Taffin Tests the .460 Rowland [.44 mag power in the Model of 1911A1]

There are certain benchmark handguns by which all other handguns are judged. With sixguns it is the Colt Single Action Army dating from 1873 for single action sixguns to equal or surpass while with double action sixguns the measuring stick is the Smith & Wesson K- and N-frames dating back to 1899 and 1907 respectively. For those of us who use single shot handguns for silhouetting or hunting, the rallying point for good discussion is the Thompson/Center Contender, a relative new comer on the handgun stage going back to the 1960's.

We have seen a great deal of development of semi-automatics in the last decade with new cartridges and an array of models too numerous to count. Most of them have been of the double action variety. However with all the new technology the grand old 1911 is still king, is still the number one platform for custom 'smiths, and is certainly the "automatic" by which all others are judged. Has it ever really been improved upon other than by taking the basic model and adding good sights, a good trigger, and possibly for some of us who get pinched, a beavertail grip safety?

The Model 1911 in .45 ACP remains the epitome of what a fighting handgun should be. For hunting it is somewhat wanting when it comes to anything above large varmints which are better handled with the .38 Super chambering than the original .45. Yes, I know some have used the .45 for hunting such as wild hogs but I regard this as not a way to insure a long unscathed life. Use it often enough for such endeavors and eventually the wrong hog will take a hit in the wrong place and not be real happy about it!

Most of my hunting has been done with sixguns and single-shots not because I would not use a semi-auto but simply because those that are available, though amply powerful in such chamberings as .44 Magnum and .45 Winchester Magnum, are bigger and bulkier than handguns I want to pack. In addition to their overall great size the grip frames are too large for my stubby fingers to obtain what I consider a secure hold.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have a standard sized 1911 that would deliver a .44 Magnum payload with no more recoil than a .45 ACP? Dream on! Right? Wrong? That dream has now been realized with a new cartridge that is handled by any standard 1911 using a drop-in kit from Clark Custom Guns. The concept itself comes from Johnny Rowland who hosts the Shooting Show out of Louisiana. I hunted with Rowland during the Fourth Annual HHI World Championship Hunt and Competition put together by Blackie Sleeva and J.D. Jones on the YO last fall and found him to be a grand guy to be around and a dedicated handgun hunter as well as one who uses his show to fight for our gun rights.

Five months later found I found myself at the SHOT Show talking with Rowland at the Clark Custom Guns booth. He was all excited about a cartridge and showed me a couple of revolvers that had been re-chambered to .460 Rowland, a Ruger Blackhawk and a Smith & Wesson Model 625. I came away with a drop-in kit from Clark and set about putting a .460 Rowland together on a 1911 platform.

What then is a .460 Rowland? It is simply a .45 ACP case that has been stretched and strengthened. Starline is making the brass, head stamped ".460 ROWLAND", that is 1/16 of an inch longer than the standard .45 ACP (standard .45 ACP reloading dies work) with a beefed up interior. It will not chamber in guns designed to handle the .45 ACP and .45 ACP's will not properly chamber in semi-autos designed to take the .460 Rowland as they cannot headspace on the case mouth but will drop too far into the chamber. Double action sixguns chambered for the .460 Rowland will accept .45 ACP rounds by using half or full moon clips. CAUTION!! Some of the early 1917 revolvers dating back to World War One are chambered straight through and they may accept .460 Rowland rounds. It would be a disaster if they are fired in these old weak sixguns!!

To put a .460 Rowland together using the Clark Drop-in Kit, I took the Springfield Armory 1911 main frame off a Springfield Armory Single Shot pistol and ordered the necessary parts to complete the gun from Brownells. A slide was needed along with several inner parts such as a firing pin, firing pin stop, barrel link pin, and especially good sights. For the sights I chose a BoMar adjustable rear sight and a Clark post front sight. The slide proved to be very tight on my frame and it took a little work to loosen it up so it would work and then everything was delivered to Mike at Shapels to cut dovetails in the slide and install the sights. A pair of coco bolo grips from Herretts completed the package. If one starts with a completed 1911, it is only necessary to change the barrel and replace the standard spring with the 24 pound spring found in the drop-in kit to come up with a.460 Rowland. Standard 1911 magazines work with the .460 Rowland.

In addition to drop-in kits being available from Clark Custom Guns, completed guns are also to be offered including a Kimber Convertible with barrels for both .460 Rowland and .45ACP, a Dan Wesson revolver in .460 Rowland, and conversions offered on S&W M625's and Ruger Blackhawks originally chambered in .45 ACP. As mentioned Starline already has the brass and factory ammunition is available from Georgia Arms. The latter also offers another great idea of Rowland's, the .45 DA cartridge which is nothing more than the .45 Colt with a larger rim for positive extraction from double action sixguns. It works in any sixgun chambered for .45 Colt that does not incorporate recessed case heads in the cylinder.

Factory loads for the .460 Rowland are a 185 grain jacketed hollow point at 1550 fps, a 200 grain jacketed hollow point at 1450 fps, and a 230 grain jacketed hollow point at 1340 fps. Fired in my completed .460 Rowland, the 185 grain factory load does 1530 fps (and drops five shots into 5/8" at 15 yards), the 200 grainer does 1436 fps and, and the 230 clocks out at 1330 fps. For a comparison with .44 Magnum loads I fired the Federal 180 grain jacketed hollow point load from the five inch barrel of a Smith & Wesson Model 629 with the results being a muzzle velocity of 1564 fps. Hornady's 200 XTP .44 Magnum loading clocked out at 1350, while Black Hills rendition of the 240 grain jacketed hollow point .44 load came in at 1247. For all practical purposes, the .460 Rowland with its five-inch barrel equals, or surpasses, the .44 Magnum in a like barreled sixgun.

