Mould Enlargement “beagling”

[45nut]

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/MoldMods/BDE.pdf

John Goins/aka beagle

[Shiloh]

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

Shiloh

[wiljen]

the tape works fine with aluminum molds.

[garra]

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

[georgewxxx]

garra, You might try looking for an old Ideal/Lyman 32360, 32361, or 32362 on eBay. The 32360 does come up fairly often.

[1874Sharps]

You know, I think I have seen some commercials on TV on this subject of "natural mold enhancement"!!!

[truckmsl]

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.

[chuebner]

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.

[Dframe]

Great information. MANY thanks to Beagle for his experimentation.

[beagle]

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


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

[leftiye]

Ream out the lands. (do not ream out the grooves)

[garra]

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.

[white eagle]

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 !

[Catch]

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.

[beagle]

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


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.

[wellfedirishman]

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.

[Digger]

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 .....&&&**((^$#$ ...[smilie=b: . ..(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 ....:awesome:

digger

[JSAND]

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.

[searcher4851]

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.

[GSRacer]

Thanks for this article. I am tempted to use a .355 mold to get a .358

[30CalTy]

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 !

Tried it! I just cut a 1/4" wide strip and laid it across the pin holes and folded the ends over the edge (356402 mold).

I was wondering how often I'd be fussing with the foil trying to get it back in place. The answer was--not once!

[snglstack]

Just wanted to say thank you for this thread. About twelve years ago I looked at a new Marlin 336CB in 38-55. I did not put it down until I had it in my truck, hehehe. Found a double cavity mold on Ebay and figgered I was all set. Also bought brass and a box of .380 bullets (Lasercast). I've finally used up that box of bullets, and last week cast some from that mold. I did not realize, in all those years, that it cast .377/.376 boolits. Really poor accuracy. Dang. Turns out this was originally a .358 mold someone reamed out to .377/290gr and 260 ( more or less). Pondered using a boolit and some kind of abrasive to open the cavities up a little and then ran across this thread. So I tried it. They are coming out at .381 now, no seam crease, no leakage, and a bit heavier boolit, which I like. Have yet to load em up and try em, but I am feeling positive about results. I used an aluminum strip on each half of the mold, between and on both sides of each cavity. What a great idea this was. Thanks again. Just as an aside...I've studied firearms and ammunition for well over fifty years, and still, almost daily, i learn something new, such as Beagling. And the other day, saw in AR a Cooper, double action, percussion 1851 Navy. I did not know that double actions were being made that early....just goes to show, when you think you know even a lot of it, yer still ignerent of some things.

[mold maker]

We are all born plum full of ignorance. If we're lucky enough to fill in some of the holes, we are still left with lots more hole than knowledge. One life time isn't near enough, to learn it all.
Thanks to this forum, we can collectively fill a lot of the holes, at the same time.

[Garyshome]

My 9mil.sized big for a .356 boolit. have to try this out! Thanks!!!!

[Mr. Farknocker]

I tried this technique the other night on my 6 cavity Lee mold and made over 500 bullets. about 2/3rds the way through, the tape below the cavity peeled off. The remaining strips in between the cavities stayed in place, however,and the bullets did not appear to be affected. Anybody have suggestions on how to keep the tape in place? Perhaps I need to wrap the tape around the edges so that it "hugs" the mold? Any suggestions would be helpful.

[a.squibload]

I tried it, the results convinced me to lap a 44 mold with valve compound.
Glad I did, fits better now.

[Wayne S]

Tape on one side wasn't enough to get the bands up to throat Dia. so I've added tape to the other side. Since this is a long .225 rifle bullet I'm concerned about the nose being .003+ out of round and the smallest side not coming up to bore ID and thus "sized" going down the bore. But as the old saying goes The proof is in the pudding ie; for you youngsters that =a trip to the range will tell [smilie=1:

[Boogieman]

I tried this technique the other night on my 6 cavity Lee mold and made over 500 bullets. about 2/3rds the way through, the tape below the cavity peeled off. The remaining strips in between the cavities stayed in place, however,and the bullets did not appear to be affected. Anybody have suggestions on how to keep the tape in place? Perhaps I need to wrap the tape around the edges so that it "hugs" the mold? Any suggestions would be helpful.

I found some stainless steel tape once it's on & hot it's had to get off.I think it came from Walmart

[a.squibload]

...Anybody have suggestions on how to keep the tape in place? Perhaps I need to wrap the tape around the edges so that it "hugs" the mold? Any suggestions would be helpful.

