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460 ROWLAND

2K views 12 replies 6 participants last post by  kstirner 
#1 ·
I bought a Kimber Aegis Elite Custom over a year ago, with the intent of converting it to 460 Rowland. After a go-around with Rowland, I wound up buying the kit from Clark's. I plan on using it on deer, whitetail and mulies, and possibly elk. My original intent was to use solid lead bullets from Missouri Bullet Co, But I also picked up a couple boxes of 250 gr. Speer Deep Curls. My best loads with the lead bullets ran 2" @ 25 yds. with over 1250 fps velocity. The Speer bullets gave me 1177 fps and a 1.5" group with a SD of 9.6. Knowing that the lead bullet would give me good penetration, I loaded a couple of Speers for a water jug test. I used regular milk jugs, and some ECOS laundry detergent jugs. These have very thick walls, and are 7" thick so I put them in the front of the line. At the shot, it was just like the film clips on the Rowland web site. There was water everywhere. It even came back at me for 10-12 feet. It blew the caps off both ECOS bottles, and split 2 walls of the first bottle. It mushroomed in the first bottle and dented the far wall of the second bottle. The recovered bullet looked like a starfish. The 7 petals opened up and curled back slightly. It measured 1.42" in diameter, and still weighed 250 gr! I was impressed!

I also took my Springfield TRP long slide in 10mm with me. I shoot a 200 gr coated Missouri Bullet Co at 1130 fps. That bullet penetrated 3 ECOS bottles and a milk jug set diagonally to the line of fire, and kept on going. There appeared to be a little expansion of the bullet in the first jug. I searched for the bullet, but couldn't find it. Again, there was water everywhere.

I chose these pistols because they are 1911s, and the optics were factory installed. They both have co-witnessed iron sights. I bought the 10mm first, and chose the Kimber because I like the rounded butt better than a straight one.

The question now is do I go with the 250 gr lead bullet for through and through penetration, knowing that part of the season there will be no snow on the ground, or the devastation of the Speer bullet?
 
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#2 ·
kstirner, welcome to the site from Tennessee.
 
#4 ·
Kstirnir,
Go with the 250 gr. lead RN bullets. They will be perfect.

I accidentally got involved with setting up a 1911 for .460 Rowland a couple years ago, and use almost nothing but my cast lead 250 gr. RN bullet, with a lube mixture of 50/50 Alox and bees wax, and Blue Dot or Unique. I thought all the power talk was mostly hype, but it isn't. This is basically a semiauto 1911 with close to .44 magnum power. I also have the Clark kit. Use only it.

But note, and this is important. It is really essential to use the Clark kit and its compensator, not some other ordinary barrel. That is all that keeps your gun from self destructing. This comp really works, and prevents the slide and frame from being battered beyond repair. It also makes recoil quite mild, and cases drop right beside you with recommended full loads. The people at Clark know what they are doing, because they actually developed this round, not Rowland.

But for the rest of you, look into this cartridge. I shouldn't say this, but you can actually load it in .45 ACP cases, in a pinch. They are strong enough. Starline says so. Specs for their .460 cases are the same as their .45 ACP cases, except for the 1/10" greater length, and they will feed from a 1911 magazine, with the rim being caught under the extractor, so they will not go too far into the longer chamber and will still fire; every time. Accuracy is just fine. But you have to be 100% sure these are not fired in a "normal" 1911, without the Clark proprietary compensator, or you will likely bust the gun...and maybe hurt something holding it.

With a 230 gr. lead RN bullet, 14 gr. Blue Dot, I chronographed a standard load at 1561 fps, for 1244 ft. lb.
I used several types of 180 grainers with Blue Dot and Unique, with results in the same general power and velocity range. This is a remarkable cartridge, again, basically a semiauto .44 magnum in a 1911 package. I don't understand exactly why this has not taken the shooting world by storm, unless folks are reluctant to promote it, because it could too easily be loaded in .45 ACP cases, blowing a lot of guns to pieces, in the hands of people with no common sense...which is becoming the new norm.

I'm at an age where I will not likely be climbing any Alaskan mountains to hunt grizzly bear, but I think this round might be adequate, with solid lead 250 gr. solid lead RN bullets that would open up nicely. The published numbers on these are legit. I've chronographed even the heavy 250 gr. bullets at around 1300 fps and examined them after penetrating a lot of pine, really opening up. And again, the recoil is pretty tame. Clark deserves a lot of credit.
 
#6 ·
Yes, but as I explicitly stated, there is no reason to worry about pressure. In a direct reply to another reloader, an expert at Starline made that clear. The brass and all base thickness dimensions are the same. Or you can just use their .460 Rowland cases. The thing to worry about is recoil and battering of the gun, if you don't use a barrel with the specific Clark muzzle brake installed. It dramatically reduces slide recoil velocity.
 
#11 ·
To lessen wear and tear on the frame, I installed a Sprinco Recoil Management System. Unfortunately, on the Aegis, the system only comes with a solid, one piece rod. This does add a little difficulty to the assembly and disassembly of the pistol. Due to the shortage of primers, I put the original 45 bbl back on, and will use that to practice with, since I am down to only 100 lg pistol primers. I have over 200 Blazer 45 cases and a lot of small pistol primers.
 
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