I don't know whether this actually would be better posted in Gunsmithing or Collecting as it has elements of both, so for now I am posting it in both rooms to see what I get.  As I have mentioned previously I have a Ballard Pacific that is right in appearance but has a mismatched barrel and fore end from the rest of the rifle.  I went through and scrubbed the barrel thoroughly today and found that it comes up shiny in the bore, but there are some small pits noticeable, espcially in the grooves.  Since it is a .40-90, getting brass to build loads for it has been problematic.  I have a set of moulds from B&D that should throw the right sized bullets, based on the test bullets Jim included when delivered and the bore slugging I did at the time.  I have 3 types of brass, each of which needs some significant alteration, 9.3X74R RWS brass that fits but has too small a rim for the extractor to pick up, .405 brass from Norma that has rims waaay too thick to allow the block to close and is short as well, and BELL Basic .40 that is too long as is and will at least have to have almost a quarter inch removed to chamber in this rifle.

     My dilemma is that I hate to do all the work on that brass only to find out the bore is not going to be accurate enough for me to use for BPCS, the intended role I have planned for it.  Other than the serial number on the bottom, the barrel is unmarked as to caliber or even manufacturer, though it fits what appears to be an unaltered original Pacific fore end.  How do you collectors and gunsmiths weigh in on the idea of reboring the original (but not to this rifle) barrel to .45 and shooting either .45-70 or .45-90 in it?  Since the barrel has no caliber markings on it now, I am thinking that changing the caliber might be a good thing rather than a sacrilege.  What think ye?

TIA for all constructive input.  Froggie

Frog,
If you already have a mold I would make up some cases and try it. It will probably shoot OK if the pitting is not too bad. You may find that you like the .40 cal. recoil a little better than the .45 also. I have found that shortening the cases goes a lot faster if you use your metal lathe with a stop set to at least hog off the major overage. When you put them in the three jaw chuck just pull them out untill the rim catches on the back of the jaws. That way you have some reference and do not need to reset the stops for every shell.

I'll second what Brent wrote.  Open your wallet and let the moth's out GF

                                                                                Joe.
                                               

That's another job for Dave Casey at RMC.  Send him a casting of your chamber and he can make you custom fit brass

Brent