insanelupus
06-11-2009, 10:59 PM
I cast up some Lyman 375296 the other night. Only after I had 75 or so made did I wise up and measure them. It had not been a good night. One of my other moulds was/is giving me fits (a SC 3589, the "Holy Grail" bullet which won't cast a bullet worth a darn, another thread) and when I measured the 375296s, they were coming out at .3775 or so. My bore measures right at .377 in the Marlin I'm casting for and I would really prefer to have them cast up to around .378 at least.
In disgust, I chunked them all back in the pot and called it a night. Cleaned up the area and went out and split wood until dark. Looking back, I should have kept a few to test fire. The bore in the .38-55 is a 10 on a 1-10 scale and might handle those okay.
At any rate, I've read, read, and re-read the posts Beagle has made on beagling a mold. Are there any hints, tips, tricks, or advice y'all can give me, aside from Beagle's main contribution that will help out? I also wonder, how tough is that HVAC tape to clean off the mould when it cools? Will there be a forever baked on sticky residue to contend with or does it clean right up?
If beagling doesn't work, I'm going to just try and order a mould to my specifications from Dan at Mountain Moulds. I dearly wish someone produced a factory standard 265 grain, as cast from wheel weights .380", flat nosed, gas checked mould! There are several plain based versions, but with velocities over 1600 (goal is 1750-1800 fps) I'd think there would be a definate desire for a gas checked version, especially with all those Marlin oversized .38-55 bores floating around!
In disgust, I chunked them all back in the pot and called it a night. Cleaned up the area and went out and split wood until dark. Looking back, I should have kept a few to test fire. The bore in the .38-55 is a 10 on a 1-10 scale and might handle those okay.
At any rate, I've read, read, and re-read the posts Beagle has made on beagling a mold. Are there any hints, tips, tricks, or advice y'all can give me, aside from Beagle's main contribution that will help out? I also wonder, how tough is that HVAC tape to clean off the mould when it cools? Will there be a forever baked on sticky residue to contend with or does it clean right up?
If beagling doesn't work, I'm going to just try and order a mould to my specifications from Dan at Mountain Moulds. I dearly wish someone produced a factory standard 265 grain, as cast from wheel weights .380", flat nosed, gas checked mould! There are several plain based versions, but with velocities over 1600 (goal is 1750-1800 fps) I'd think there would be a definate desire for a gas checked version, especially with all those Marlin oversized .38-55 bores floating around!