I have a Bodine Pedersoli 45/90 that was originally a 45/70 I tried all sorts of loads and it will not group ! can anyone tell me how to check a chamber to see if it was recut to accomidate jacketed bullets and not lead ? I know about carosafe making a cast of chamber !is there any other way ? I shot 405 Gr laser cast in this rifle and they keyholed at 50 yards !

You might try this question on http://www.shilohrifle.com/forums/ or http://www.bpcr.net/index-a.htm
but of course if you are shooting that white powder there may be no help for you at all
There are a lot of guys on those sites that are really helpful.

bad news - if it keyholes, the barrel is oversized...

have it slugged -- there's probably nothing wrong with the chamber

One other thing you need to check is the crown be sure it isn't damaged it only takes a small burr to cause inaccuracy.

Fellows Thanks for your help ! here is what I found this afternoon ! first of all this rifle was originally a 45/70 and then it was made into a 45/90 as I got it at a gun show last year , the truth of it's shooting horribly !! It is chambered 2.600 = 45/100 what surprise for me ! I ordered brass today from midway .

has nothing to do with it keyholing ..

your B A R R E L is over sized

S L U G it ..

the C H A M B E R is a symptom, but not anything that can cause it to keyhole

i have personally shot 45/70 in a 45/120 chamber (like 1.2" longer!!!) and no keyholing

The lazer cast 405 were the only bullets that keyholed , the groves are .458 , I will slug it and reply !

sluged barrel .450 lands .4588 groves all 4 sides

feel any REALLY loose spots?

keyhole is over sized barrel or POSSIBLELY too slow a twist.. your chamber isn't part of that problem

Yes I did 1/4 down from muzzle it was easier to shove lead in fir maybe 3 inches .

ouch .. okay, do you know how to use 2 dowels to squish the slug? get it in the loose spot, tap it from both ends, and drive it ouy the "easy" way

sorry man

It's after 12:here and my old bones are tired tomorrow I will do more to find just what is wrong ! if it is to bad then I will get a Green mountain and put it on .

Jeffeosso is right in that it might be an over sized barrel. The "loose spot" doesn't sound good.... Since you are using commercially cast bullets it might also be the bullets. For safety, factory cast bullets have to fit the tightest barrel they might encounter. They are therefore, the same size or smaller dia. than the bores of some of the barrels they are used in. Cast bullets usually work best when they are about .001 larger than the barrel bore dia.

When you make your own, for the best accuracy, you make a barrel casting and then adjust your mold and/or your alloy to create the optimal size for your particular gun. If your barrel is on the high side of the acceptable tolerance and the laser cast bullets are on the low end, you have an ideal situation for keyholes. If you do have a larger bore and are planning on using cast bullets you might have to cast your own or have them cast for you to the correct specs. Cast bullets are great but when used for accuracy they have to be tailored to the gun. If your lucky the commercial cast bullets fit correctly but it is not always the case. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ is about the best site I've found for information about bullet casting. There is also detailed information about chamber and bore casting.

I haven't had a gun key hole bullets but I have also heard of them caused by the bullets not stabilizing due to the relationship between bullet weight, twist rate of the barrel and velocity. It's one of the many little challenges that sometimes arise in the shooting sports. Someone else will have to go into the details however as again I have not had this problem to date.

I loaded Cast bullet s for all tests I did with this rifle , wheel weights Lyman molds , .458 sizer , 292Gr. 400gr. 385gr. 405gr. HodgdonT72F 70 gr.215Fed mag primers ! walters cards ! No smokless rounds ! Cleaned after 3 shots with 1000wonder lub patch on brush ! barrel is 34 " with 1in18 twist ! I believe Jeff is correct the barrel has a definate problem ! that's why I got such a great deal on it at the gun show .
I never give up ! I will fix it ! and I really appreciate all you members help !
Thank you all !

you could try either minie balls (expanding skirt) or .. well, it DOES work.. fire 10 shots, DON'T CLEAN IT and the fire for groups... if you are just barely at the edge, you MIGHT have no keyholes

I built an ultralight 308 for myself .. in fact, the first plastic fantastic i built for ME . . mexican muaser -- an ULA stock repurposed, and a TINY little barrel that i got from one of the on line houses (that should have been okay)

to make a long story short, it came in at under 7# with scope and 4 rounds of 308... I was liking that...

took it to the range.. keyholed
waitaminute
keyholed
HUH??!?!?

move to 25 yards -- keyholes, but groups (let me tell you, that was weird)

adjusted scope, hey, the groups are getting better...

another group - yep, i can live with that...

clean the bore

aim in for 1 shot fouler...

KEYHOLE
@$@$ @#@#$%@% #$@^^@#%$ 2#@#$@#$ #^#^ is about what I said

about 8 more shots, and it was shooting reasonable groups, correctly, with a keyhole within 2" in a 5 shot group.

FINE (isn't EXACTLY the word i used)

Boxed it up, took it pig hunting for the next week - oh, did i forget to mention i was going hunting with it, for a REASON ...

You could tell when the bullet had keyholed.. was like hitting them with a 35 whelen rather than 308

loaded some .311 bullets, and it shot GREAT --

i just couldn't stand having a "311" instead of a 308 .. so I yanked the barrel and made it a 358 winchester

which is alot of fun and is a pig getter

I will try shooting unsized bullets lubed by hand .460 cast and I won't clean barrel after 3 shots , if it is a dud I will put a new barrel on it and I will still come out with a great rifle and still have a under cost savings ! I will keep you informed of the results .
conho