My brother had one for a while, it shot very good with 300 & 405 grain stansard factory loads. It aslo shot very good with Cor-Bon and Garretts Hammer Heads and my reloads with 350 grain Hornadys. Try some factory jacketed loads.

The Garrets we had were the 420grain Hammer heads. The factory advised my brother that the Kodiak will take any load safe in the Marlin 45/70.

450 #2,
How heavy were the Garrett 45-70 slugs? I have heard that they are 540gr at 2100ft/sec or so. How do they stablize that beast in a 1/18 twist barrel?
Thanks,Ghost

Mbogo375,
Great post! I will try some of the loads you listed.
I don't know yet how much leading I am getting. I just finished shooting 2 hours ago, but I will check. The gun was purchased as new, but turned out to be slightly used, as I cleaned much lead from the barrels. I didn't chrony these shots because I don't own one yet. Have been using a friends chrony when needed. I used 500 grain Meister hard cast bullets made by a company here in Oklahoma. They are .458 diameter on the calipers and have some kind of dark blue colored lube in the 4 grooves. This is my first try with cast bullets and I am not educated as to the different lubes. I had planned on using Swift A-frames and Bridger solids when I rechamber to 450 #2 if possible. I wanted to get it working as a 45-70 before I rechambered to give me a reference velosity and bullet weight to work from.
Thanks again for the great post, Ghost

PS: I talked with Mackool's firearms in Tulsa about the 450#2 rechamber. They said that they have done several Kodiaks with no regulation problems according to the owners. $225 for both barrels.

First slug your barrel and make sure your bullets are .001 oversize. Second try a cast linotype bullet preferably with a gas check. Dollars to donuts its the bullet metal. I've seen similar results in 45-70's before with what people THOUGHT were HARD CAST bullets. I'll bet you a lunch they won't keyhole with a Linotype bullet at 1400-1700fps.-Rob

Rob,
I have never slugged a barrel. Do you just push a bullet through with a cleaning rod or something?

Good point on the "hard cast" bullets. I have no way of testing them, so I just read what the ad says. I have some 460 grain Lazercast bullets with gas checks. Would these work better?

What about jacketed bullets? I have most brands and weights.
Thanks, Ghost

key holing has a couple causes.. that may not be ALL of just one
1: undersized bullet
2: oversized bore
3: too slow a twist
4: too low velocity.

as for jacketed bullets, the 405 rem at 1700 is a slayer

jeffe

LOL reminds me of the very first centerfire rifle I bought. A sporterized 7X57. I mowed lawns all summer to get the money. Not even sure of which Mauser it was. Outside it looked great. Being a young kid never thought to check the insided of the barrel. Bought some factory ammo and at 100yd the holes were "sideways" No leaning but 100% sideways. LOL Lucky the store was fair and returned my money.

Jeffeosso,
My barrel is 24" with a 1:18" twist rate. I don't know if this is fast enough to handle a 500gr bullet? Mabey someone can share experience.
My bullets measured .458" diameter on the calipers, so they might be too small. They don't have a gas check and might be too soft.
The bullets were hitting left barrel to the left and right barrel to the right with 12" - 30" spread, so I wander if they might be too slow. Its hard to tell anything about regulation with the keyholing as it is. The primers look good...not flattened...and extraction is easy, so I could heat them up a bit for velosity. These loads were given to me by AR people shooting 1874 sharps with 500gr bullets. These guns should be around 1:18" twist, so I think its my bullets rather than the twist rate.
I think I'll try the 460gr Lazercasts, 400gr A-frames, and 350gr Hornady RN. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Ghost

should be fast enough...

i would try rem 405s.. and see what happens.. then call perdersoli

I was shooting 405gr cast cowboy action loads (loaded them myself) out of mine a few weeks ago. It was hitting the targets out to 100yards offhand. I would guess the were hitting right on. Havent tried any 500gr bullets yet. But the 300 and 405gr shoot great.