460 Rowland

[R1ch]

Previosly, I thought someday I would consider getting a 44 Magnum.

But now that I stumbled upon the 460 Rowland, I am asking myself if I should consider this instead:

Info on 460 Rowland:
http://460rowland.com/about/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.460_Rowland

Clark Custom has a kit for a 1911 such as a Kimber:
www.clarkcustomguns.com/rowland.htm

This site seems to be promoting a conversion kit for M&P, XD (I think I'd prefer a full metal gun if it was a 460 Roland, but it's fun to think about):
www.460rowland.com

Does anyone here have an experiance with a 460 Rowland conversion kit, and creating handloads for it?

If so, I'd love to hear your direct experience with it.

Thanks!

 

[gerrycaruso]

The 2nd edition of Modern Reloading by Richard Lee has lead bullet loads in 240 250 and 255 grains. I think the .444 uses micro groove rifling which is not usually good with lead bullets. It may be OK with hard cast lead at low velocity. You may need to go to a gas checked bullet which could raise the cost to that of some jacketed bulets.

 

[Team7]

Two of my buddies have this Clark conversion on their S&W 1911's. I'm not sure what their loads are, but I know they both use Power Pistol and Blue Dot.

The round is pretty loud with the comp, but at the same time recoil wasn't that bad. I expected the gun to really recoil, but the compensator really works. Recoil felt just a little bit more than 230 grain ball load. The kit was extremely accurate, I shot five rounds at 10 yards into a quarter size hole. I couldn't believe it!

Here's an article I passed to my buddies a while ago: http://www.realguns.com/archives/106.htm

Hope it helps.

 

[DukeInFlorida]

Ask Bob_J to show you how he makes his own gas checks for almost FREE.

The 2nd edition of Modern Reloading by Richard Lee has lead bullet loads in 240 250 and 255 grains. I think the .444 uses micro groove rifling which is not usually good with lead bullets. It may be OK with hard cast lead at low velocity. You may need to go to a gas checked bullet which could raise the cost to that of some jacketed bulets.

 

[R1ch]

Team7, thanks for posting that article, I had read it before.

I'm glad to hear you buddies like it. If anyone else has experience with it, I'd love to hear what your thoughts are pro or con.

 

[R1ch]

I just thought I'd post a follow up to this.

I finally did get a 460 Rowland Clarks conversion for a 1911.

I've been using it for Pin Shoots with my own handloads. I'm using 230 grain Hornady XTP bullets with Longshot powder and getting about 1330 FPS.

The first time out, I took first place in Open class at my club. This is the class where the best usually bring their race guns out to play. I was shooting against everything and most others had compenstators as well as red-dot optics and who knows what else type of race guns.

I was using a fairly off the shelf 1911 with the Rowland 460 conversion, iron sights.

It was fun, not missing one pin, then making a shoot off for first place with 5 other competitors most of which are much more experienced than me.

Because of the number of competitors in the shoot off, they decided to shorten the time to shoot from 7 seconds down to 3 seconds. Yes, I had to clear the table of 5 pins in 3 seconds! I missed one pin, and had to make 6 shots, but I cleared the table in the 3 seconds! I think this speaks well for the controllability of the Rowland 460 conversion.

The second match I went to a month later, I came in second place at the shoot off against one other competitor. Why? I was so excited by making the shoot off again, I forgot to watch my front sight!

One thing I will mention, I don't know if I believe all the published loading data that is available for the Hornady 230 grain XTP for the 460 Rowland. Some published data says to load to an COAL of 1.27 inches when using the Hornady 230 grain XTP bullet. Well, 1.27 inches in a Hornady 230 grain XTP won't feed into the magazine of a 1911 (it's not even close)! I spoke to several people about this, all but one claimed that 'it must be right, no one else has ever complained'! One person (Hornady technical support) thought that someone couldn't read their own hand writing and probably transcribed the OAL as 1.27 when their handwriting probably said 1.25 inches. I think I agree, but suggest that if you're reading this, you follow the published loading data and not listen to me as this is a high power (pressure) round.

In short, the 460 Rowland is a lot of fun!

 

[DukeInFlorida]

Congrats, R1ch!

It's nice to see someone take a chance on something like that, and have it work out so well.

I recently did the 357 Sig conversion on my P229, and it has also turned out to be a slick set up.

Sometimes, things don't turn out so well, but I'm glad that it did for you in this instance!

Safe reloading! See you at the workshop.

 

[R1ch]

Thanks! I'll bring it to the next NES event, but only one that is not in MA!

I may bring some fired brass to the reloading class to get some opinions from those of you that have more experience with high pressure rounds than I have. There is a small issue going on with some primer flow. Clark Customs says that this is common with Kimber conversions in this high pressure round because the Kimber's use a full size 1911 firing pin, and they recommend sending in the slide and having the firing pin hole bushed down in size so it can accept a 9mm size firing pin. They say a Springfield Armory 1911 uses a 9mm firing pin and doesn't exhibit this problem.

 

[TrashcanDan]

Necro thread time

Starting a project to get back in the swing of things. Baby steps.
Found an online vendor for brass, ordered 200 cases. Starline.
Looks like I can use my current .45 dies to load. Might order another set because I hate adjusting the SqDeal.
Might have a frame providing I don't to trim the rails and the barrel cut will work. Looks like its a standard 1911 ramp.
Going the long slide route because why not. I'll either order a slide and build it out or find a used beater.
Found some load data here and here. Going heavier than the hum-drum 230's.

So aside from the powder listed in those 2 links, anyone have any luck with powders not listed or favorites that you've played around with?

 

[Quite_Exasperated]

Keep us posted please, interested to see how this goes..