460 Rowland 1911 conversion

While I do not have a .460 Rowland slide and barrel for my Series 80 1911 Gold Cup NM, I am quite interested in obtaining one some day. Perhaps on another frame and leave my GC the way it is- not sure.

I do use some 460 Rowland brass though in my .45 Win Mag Super 14" T/C Contender barrel because it can take the higher pressure. 460 Rowland brass lets me use long bullets intended for rifles in much the same way that the Whisper series from SSK uses large heavy bullets and small case capacity.

I have had good luck with 350 - 420 gr bullets designed for the .458 Winchester and am looking at developing some other loads in this manner.

Wondering if I am the only crazy one here with a desire to get my 45 Win Mag T/C Contender barrel long throated so I can seat bullets past SAAMI OAL?

Using .460 Rowland brass is a decent work around as the shorter brass (near 45 ACP length) gives me enough case capacity for powder and room to chamber a larger bullet.

Much like my .357 Rem Max when I had it rechambered from .357 Rem Mag, the new throat cuts out the short forcing cone and lets one seat bullets farther out. This is handy since I do not have to worry about magazine or cylinder length.

When loading for feral pig load that can be shot in the People's Republic of Kalifornia, I have to use non-lead ammo and most of those bullets are larger (IE longer) than their lead counterparts.

http://www.clarkcustomguns.com/video/460RowlandW1.WMV

Interesting...Here we all are not liking long throats on Remington rifles and concerned with throat erosion on fast trist rate barrels or magnum rifle calibers and you are prefering more throat...lol.

I guess there is a niche for everyone... I guess I'm stuck in the "close as possible to the lands" niche with long VLD type bullets.

Going ultra heavy in big bore pistol cartridges is somewhere I have not ventured to go yet....but I might end up in the same ball park if I ever decide to get a good sub-sonic 30 cal load working for possible use with a can.

Keep us informed!

BTW....I'm thinking , one of those Grizzly 1911 type magnums would be right up your alley.

Well I have always liked a deep thr ... wow mind in the gutter!!

Anyway ...

For certain applications like my favorite .357 Rem Max and the .357 Rem barrel, both have had the throats lengthend to faciltate longer bullets.

Depending on the make of the bullet, such as the Barnes TSXs & MRXs I like so much, they have to be seated by factory recommendation pretty close to the lands. Since those bullets are longer to make the same weight as the lead bullets, they eat up powder space as they have to be seated deeper. Enlarging the throat allows those TSX bullets to be seated farther out reclaiming the powder capacity.

Weatherby rifles are famous for their long throats ("free bore"). My .240 Weatherby does not have one (thanks Shilen). I have not noticed any particular horrid throat erosion and I have more than 2,500 rounds down that barrel.

My .300 Whisper-R is off to get threaded first of next month, since we finally got our State can issue fixed. I will be working up heavy .30 cal sub-sonic rounds too.

These extended throats are mostly so that you can stuff the case with a larger than normal for caliber bullet, and still put a fair bit of powder underneath.

While I had not thought of it until Hawcer mentioned using a can, my .45 Win Mag barrel would be a good candidate for a can as well. Loaded in this manner with a slow heavy bullet, it should not be hard to make a good sub sonic load for a can.

Quiet hog buster - I like it!!!

Well finally got an update.

The .460 Rowland experiment did not reveal any real improvement over using either standard .45 ACP or Starline .45 Win Mag brass.

I tried some .45 GAP brass since it does have a thicker base web than the .45 ACP, but the .45GAP brass had same results as the .45 Win Mag.

For cheap plinking with my .45 Win Mag barrel, .45 ACP brass loaded with some generic FMJ round ball in the 230 - 250 gr range over a stiff charge of Bullseye works pretty well.

I wish there was a range where I could shoot some cheap cast boolits as that would be the most economical for cheap practice. Might make a small game round too. I've seen plenty of Javelina and jack rabbit put in the pot with a .45 Colt.

Since my People's Republic of Commiefornia trip got cancelled, I have some stockpiled non-tox pig ammo now for maybe next year.

After being unemployed for almost 2 years I got a part time job offer, so things might be looking up. I am still going to school full time to compleat my degree.