spent a couple of days loading up a bit of 38/357 mag using BE86. With about 500 rounds of various bullets loaded, I had some chrono work to do.



Today's weapon of choice:
Dan Wesson 715. The target is at 25ft, and all shots were off-hand.
































Here is the revolver after its session.

[daytime dave]

Some really nice groups in there and an awesome Dan Wesson. Wow.

[GFK]

Wow! Somebody had a party! Nice shooting!!

[DsGrouse]

That i did. I have to say, BE86, despite its lack of load data, does very well across a wide range of bullets. It worked well in 357 mag and in mild 38 spl.

I ended up with 3 five shot groups for every bullet type; Each group went up by .2 grains. A couple of the gas checked 357 mag loads were spiffy, and need to be backed off a bit. The rest I think, are pretty good to go. I'll load some more and try them with the henry using BE86.

Matt's 130grn round flat point Gas Checked.

Matt's 125grn Spire point gas checked.

[fortyshooter]

Wow very good range test and write up! Love that Dan Wesson and who did all the engraving?
I have couple pounds of BE 86 and have tried it with 45 Colt and 44 Mag and it is similar to Unique. Haven't done any testing with 357 Mag yet but looks like it does a great job. Plan was to use BE 86 to save my Unique.

[DsGrouse]

Wow very good range test and write up! Love that Dan Wesson and who did all the engraving?
I have couple pounds of BE 86 and have tried it with 45 Colt and 44 Mag and it is similar to Unique. Haven't done any testing with 357 Mag yet but looks like it does a great job. Plan was to use BE 86 to save my Unique.

J whitmire engraving out of Michigan.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id ... tid=ZbWKwL

I have matching 2 and 4 inch barrels for it.

I originally picked up the BE86 on your recommendation because I could not find unique.

My results with 45 acp and 45 colt were equally as good.

I need to order some more. I will say that I do like 4227 better for full power 45 colt loads. But anything not crazy speed, I am quite happy with BE86. The biggest complaint is lack of load data.

I had to cross reference a lot of stuff to come up with equivalents. Those I cross referenced with a minus 15% from alliances website.

Even so, you can see the 125 and 130 grain case checked bullets were smoking. I don't need them moving that fast.

[Hatchdog]

Nice work and great results. Also that’s a pretty nice projectile emitting device you have there.

[BigAl52]

Nice shooting and you gotta love a Dan Wesson Revolver. Ive owned a couple.

[5shot]

That's a beautiful revolver DsGrouse and good shooting! My Dan Wessons are 1911's but I've always wanted a 715.

[BrokenolMarine]

Nice Groups! I have done most all of my 38 loading with W231, and was lucky enough to buy about 20 pounds when we were shooting PPC heavily. When the new younger officers started shooting that were ALL about the scores, and didn't care about the fraternity or the sportsmanship, I bowed out and left them to it and had plenty of supplies left. I was mostly loading Georgia Arms bullets over 231 with Winchester primers in 38, 9mm, and 45.

Glad you could find things that worked well... your testing speaks volumes. Our groups had to prove themselves out to 50 yards, and my loads were MORE accurate than I was capable of... so I was happy.

[bikeridertim]

Nice Shooting!!
I have several Dan Wesson's, but none of mine looks like that! Beautiful 715!! Looks like a great day!

[DsGrouse]

Nice Groups! I have done most all of my 38 loading with W231, and was lucky enough to buy about 20 pounds when we were shooting PPC heavily. When the new younger officers started shooting that were ALL about the scores, and didn't care about the fraternity or the sportsmanship, I bowed out and left them to it and had plenty of supplies left. I was mostly loading Georgia Arms bullets over 231 with Winchester primers in 38, 9mm, and 45.

Glad you could find things that worked well... your testing speaks volumes. Our groups had to prove themselves out to 50 yards, and my loads were MORE accurate than I was capable of... so I was happy.

One of these days i will move it back to 25 and 50 yards. I have 0 experience shooting off hand for groups at either of those ranges. But I will give it a go.

[BrokenolMarine]

Nice Groups! I have done most all of my 38 loading with W231, and was lucky enough to buy about 20 pounds when we were shooting PPC heavily. When the new younger officers started shooting that were ALL about the scores, and didn't care about the fraternity or the sportsmanship, I bowed out and left them to it and had plenty of supplies left. I was mostly loading Georgia Arms bullets over 231 with Winchester primers in 38, 9mm, and 45.

