While shooting a rossi 92src, with one specific load I got keyholing of the bullets when they hit the target. The load was remington factory 38's with a 130 grain fmj bullet. What would cause this to happen? I did not notice it with any of the other 125 or 158 gr. loads (factory or handloads). Anyone out there experienced similar results? :confused:

The problem is easy to cure...the rifle didn't do it with the other types of ammo, only that one load...so don't shoot it anymore.

If the rifle shoots most ammo well, and one brand keyholes, the fault lies in that miss-match of that rifle and that ammo.

Caues: Proably the bullets are a tad small. Can't be their lenght and thebarrel twsit as the other loads mentioned work...being FMJ (and low velocity loads) it wouldn't likely be bullet stripping in the bore. Leaves instability from very poorly made (and unbalanced) bullets or a too small diameter bullet....of the two, tend to think it may be the too small diameter bullet.

Non-driectly related example. Was shooting a friend's .455 Webly converted to .45acp. Shot well with relaods, but a cylinder full of mil. spec. ball ammo keyholed on target. Dug out one of the offending bullets from the backstop.

Military bullets actaully miked .4505" unfired, and the fired example showed good rifling on some of the bullet...but only on the forward 1/2 of one side and the rearward 1/2 of the other. Bullet was evidenly geting "cocked" as it entered the larger bore, staying "cocked" as it ran theough the bore (sao that the front "down" side was engraved and the rear "up" side was engraved). Blackened along the sides, showed a good bit of gas blow-by as the bullet traveled doen the bore.

Recovered reloads (lead and jacketed) that didn't keyhole showed uniform rifling. Jacketed bullets were not rifled as deeply and there was some evidence of gas blow-by, but the lead bullets were uniformly rifled without any erosion of blow by...they both started out life larger (the commercail JHP's at .4515" and the lead bullets at a full .452")...and they ended life EVEN LARGER...measured actross the base, the jacketed bullets read .4523" and the lead bullets a full .4546".

The jacketed bulelts were thin enough to at leas partly slug-up...at least enough to center the barrel, be rifled uniformaly (if shallowly), and not key hole. The lead bullets sluged up to full bore diameter.

IS possible the FMJ bullets you used were a bit small and a bit thick/stiff jacketeed,,,and pressure wasn't enough to make them large enough.

Refresh my memory...are those the round nosed FMJ bullets or the flat nosed FMJ type? While proably not a problem, round nosed FMJ bullets and tubular magazines are not the best safety match up.

This may not relate to your experience but 12 yrs ago I bought a box of Carroll Brand .429 240 grain JHP bullets to shoot my 44 magnums. They came in a box of 500 pcs. When shooting them I couldn't hit the barn at 5 paces. These bullets were keyholing bad. I thought it could be the gun, and shrugged it off. I grabbed a Winchester 44 mag carbine and the same thing. A light bulb went off in my head and I left the range straight to the gun store and bought a new box of ammo. Guns shoot excellent with the new stuff. I never found out why the reloads were so bad. I measured the bullets, checked the crimps etc. I pulled all those that I loaded and I ended up throwing those bullets away. Possibly the bullets were heavy on one side? I will never know. I always made excellent rounds with never a problem. I don't buy this brand anymore.

ribbonstone- The remington 130 gr factory loads were a roundnose version. I never did recover any bullets since I was shooting on a 200+ yard range. My targets were set at 50 yds. and I could see the dust from these bullets all over the place. Many never hit the target. I like the simple fix, but it made me stop and think about what acutally stabilizes the bullet as it goes down the bore. Your comments could very well be valid. thanks