Best material and adhesive for beagling?

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Last Post 24 April 2020

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John Alexander posted this 16 April 2020

For years I have been simply gluing small squares of aluminum foil on one, or the other, or both faces of the mold block, with white glue, until the bullet diameter perpendicular to the parting line fit the throat for the best accuracy. This of course makes the bullet out of round but they shoot better than a round bullet that doesn't fit and even win a match now and again. The good thing is I can adjust the bullet diameter by adding more layers of foil and they are easily removed for reversing the process. The problem is the heat degrades the white glue and the foil spacers migrate around with use and sometimes fall off.

What materials are better for beagling spacers and glue?

John

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JeffinNZ posted this 16 April 2020

High temp automotive RTV.

Cheers from New Zealand

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Mike H posted this 16 April 2020

I haven’t done a lot of casting with the beagle guy method,but what I used worked at the time.What I used was aluminium tape,I think it is used to seal air conditioning joints,my supply came in a box of sundries purchased at an auction.One roll would go close to a worldwide supply.

Mike.

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Ross Smith posted this 17 April 2020

Do you get flashing when beagling?

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John Alexander posted this 17 April 2020

It depends on how thick the shim. for 0.002" your get flashing which requires fingernail work. No big deal but it does add time.

John

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Ross Smith posted this 17 April 2020

Thanks John. How close do you try to get the shim to the bullet cavity?

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Qc Pistolero posted this 18 April 2020

I double up for what MikeH said.Exept I bought mine at a different place.

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JeffinNZ posted this 18 April 2020

The secret is not to run the alloy too hot and not put it under too much pressure.

Cheers from New Zealand

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Head_Shot posted this 18 April 2020

+1 for aluminum duct tape as Mike H recommended. I only have one Lyman mold that requires beagling but it works like a charm. A 1/16" x 1/2" sliver of tape on opposing edges of the blocks does the trick. I've had no issue with flashing. Agree that one roll of tape would supply every caster in the world.

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R. Dupraz posted this 18 April 2020

Pretty much as Head Shot wrote. I cast between 725 and 750 degrees or just hot enough to make good bullets depending on the mold with no flashing either unless the temp of the melt is too hot. Then the aluminum tape loosens after the adhesive is "burned" off the tape.

Commercial aluminum furnace duct tape is longer lasting than the generic stuff from the local Walmart, Menards or hardware store.

Apologize for the fuzzy photo, My old digital is getting tired.

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John Alexander posted this 18 April 2020

Ross Smith asked: "Thanks John. How close do you try to get the shim to the bullet cavity?"

It's not important to get it close and since the way I have been doing it the shim sometimes migrates around a bit I try to keep it at least 1/8" away.

Maybe in line with the suggestion above if I keep the temperature lower it will migrate less.

John

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Maven posted this 18 April 2020

John, I find that I get no "tape migration" if I cut the tape long enough to wrap around the bottom and sides of the mould rather than using smaller pieces.

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Ross Smith posted this 19 April 2020

Full of questions today.... does beagling make putting gas checks on difficult?

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Balhincher posted this 19 April 2020

Just wondering... Have any of you beaglers noticed any increase of the smaller bullet diameter (the one not beagled) when the bullet is sized? In other words does some of the extra metal that makes the bullet fatter in one dimension squish around and "grow" the smaller diameter. This seems like a possibility at least with softer alloys.

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Maven posted this 20 April 2020

I've only had to "beagle" one mould that had a gas check shank, but had no problems seating gas checks afterward. The process did what I wanted, namely to increase the nose diameter of the bore rider I used.

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John Alexander posted this 20 April 2020

Ross -- Like Maven, I have only tried to increase the nose of the bullet so the shims were on the bottom of the mold and had little effect on the gas check shank. I assume if gas checks now available were now almost too tight (as seems to be true with most of my molds) and you wanted to increase the back of the bullet by beagling it would make things worse.

Balhincher -- That's a good question. I am going to be casting some bullets with an unbeagled mold, then add shims and cast another batch for two different rifles I will measure and see if there is any effect on the other diameter.

John