Glad you could find things that worked well... your testing speaks volumes. Our groups had to prove themselves out to 50 yards, and my loads were MORE accurate than I was capable of... so I was happy.

One of these days i will move it back to 25 and 50 yards. I have 0 experience shooting off hand for groups at either of those ranges. But I will give it a go.

We shot offhand standing at all the distances back to 15 yards. At 25 we shot unsupported in the sitting and kneeling but from the barricades in the standing, but had to shoot both strong and weak handed. When we moved back to the 50 yard line, we shot prone, kneeling and sitting, then standing at the barricades, both strong and weak hands. Our handguns in the State Level PPC matches were heavy barrel custom guns, but it still took a lot of practice.

However, it sure made qualifying with the duty gun a lot easier, you really learned about trigger control, sight alignment and sight picture. As I have stated in other posts, when I would shoot the FATS systems or other testing modalities; the testers would often state afterwards they could tell who were competitive shooters by their performance under the stress of testing...

View Downrange from the Fifty Yard line

vpra excellent downrange view.jpg (199.92 KiB) Viewed 1404 times

Fifty Yard Line Standing Barricade:

vpra match my standing.jpg (205.99 KiB) Viewed 1404 times

Ron Power PPC Custom 38

rprite.jpg (78.35 KiB) Viewed 1404 times

[BrokenolMarine]

If you look at the post above, the shooter in the first picture, in the tight sitting position on the left... was the President of the Virginia PPC at the time, and in 2018 was named the Pistolsmith of the Year by the American Pistolsmith's Guild. Jerry Keefer built my Match .45, tuned my Model 64 Service Gun, and took care of my Ron Power Match Gun. He later built a Keefer Special for my Patrol Partner who decided NOT to compete, so I acquired that gun as well.

Keefer PPC 38.JPG (976.62 KiB) Viewed 1403 times

Jerry built guns for shooters all over the US, and he built guns that won the police nationals so often that they asked him to build guns to be given as prizes. Unfortunately he passed before his time, though he never smoked, lived a healthy lifestyle, lung cancer took him. Some of you out there may own a gun me put together. I have a couple. I'll hold on to them until I go.

[Travlin]

Those pictures of the match revolvers bring back memories to me. I had a good friend that was a leo and he used to shoot in competitions using that type of pistol. Did you shoot duty ammo or wadcutters. He used to buy used S&W model 10's and have an action job , heavy barrel and Bomar rib along with the special holster and speedloaders and he was set to go.Of course all of the police in those days carried 38 revolvers.

[DsGrouse]

I've been on the look out for a couple of Davis model 10s. I see them once in a while, few are in good shape though.

[BrokenolMarine]

I've been on the look out for a couple of Davis model 10s. I see them once in a while, few are in good shape though.

We carried the 4" Model 64s on Duty when I started. Stainless version of the Model 10 I believe. Mine was extremely accurate, and I bought it when we transitioned to semis. I also bought one of the 2" models the Sergeants carried Off Duty or in Suits. I shot the gun in the Service Revolver matches and did very well. After I owned it free and clear I got Jerry to smooth the trigger and and did even better. I could shoot against guns with adjustable sights and win. I don't shoot as well these days, don't practice as much and of course breaking my wrist and that nerve damage didn't help, but the gun is still a sweet shooter.

my model 64s.jpg (528.19 KiB) Viewed 1385 times

[DsGrouse]

Today's effort via the Henry big boy x.
38 spl.

Matts 130grn rfgc 4.6grns be86. The faster this went, the more accurate it seemed to get. I topped out just under 1100fps.
The first group at 1030 fps


The flier was all me.


The clear winner of the day was Sierra 125grn jhp, consistently small groups.

Again the flier is me.





These went super, but the groups held just like they did with the DW 715.



What didn't work in the henry? Double Ended Wadcutters and Blue bullets 158 grain swc
DEWC

Blue bullets 158grn coated SWC

[BrokenolMarine]

A couple really NICE groups there. I can't wait to get back on the range and shooting. Should be in the coming week!

[DsGrouse]

I've ordered 8lbs of be86 today, another 200 of the sierra 125 jhp, and 200 of the sierra 158 jhp. I've not given up on wadcutters. I picked up 1k of berry's plated HBWC. We will see how they perform in my revolvers and HBBX. I ordered a 2k of smpp, 3k of spp, and 2k of srp. Another 500 of starlines 357 mag brass, and 30 carbine brass.