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Thread: Mould Enlargement “beagling”

  1. #1
    Cast Boolits Founder/B.O.B.

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    Thumbs up Mould Enlargement “beagling”

    Boolits= as God laid it into the soil,,grand old Galena,the Silver Stream graciously hand poured into molds for our consumption.

    Bullets= Machine made utilizing Full Length Gas Checks as to provide projectiles for the masses.

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  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Excellent how to. Does it work with aluminum molds as well??
    What did you use to keep the brass shim stock in place??

    Shiloh
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  3. #3
    Moderator Emeritus

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    the tape works fine with aluminum molds.
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  4. #4
    Boolit Mold garra's Avatar
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    Here is the problem I have finding the right diameter mold. It was never made. This is for a 8mm Lebel pistol, I would like to shoot something around 100GN RN in cast, but all the molds for 32 caliber run .311-.314, while this barrel casts as .323. I figure I will need at least .325 for a good fit. I thought of buying some molds off e-bay to try and beagling came to mind, but now we are talking about a difference of .011-.014 depending on where the molds drops. Is it better to increase the size by beagling OR to go to a 9mm mold and size the bullet down sacraficing lub capacity.
    I have yet to cast my own, I have all the pieces, except the molds.

    thank you

  5. #5
    Boolit Buddy georgewxxx's Avatar
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    garra, You might try looking for an old Ideal/Lyman 32360, 32361, or 32362 on eBay. The 32360 does come up fairly often.
    N.R.A. Life Member

  6. #6
    Boolit Master 1874Sharps's Avatar
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    You know, I think I have seen some commercials on TV on this subject of "natural mold enhancement"!!!

  7. #7
    Boolit Buddy
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    I've had pretty good results using the high-temp flue tape for beagling molds. The only ones I have trouble with are the pointy spitzer boolits, which form a bit of flash on the tips.

    If anyone has had this problem and found a solution I'd sure like to hear it.
    "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive".

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by truckmsl View Post
    I've had pretty good results using the high-temp flue tape for beagling molds. The only ones I have trouble with are the pointy spitzer boolits, which form a bit of flash on the tips.

    If anyone has had this problem and found a solution I'd sure like to hear it.
    I also use the hi-temp flue tape and on two spitzer types(311413 and 311329). The minimum flashing I get goes away after tumble lubing with JPW/alox.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    Great information. MANY thanks to Beagle for his experimentation.
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  10. #10
    Boolit Master


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    The old LYman 32359 runs right at .323" and could be beagled up a bit. Tends to run around 122 grains theough./beagle

    Quote Originally Posted by garra View Post
    Here is the problem I have finding the right diameter mold. It was never made. This is for a 8mm Lebel pistol, I would like to shoot something around 100GN RN in cast, but all the molds for 32 caliber run .311-.314, while this barrel casts as .323. I figure I will need at least .325 for a good fit. I thought of buying some molds off e-bay to try and beagling came to mind, but now we are talking about a difference of .011-.014 depending on where the molds drops. Is it better to increase the size by beagling OR to go to a 9mm mold and size the bullet down sacraficing lub capacity.
    I have yet to cast my own, I have all the pieces, except the molds.

    thank you
    diplomacy is being able to say, "nice doggie" until you find a big rock.....

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master leftiye's Avatar
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    Ream out the lands. (do not ream out the grooves)
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  12. #12
    Boolit Mold garra's Avatar
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    Thanks for all the advice. I have an older copy of Cartridges of the World and for this caliber they mention the Lyman 32359 mold which I can look for on e-bay. Reaming the mold out using a adjustable reamer is a good option, especially if I buy an inexpensive Lee mold.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Trying a new method of beagling
    aluminum foil seems to do the trick
    just fold to the size you want to gain
    place in mold and pinch into alignment pins
    cut out around bullet halves and fold excess around sides and bottom of mold
    holds tin foil spacer on
    try it !
    Hit em'hard
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  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    garra, have you thought about paper patching those bullets for your pistol? I use a .312 bullet and wrap it twice with tracing paper from Wal Mart which makes it about .325. You can size them when they are dry and coated with Lee Lube cut half in half with mineral spirits.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    Try adding tape only along the bullet body and leave the nose untaped. This will normally work out and should eliminate the flashing./beagle

    Quote Originally Posted by truckmsl View Post
    I've had pretty good results using the high-temp flue tape for beagling molds. The only ones I have trouble with are the pointy spitzer boolits, which form a bit of flash on the tips.

    If anyone has had this problem and found a solution I'd sure like to hear it.
    diplomacy is being able to say, "nice doggie" until you find a big rock.....

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy wellfedirishman's Avatar
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    Thanks Beagle for developing this technique. I recently started doing this with 3M high temp flue tape and it works great. Sheer ingenuity. I have sized up .003 to .005 with no problems.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master Digger's Avatar
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    Okay , this could have been a sob story like so many out there .....
    Getting set up for my .308 , .. slugged out .310 in the grooves ....took a chance and picked up a lyman 311299 as per a lot of recommendations in the forums , most said hold out for a ''special order " or group buy as no one had one available accept for the lymans from retailers ..so came home with one.
    Rolled the dice , aaaaannnnnnd ..... BINGO ! ... no luck ..... they came out at .309 .....&&&**((^$#$ ... . ..(scuse me!) ... limited budget like a lot of us these days. Well , didn't want to fight with Lyman .... thought about picking up a lee mold .. thinking of the possible routes to take , kind of depressing while eating my turkey ....

    Well here came along Mr Beagle .... been reading about the process now and then , didn't think much of it ... Ha ! till now ... THANK YOU Mr Beagle ! , you saved a beginner in casting for rifle ...
    Ran down to Ace hardware , picked up a roll of tape and played with the mold today.
    put on one little strip between and outside of both cavities ... they came out at .310.5 or .311 ... yessssss ! with just a tad of finning now and then.
    put on one more little layer of tape ..... 311.5 to .312 .. alright ! ... just a bit of finning at the mold lines ... this I will live with for now as they uniformly size now at .311.5

    Once again .. thank you Mr. Beagle ... you made my day .. week ... month ..year or ....

    Now I can proceed with the rest of the process for my Garand ....

    digger
    Last edited by Digger; 11-24-2012 at 12:50 AM.

  18. #18
    Boolit Man


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    Ah, great how to, thank you sir. I have 2 moulds that I will try that with this weekend to see if I can get them into service making some useful boolits.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy

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    Thank you for your valuable contribution. Seems like you have answered a question I hadn't even asked yet. I seem to have a few rifles that have shall we say "generous" bore dimensions, and your procedure looks like it will take care of that problem for me. Heck, I may even be able to use Lyman's notoriously undersized molds now.

  20. #20
    Boolit Mold
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    Thanks for this article. I am tempted to use a .355 mold to get a .358

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check