I have been shooting a Kimber Target II 1911 in 460 Rowland for about 8 months and thought some of you might be interested my experiences. When I saw the 460 Rowland perform on a TV show and started doing the research at the Clark Custom sight I was hooked. I'd always wanted a big caliber handgun and have a man-crush on the 1911 so it was a perfect fit. The gun was purchased from Clark Custom on November 2013 along with 150 rounds of ammunition. I've never been disappointed with anything from Clark Custom and, once again, they came through. Since the purchase the following upgrades have been performed: Kimber magazine well upgrade; Dawson Precision fully adjustable fiber optic sights (I am 50); and Double Diamond EZ Grips. There is plenty of material about the capability of the 460 Rowland available on the internet and the authors of those works have much more experience than I; just go to the Clark Custom web site and the links are available. Also suggest the Real Guns web site.
To sum up that material. The 460 Rowland performs akin to the 44 magnum and Clark manufactures the drop-in kit that will fit most, not all, 1911 frames. The trick to making it work on the 1911 frame is the compensator which really controls the recoil. The recoil is a bit more than a standard .45 but well below that of a .44 magnum revolver. The round itself is the same WIDTH as a .45 ACP BUT IT IS NOT A .45 ACP. The Rowland case is stronger and longer allowing for increased case capacity and higher pressures; significantly higher pressure compared to the .45 ACP. I think it the 460 Rowland would make Elmer Keith blush enthusiastically.
I went through 150 rounds of factory ammunition purchased with the gun in short order and found those rounds accurate...but Clark seems to run out almost as soon as they post the availability on the web site. I bought a second set of .45 ACP dies and started to get set for the reload. I wanted a hunting round so I settled on the Hornady HP/XTP 200 grain/0.451. I also settled on Accurate ACC No. 7 powder. Almost all references recommended the ACC-7 powder as the "almost perfect" burn rate for the Rowland in a 1911 frame.
The first trick was getting the seating depth correct. The load data from Wolf Publishing recommended OAL of 1.337". That OAL won't work in a 1911. I called Clark Custom and I swear K Miculek was on the other end of the phone. Whomever it was she said, "...you need to seat the bullet so it fits in a 1911 magazine." After trial and error that turned out to be 1.25" OAL. That seating depth and OAL presented a second problem in that the seating depth caused the case mouth to protrude over the bullet shoulder; malfunction waiting to happen. I actually shot about 10 of these rounds. They allowed the bolt to go to battery but accuracy was a problem and I did have one miss-feed. Everyone will tell you that trimming the 460 Rowland case should be a thoughtful process because seating a bullet too deep could result in pressures beyond safe limits. I settled on trimming case to 0.900" which is 0.060" below the manufacturers height. This worked and I was able to produce 1280 FPS with a 200 gr Hornady HP/XTP bullet. I was also able to reproduce the 2" group at 15 yards.
My 460 Rowland load: Starline brass; COAL 0.900"; OAL 1.25"; 14.5 gr ACC No. 7; Winchester Large Pistol primers; producing 1280 FPS; and 2" groups at 15 yards. Some are pushing this load to 1400 and 1500 FPS. I might try 1400 FPS but I'm a little afraid of the 1500 FPS dragon. In any event, this load is comparable to a 44 magnum but in a 1911 frame with arguably less recoil.
Another big plus: Clark ships the gun with the Kimber barrel and bushing. Swapping back to the .45 ACP is a no brainer and the change of the point of impact at 15 yards is both marginal and manageable.
In summary, if you love the 1911 and want a magnum cartridge the 460 Rowland is a great option. I would also recommend that you be at least moderately adept at reloading if you plane to shoot the gun with any frequency as the ammunition simply won't be available on your local store shelves.
To sum up that material. The 460 Rowland performs akin to the 44 magnum and Clark manufactures the drop-in kit that will fit most, not all, 1911 frames. The trick to making it work on the 1911 frame is the compensator which really controls the recoil. The recoil is a bit more than a standard .45 but well below that of a .44 magnum revolver. The round itself is the same WIDTH as a .45 ACP BUT IT IS NOT A .45 ACP. The Rowland case is stronger and longer allowing for increased case capacity and higher pressures; significantly higher pressure compared to the .45 ACP. I think it the 460 Rowland would make Elmer Keith blush enthusiastically.
I went through 150 rounds of factory ammunition purchased with the gun in short order and found those rounds accurate...but Clark seems to run out almost as soon as they post the availability on the web site. I bought a second set of .45 ACP dies and started to get set for the reload. I wanted a hunting round so I settled on the Hornady HP/XTP 200 grain/0.451. I also settled on Accurate ACC No. 7 powder. Almost all references recommended the ACC-7 powder as the "almost perfect" burn rate for the Rowland in a 1911 frame.
The first trick was getting the seating depth correct. The load data from Wolf Publishing recommended OAL of 1.337". That OAL won't work in a 1911. I called Clark Custom and I swear K Miculek was on the other end of the phone. Whomever it was she said, "...you need to seat the bullet so it fits in a 1911 magazine." After trial and error that turned out to be 1.25" OAL. That seating depth and OAL presented a second problem in that the seating depth caused the case mouth to protrude over the bullet shoulder; malfunction waiting to happen. I actually shot about 10 of these rounds. They allowed the bolt to go to battery but accuracy was a problem and I did have one miss-feed. Everyone will tell you that trimming the 460 Rowland case should be a thoughtful process because seating a bullet too deep could result in pressures beyond safe limits. I settled on trimming case to 0.900" which is 0.060" below the manufacturers height. This worked and I was able to produce 1280 FPS with a 200 gr Hornady HP/XTP bullet. I was also able to reproduce the 2" group at 15 yards.
My 460 Rowland load: Starline brass; COAL 0.900"; OAL 1.25"; 14.5 gr ACC No. 7; Winchester Large Pistol primers; producing 1280 FPS; and 2" groups at 15 yards. Some are pushing this load to 1400 and 1500 FPS. I might try 1400 FPS but I'm a little afraid of the 1500 FPS dragon. In any event, this load is comparable to a 44 magnum but in a 1911 frame with arguably less recoil.
Another big plus: Clark ships the gun with the Kimber barrel and bushing. Swapping back to the .45 ACP is a no brainer and the change of the point of impact at 15 yards is both marginal and manageable.
In summary, if you love the 1911 and want a magnum cartridge the 460 Rowland is a great option. I would also recommend that you be at least moderately adept at reloading if you plane to shoot the gun with any frequency as the ammunition simply won't be available on your local store shelves.
