beagling a mold - different shim material

[rp85]

hello;

have a 44 magnum marlin 1894 with micro grove rifling. the 44 cal mold i have is an ohause which drops a cast bullet between .429 and .435. not a good combo for accuracy.

saw some postings on beagling a mold to increase the diameter of the cast bullets. postings suggested using some shim material from a local hardware store. well my local hardware stores did not have the suggested shim material.

there is a lead tape, found at edwin watts golf stores, with stick’em on one side. the thickness of this tape is .004”. used this tape as described to increase the diameter of molds cast bullets. also drove the alignment pins out further, closed the mold with the tape on face of mold and taped the mold closed. bullets from the mold are now dropping at .433 to .439”.

now my .430” lee push through bullet sizing die. made no head way after two hours of trying. went to a friend with a lathe. put the lee sizing die in the lathe, wrapped some 320 grit sand paper on a metal rod, put the rod into the die and after about 45 min. i had a .432 sizing die.

rp

[beagle]

At some point in time, bigger is not better on the .44 Magnum. .432" is marginal for two reasons.

Number 1 is I have a .432" sizer and had to slightly open the crimp shoulder on my seating die as it was catching the driving band and seating the bullet leaving no crimp function available.

Number 2, .432" bullets were chambering with some effort in my SBH Ruger.

If you bypass these two hurdles, it may shoot all right. Just some problems I've had with using bullets larger than the norm./beagle

[462]

+1 on Number 1. I had to enlarge a .44 Special Lee seating die so much that the crimp shoulder disapeared. That was for a 429421 beagled to .433". That said, I bought a set of .44 Lyman dies and the seating die accepted the fat boolit.

+1 on Number 2. My S&W 24 and 624 will just barely chamber a .433" boolit.

Rp85,
I wouldn't keep a mould that had a .006" difference between its cavities. And, running that .439" boolit through a .433" sizer will surely erase its lube groove.

[rp85]

hello beagle;

you did good on mold mods!!! worked as discribed!!!

hardware stores in our area just don't seem to have anything other than nut, bolts, & screws. had to make due.

thanks for your efforts.

rp

[LUCKYDAWG13]

this is what i did for my 1894 44 mag & ruger B/H in 44 mag

1. get a mold that will drop a .434 boolit i like the MP434 640

2. had buckshot make me a .432 sizer for a lyman 450

[GaryN]

this is what i did for my 1894 44 mag & ruger B/H in 44 mag

1. get a mold that will drop a .434 boolit i like the MP434 640

2. had buckshot make me a .432 sizer for a lyman 450

+1 I did the same thing except used the .434-503 MP and buckshot's sizer die. The die he made me is my favorite die. I got it with the little hole in it to let out the excess lube.