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Just did finishing touches on my handgun hunting long slide and thought I share my experience to-date. First off, why .460 Rowland?...power baby! I was used to 44 mag revolvers, but was looking for a semi-auto for hunting. The 460R is in the 44 mag ballistic range, but a tad lower than I was shooting in my revolvers. Not a problem, it will still do the job with the Underwood 255gr hardcast. Rowland states that their offering will shoot the 460R and 45acp without spring or barrel change…and it does, but more on that later. The 44 mag Deagle; didnt feel right in my hands, but the 1911 platform does. 460rowland.com does it right and their customer service has been good. First trip to the range:
After 20 rounds I was getting stove pipes and found that firing pin stop was too loose and sliding upward. Could have been loose tolerances on Kimber’s end or the stop just couldn’t handle the overall recoil of the 460R. Rowland resolved this issue and sent me a new FP stop. The FP stop would not move when firing 45acp. I did notice more recoil with the Kimber versus my 460 conversion of a Colt Gvt. If I recall correctly, the Colt was running a 20# recoil spring which probably contributed to the difference. The 460rowland Kimber runs the stock 16#. I also noticed that the brass was getting ejected somewhere into the next county. My next trip I ran only 45ACP just to get some trigger time and break-in rounds through it. The adjustable sights did their job for 25 yards, but these old eyes needed more for 50-75 yard shots. Total round count: 400-ish
I wasn’t getting a warm & fuzzy feeling about running the 16# spring and decided to do some tweaking. I added the Wilson Combat flat wire (17#) kit with shok-buffer. My goal was hopefully to improve the 460R recoil impulse, (which felt like it was hammering the frame) but still be able to run 45 ACP. I also installed a Stan Chen SI maxwell and VZ grips w/super scoop. This combo felt really good in my hands and the fit & finish is phenomenal for it being a DIY. Now I can do fast mag reloads when I miss all 4 deer that were standing broad-side at 40 yards!
I installed a MRD plate from EWG and topped it with a Vortex micro red dot. The compensator is from Valkyrie Dynamics. Had a smith install a WC bulletproof ambi safety (I wasn’t comfortable doing a safety fitting if needed). The safety ended up being a clean drop-in without any further adjustments. All the WC mags were installed with extra power springs as well as the Kimber 7 round mags.
Next range session:
I definitely noticed a change in recoil and felt like the muzzle rise was less. Did this muzzle brake work? Hard to say since I also did the spring and grip change for this range session. It did require a bit more fitting then I expected. The 460R brass was now retrievable, although I was still surprised how far it went and so didn’t the shooter 2 bays away from me…sorry about that brother! After 3 boxes of Underwood ammo, I was getting acceptable minute-of-deer groups but ran out of ammo and time. I had 2 FTF which were on the 3rd box, so I will attribute that to fatigue and a Sally limp wrist (my apologies to any Sally’s). Switching from 460R to 45ACP was a joy and felt like I was shooting a 380 ACP. Two boxes of 45 and not a single malfunction. Total round count to-date: 600
Conclusion: I’ve had 3 other 1911’s and this has been my favorite so far. It performs well, is versatile, has the horsepower I need for hunting and is a sexy as hell (but not a safe queen). This of course is not a carry pistol, so the Howitzer length and weight is a non-issue.
My next range session I plan on doing a little more tweaking and will run an 18# spring. I also will dial-in the Vortex better and show some of the 50 yard groups and throw a few to 100 just for $hits & giggles.
After 20 rounds I was getting stove pipes and found that firing pin stop was too loose and sliding upward. Could have been loose tolerances on Kimber’s end or the stop just couldn’t handle the overall recoil of the 460R. Rowland resolved this issue and sent me a new FP stop. The FP stop would not move when firing 45acp. I did notice more recoil with the Kimber versus my 460 conversion of a Colt Gvt. If I recall correctly, the Colt was running a 20# recoil spring which probably contributed to the difference. The 460rowland Kimber runs the stock 16#. I also noticed that the brass was getting ejected somewhere into the next county. My next trip I ran only 45ACP just to get some trigger time and break-in rounds through it. The adjustable sights did their job for 25 yards, but these old eyes needed more for 50-75 yard shots. Total round count: 400-ish
I wasn’t getting a warm & fuzzy feeling about running the 16# spring and decided to do some tweaking. I added the Wilson Combat flat wire (17#) kit with shok-buffer. My goal was hopefully to improve the 460R recoil impulse, (which felt like it was hammering the frame) but still be able to run 45 ACP. I also installed a Stan Chen SI maxwell and VZ grips w/super scoop. This combo felt really good in my hands and the fit & finish is phenomenal for it being a DIY. Now I can do fast mag reloads when I miss all 4 deer that were standing broad-side at 40 yards!
I installed a MRD plate from EWG and topped it with a Vortex micro red dot. The compensator is from Valkyrie Dynamics. Had a smith install a WC bulletproof ambi safety (I wasn’t comfortable doing a safety fitting if needed). The safety ended up being a clean drop-in without any further adjustments. All the WC mags were installed with extra power springs as well as the Kimber 7 round mags.
Next range session:
I definitely noticed a change in recoil and felt like the muzzle rise was less. Did this muzzle brake work? Hard to say since I also did the spring and grip change for this range session. It did require a bit more fitting then I expected. The 460R brass was now retrievable, although I was still surprised how far it went and so didn’t the shooter 2 bays away from me…sorry about that brother! After 3 boxes of Underwood ammo, I was getting acceptable minute-of-deer groups but ran out of ammo and time. I had 2 FTF which were on the 3rd box, so I will attribute that to fatigue and a Sally limp wrist (my apologies to any Sally’s). Switching from 460R to 45ACP was a joy and felt like I was shooting a 380 ACP. Two boxes of 45 and not a single malfunction. Total round count to-date: 600
Conclusion: I’ve had 3 other 1911’s and this has been my favorite so far. It performs well, is versatile, has the horsepower I need for hunting and is a sexy as hell (but not a safe queen). This of course is not a carry pistol, so the Howitzer length and weight is a non-issue.
My next range session I plan on doing a little more tweaking and will run an 18# spring. I also will dial-in the Vortex better and show some of the 50 yard groups and throw a few to 100 just for $hits & giggles.
