Pedersoli 45-70 chamber

[PJ Hardtack]

Those of you with Ped '74's ....

Is there a free bore before the leade that would let you seat out a Lyman 457125/500 gr bullet one grease groove?

The chamber of my Farmingdale 'Business Rifle' has no free bore, disallowing this. All rounds must have the bullet fully seated.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to do this with the Ped 'Silhouette' rifle I have coming. I want to take advantage of the 32" barrel and increase the powder charge from what I'm using in my 28" 'Business Rifle'.

[Blair]

PJ,

Try contacting Pedersoli for the info you are looking for.
www.davide-pedersoli.com

My best,
 Blair

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

My Pedersoli Sharps usually has the bullet seated with the first grease groove just barely covered. That is, with several different styles. My current favorite is the 405gr. Lyman, but the Gould hollow point seats about the same, as does the RCBS BPCR. My 457125 rolled in wheel weight metal is a bit too large for the Pedersoli if the throat is fouled with even one shot. This one, and the Schmitzer are now sitting idle.

If you use the cleaning rod trick you can easily find out your seating depth. Drop your (sized, if you do that.) bullet into the throat and give it a light tap with your rod to keep it from falling out. Insert the rod from the front and mark the rod when it touches the bullet nose. Tap out the bullet and close the action on an empty chamber and mark the rod for the full muzzle to breach depth. The distance between the two marks is your overall length "depth-to-tap". Start your load development from there and alter to find the sweet spot.

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[PJ Hardtack]

Thanks, Sir Chuck! I'll do that once the rifle is in my hot, little paws. My main 'heavy' bullet is the Lyman 457125, so I'm hoping that it will allow seating out by one grease groove.
Simply looking at the chamber will reveal the chamber configuration, but confirmation as per your description will settle it. In the case of my Shiloh 'Business Rifle', it is patently obvious that there is no leade before the rifling.

I've been researching all the articles written by Mike Venturino on the topic of BPCR reloading (I have a hoard of "Rifle" and "Handloader" magazines) and learned why so many BPCR rifle shooters rely on custom bullet moulds.

According to MV: "Ideally, the Lyman 457125 needed a .448/.449 nose with wide and deep grease grooves. Such has been Lyman's standard now for about 20 years. That bullet is never a bad choice for beginners in the BPCR Silhouette game."

"Earlier Lyman/Ideal had made several versions, all labelled 457125. Some had pencil thin grease grooves while others had the wide and deep grooves we wanted to hold as much lube as possible. Some 457125 moulds dropped bullets with noses only .439 in diameter while others went as large as .452."

I miked the  bullets cast from my 457125 moulds and they have noses measuring .449, so I am within spec, so any chambering issues has to do with leade.

One of MV's custom bullets is the 544 gr Brooks "Creedmoor" which has no front driving band, enabling it to be seated out further to increase powder capacity. Paul Jones offers a similar 555 gr design with no front driving band.

An interesting design is the Paul Jones 500 gr with extra large grease grooves and a small meplat. I like the idea of that so as to negate the need for grease cookies. I get a grease "star" at the muzzle of my Business Rifle, indicating that the Lyman 457125 carries enough grease for it's 28" barrel. It remains to be seen if it is sufficient for a 32" barrel.

Someone asked awhile back about the origin of the "Schmitzer" bullet. It was deigned by a now-retired Lyman employee, Ed Schmidt.

Venturino admits that several designs he initiated proved less than satisfactory in competition. However, he also admitted that each rifle is an entity unto itself and that dictates what works and what does not.