Beagling my mould and pc’ing the bullets?

[Baltimoreed]

I bought a clean 1942 No1 Mk3 Enfield sporter and am trying to get it to shoot. Ive got the rifle working ok [wouldn’t even feed rounds from the mag as the extractor was frozen in place] and have finally gotten a few decent [at <50 yds] inch and a half groups with .308 170gr jacketed bullets but as I want to use it in my clubs BAM matches [use steel targets] I need to shoot lead. My assortment of .30 cal lead bullets are either a too small dia or too light and want to keyhole. I wasn’t completely sure about the muzzle so I recut the crown with my facing tool. The bbl slugged to about .316. I have a nice Ideal 308329 mould that drops bullets at about .310 that I’m going to beagle but my question is can the beagled bullets also be pc’ed for good measure. I’ve pc’ed bullets before but never beagled a mould.

[lar45]

I can't think of any reason not to PC after beagling.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Beagling a mold only changes the diameter in one axis so you in effect cast an eliptical boolit!

[GregLaROCHE]

If you want to beagle the mold to get a larger diameter boolit, you will need a sizer of the correct diameter you are looking for. A beagled boolit no longer has a round diameter. When you size the boolit, you swage the excess lead round. You do risk reducing the depths of grease grooves.

[Sasquatch-1]

Have you tried shooting the powder coated bullets yet? PC can add to the diameter of the bullet.

[ndnchf]

Here is a short video I just made last week showing how to enlarge the diameter of a cast bullet using a sizing die. It stays round too!

https://youtu.be/ziBZeUS1DCI

[GregLaROCHE]

Here is a short video I just made last week showing how to enlarge the diameter of a cast bullet using a sizing die. It stays round too!

https://youtu.be/ziBZeUS1DCI

Interesting idea and video.

[Conditor22]

Beagling a mold only changes the diameter in one axis so you in effect cast an eliptical boolit!

I always thought this also.

For those who beagle molds--- do your boolits round out when sized?

PC adds .001 to .003 per coat, I would go with your regular coating process BUT when you bake multiple coats, only bake the coats until the PC flows, allow to cool to the touch, and repeat. you only bake the last coat the full bake cycle (for 2 or more coats I would recommend 30 minutes 400° in a preheated oven (preferably convection oven).

You could polish out the mold and gain a few thou in diameter

[ndnchf]

As shown in my my video, I just finished making a .437" bullet expanding die. I'm expanding Lyman 497098 bullets from.430 - .437" for use in a very early .44 rimfire Ballard rifle. I've done beagling before, but for my purposes, this is a better way.

[brstevns]

Beagling and PC has worked for me, in my .315 bore Martine 303 . Like said the correct sizing die brings them round, all but the area not touched by the sizer, such as parts of the nose.

[GregLaROCHE]

I tried to polish a steel mold once and I couldn’t make a dent in it. An aluminum mold is probably a different story, but I have never tried.

[Baltimoreed]

I watched your sizer die video the other day ndnchf. Very clever idea. I need to do some casting. Here’s what my muzzle looks like. Not too pretty. Initially thought that it was cleaned to death but now I wonder if its oblate wear on the corner of each of the lands. My first thought was to shorten the bbl but my question is- is the wear the entire bbl?
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Started another thread about the odd muzzle erosion, maybe I’ll get some response. I added some aluminum tape to one side of my mould. The tape mics at .003. Casted a pots worth and at the biggest they are .313. But I’m having issues with my pc not wanting to stick. My powder may be too old.

[GregLaROCHE]

Lee offers several . 312 cal molds. Unfortunately, as with many reloading items, they are out of stock. I believe the reason they are offered is because of the Enfields and some others, that because of original bore and groove size, need a larger boolit. I have a very old Lee .312 single cavity mold, that I use for my friend’s Mosin. You may forgo a lot of frustration if you can find a larger diameter mold.

Regarding your bore diameter, try slugging the first half centimeter and then extracting the slug. Try a little further down several times and measure the slugs. The end of the bore is the most important. If the gun was originally a military issue, it is possible a metal ramrod was used a lot and has worn down the bore at the muzzle. If that is the case, you can remove a bit from the end of the barrel. From everything I’ve heard, read and experienced, the wear doesn’t go that far down the barrel unless the entire barrel was severely rusted. In that case, I don’t think it would have been used for a sportier. However, you never know.

Let us know what you find and what you have decided to do.