Sorry, I missed that.
Try previous post by White Eagle in this thread, about aluminum foil.
Easier to deal with!

[centershot]

I seem to be having a hard time finding the high temp flue tape in my area, will regular HVAC tape hold up for this process?

[mac1911]

Also nothing local for me. Found some brass shim stock at hobby store. It has no adhesive. Might try some high temp silicone?

[shoot-n-lead]

I beagled another one last night and got the typical, excellent, results.

[rsrocket1]

Also nothing local for me. Found some brass shim stock at hobby store. It has no adhesive. Might try some high temp silicone?

Do you have an Ace Hardware or Hobby Lobby near you?
I got some copper foil tape which is used for stained glass window crafts at Hobby Lobby (http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/1/4-copper-foiling-tape-182162/)
127665

This tape is 1.5 mils thick.

I heard, but did not check for aluminum high temperature tape at Ace works also.

[62chevy]

Here ya go aluminum foil tape at Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-Tape-1-89-in-x-50-yd-322-Multi-Purpose-HVAC-Foil-Tape-1207792/100030120

127694 (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-Tape-1-89-in-x-50-yd-322-Multi-Purpose-HVAC-Foil-Tape-1207792/100030120)

[Boogieman]

I use a foil tape from Walmart It is made by 3M , #3311 foil tape . after it gets hot it's hard to get off

[mold maker]

That 3M tape is good stuff. A falling limb punched a small hole in my aluminum roof on the shed. Several layers made a temporary patch that held so well, it's still there 8 years later.
I've also beageled 2 moulds with it. They too are still holding after thousands of casts..

[kbstenberg]

Well you guy's stole some of my thunder. Like White Eagle I use regular tin foil. But I use high temp gasket sealer to bind the foil to the mold.
To form the thinnest patch that I can. I will put my peases of foil that have a very lite coating of the gasket sealer on the mold cover the casting face of the mold with saran wrap. Put the mold halves together and place in a vice with pressure on the mold until the sealer is cured.
The foil hasn't come off in 4 or 5 casting sessions.

[triggerhappy243]

How thick is that foil tape?

[fastdadio]

I seem to be having a hard time finding the high temp flue tape in my area, will regular HVAC tape hold up for this process?

If your talking about regular silver colored duct tape...Nope, it will burn.

[mold maker]

Only the aluminum tape is allowed for duct sealing here, and it's the right stuff for beagling molds.

[Animal]

I'm about to try something with my Lee 6 cavity 429-200-rf. It gives me bullets with a dia. of .425 along the mold part line and up to .435 across. I really would like it to drop a nice .431, but I will take a nice .430. I'm under the impression that beagling the mold would only be helpful if the part line was closer to spec. I'm worried I'll just make the bullet even more egg shaped if I use the tape method. I thought about sending the mold back, but I'm worried I'll just trade one problem for another by doing so.
I've got a tube of valve grind compound. If the weather cooperates, I'll try lapping this mold on Wednesday. This seems like the logical step, but I may be wrong. I've read up on the Leementing articles and feel like I've got a pretty good idea of what has to go on. My plan,
1. Get mold/alloy to temp by casting until I get nice bullets
2. Lay my hex nuts over each cavity (without the spruce closed)
3. Pour my alloy
4. While the alloy is cooling, probably engrave 1,2,3 and so on on top of each bullet spruce before opening the mold (quickly)
5. Open mold and drop casting into water.
6. Coat the lands in the cavities with compound
7. Install one bullet, rotate with wrench until it rotates with very little resistance.
8. Complete the rest of the cavities in the same manner
9. Begin casting and measure new bullets.

Sound like a good plan?

[mold maker]

That's how I've successfully done it. It enlarges the smaller of the 2 dimensions first. Continued with second set of boolits will increase the over all, more round, size. It can enlarge and round the lube grooves edges slightly depending on the mould material.
The old adage of "do a little and check a lot," is in order here.

[Animal]

Very good. I felt like I was on the right track. I just wanted to hear it from someone who has tried it. I didn't think much about how it would effect the lube grooves. I suppose this shouldn't be an issue though because I like to tumble with LLA. If I decide to try a pan lube, I wouldn't be surprised if the enlargement of the lube grooves helps. Lee isn't known for generous lube groove size.
If this doesn't work out, I might just try one of those fancy NOE, Accurate or Hardline molds. Thanks

[Animal]

I managed to open the cavities enough to bring my low spots to a .430. They are sizing concentrically now. I suppose the next step is to load them and shoot them. Hopefully the leading stops.

[Jlw6636]

Will be attempting with my .356 Lee mold
Thanks