We basically have .44 Magnum performance in a standard sized Model 1911, but what about recoil? Even a .45 ACP chambered 1911 bothers me more than heavier kickin' sixguns because of the torque it applies to my wrist. I was a little apprehensive about shooting the .460 Rowland. Not to worry! The Clark Drop-in Kit features a built-in comp that works. Really works. With it in place, the felt recoil of the .460 Rowland to me is less than that of standard .45 ACP. It is a different recoil, coming straight back rather than twisting so it effects me less.

Many hunting applications call for hard cast bullets so it was only natural that I turned to my stock of Keith-style .45 bullets to see what could be accomplished with the .460 Rowland. Two bullets from Lyman molds, the #452423 at 230 grains and the #452424 at 245 grains, plus the RCBS #45-255 at 260 grains were all loaded in .460 Rowland brass and seated just even with the shoulder and above the crimping groove so they would feed through the standard 1911 magazine. I was shooting on the Black's Creek Range with Willie Lee who is career military and an old hand with a .45 ACP watching. "Boy, does that gun shoot!" was his comment. And how right he is. Whether with jacketed or hard cast bullets, the .460 Rowland will shoot.

Giving myself and the pistol a break, I shot seven-shot groups and counted five. One of the reasons for this is my particular gun has a common ailment with semi-autos namely it puts the first shot an inch or so away from subsequent shots. Using this standard, Hornady's 200 grain XTP at 1453 fps, shoots into 1", while the same bullet at 230 grains and a muzzle velocity of 1335 does even better at 7/8" for five shots. With cast bullets it is the same story, second verse. The 230 grain #452423 bullet at 1158 fps groups in 1 1/8" while the 245 grain #452424 and the 260 grain #45-255 are at 1128 fps for 3/4" and 1119 fps and 1/2" respectively.

In reloading for the .460 Rowland we have learned several things. For now, at least, Accurate Arms #7 is the powder for the .460 Rowland. We may come up with others later. Accurate Arms #5 has proven to get too hot too fast raising pressures very quickly. Bullets must be of the right construction for .460 Rowland speeds and pressures. Speer's Gold Dot bullets that are designed for the .45 ACP are too soft for the .460 Rowland at top end pressures. Care should be exercised in using any bullets that are of like construction for muzzle velocities in the 1,000 fps range.

It is not very often that I am excited about a semi-automatic but with the performance possible from this particular version I am. So much so that the slide which came nearly in the white with only a token amount of bluing will be re-blued as fits it station in life.

IMHO, 1911 could be significantly improved by redesigning of one feature - by giving it much more seriously slanted grip (like 125 degrees in Luger or even 130-135 - whatever the maximum slant at which the magazine would still feed reliably). Then the pistol would be pointing naturally.

I've got a .460 Rowland Revolver from Dan Wesson.

It shoots .45 ACP/.45 Auto Rim/.45 Super/.460 Rowland and .45 WinMag.

I enjoy shooting the almost 3 pound revolver with moon clips. To my recollection the .460 Rowland and the .45 Super were about the same in power.

So, I standardized on shooting the .45 ACP and the 300 grain .45 WinMag which is essentially kicks like a 44 Magnum.

8 posted on 05/22/2006 3:05:07 PM PDT by proud_yank (A liberal's 'generosity' is limited to the funds available in someone else's account.)

...grand old 1911 is still king...and is certainly the "automatic" by which all others are judged...

Hey, that's the whole article for me.

Seeing that makes it unnecessary for me to read any further.

Who is this Taffin fellow, with his wealth of wisdom?

9 posted on 05/22/2006 3:07:54 PM PDT by OldSmaj (I received my koran from CAIR. I desecrate it daily, in the privacy and comfort of my own toilet.)

I dunno...the sight of my slide being jettisoned...at what would seem like a supersonic speed....kinda freaks me out....especially those standing behind me at the range...

The muzzle velocity/energy for the .460 Rowland is reputed to be significantly above the .45 Super. The Rowland looks like a reincarnation of the old .451 Detonics magnum. I would prefer to see a ramped barrel for this conversion, no matter how thick the brass is claimed to be.

Interesting observation. It seems that almost all the feeding/reliability problems of the 1911A1 can be traced to the nature of the round stacking in the magazine with the extractor groove of each round sitting just on top of the groove of the round below it. It is what gives rise to the "angular gap" between rounds 5 and 6 and of the "nose dive" common to the first 2 rounds (of the 7 round mag) as they exit the magazine on their way into the chamber. I wonder why Browning designed it with this grip to axis-of-bore angle?

You're right, I knew as soon as I pushed enter. But the keyboard is quicker than my brain.

Hey, no fair. I can only conceal 8 guns on my body at any given time.

"However with all the new technology the grand old 1911 is still king, is still the number one platform for custom 'smiths, and is certainly the "automatic" by which all others are judged"

LOL.
There's a reason why there are som many 'smiths' supporting the M1911, and it ain't because of "custom" needs. Even the higher-end 1911s are coming out of the factory needing 'tuning' to get them right.

When they run 35k, 40k, or 50k in competitive trials, they're not even thinking about 1911s.

I'll be interested in seeing what kind of draw the gun porn gets these days. It may be my imagination, but it seems many of the veterans and warrior types have gone silent since certain FReepers where shown the door.

18 posted on 05/22/2006 3:36:51 PM PDT by papertyger (Our Constitution isn't perfect, but it's better than what we have right now.)

20 posted on 05/22/2006 8:07:29 PM PDT by papertyger (Our Constitution isn't perfect, but it's better than what we have right now.)

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