"Drop In" .460 Rowland? Hardly!

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First, I ordered the wrong kit. Apparently, the Series 80 "Enhanced" I own actually uses a "Gold-Cup" cut to the breech-face, so my first attempt did not fit. Now worries, Clark was super fast in returning the proper kit, and off to the range I went. First mag, as well as all subsequent mags produced constant failures to both feed and extract. Easy fix I thought, I'll use the slightly lighter 20lb spring provided for Stainless guns, and pray. Nada. Just as bad as before, but now it will not feed anything at all. Trashed the Extractor.

No biggie, I was wanting to upgrade some stuff anyway, so I ordered a new Extractor, Ejector, Extra-Strength Firing Pin Spring, 30lb Mainspring to slow the slide down a bit, and while I was on the Wilson Combat site, I went ahead and ordered a new Beavertail and Mainspring Housing, along with a long three-hole trigger. This begins my saga.

First, the the OEM extractor appears to be held on with red lock-tight. I had to ruin it with vice grips to get it off, and then made the mistake of tapping the new one home before cutting the "notch" for the roll-pin that retains it. Ruined part number one.

Everything else comes together nicely, with Youtube making quick work of explaining how every little part goes back together. I wish Youtube were as well equipped to teach proper filing of "drop-in" parts. I have learned this my friends, there is NO SUCH THING.

My FIRST Beavertail FINALLY worked, only to gladly drop the hammer without being engaged. I filed just enough "ramp" on the leading edge to allow the trigger to "creep up" on it, pulling it down to disengage. Oh well, no way to put metal back, ruined part number two.

Replacing the Mainspring with a 30lb spring was straight forward, except for the ridiculous amount of strength and dexterity needed to actually get the retaining pin in place. Several bits were launched into orbit, only to be found each time, except the last launch actually did not come down. Apparently, some light fixture now owns it, that or it is still going. In any event, lost/ruined part number three.

For good measure, I installed a recoil buffer, and I am now the proud owner of three sweet looking Wilson .460 Rowland mags. These last items were likely all I needed from the start, but then I would have missed out on all this fun! Range report to follow----
 
Last edited:
Did you try a variety of Magazines?

The failures to extract, do the rounds ' plunk ' nicely?

Were these handloads or commercial ammo?
 
Ramone said:
Did you try a variety of Magazines?

The failures to extract, do the rounds ' plunk ' nicely?

Were these handloads or commercial ammo?
Click to expand...

I am only using factory ammo; Underwood is really no more expensive than premium ACP loads, and was one of the factors behind wanting to go with the conversion. I go to the mountains pretty often, and will simply sleep a little more at ease with the power of this in a woods gun if I can get this rig to be reliable. I was having numerous FTF's due to weak mag springs; the high slide velocity makes that an issue. I was also seeing numerous FTE's due to the weak and/or damaged extractor. For good measure I added a longer ejector.
 
Mayvik said:
Rule #1: Only "fix" one thing at a time.
Click to expand...
Probably very good advice. There is no telling the amount of trouble I may have chasing down new issues; certainly plenty of new stuff to blame. I really do feel that the bolt-on stuff is pretty safe; its the kind of thing that either works or it doesn't. The extractor is probably the only exception, and I am prepared to do a little bench tuning at the range if needed for that. As for reliability, the gun was really tight and coarse before this work; I spent a lot of time deburring the frame rails, polishing the feed ramp, etc; not sure if the kit damaged the rails, or if they just came that rough from the factory. In any event, the gun action feels great, and I am looking forward to seeing how it does. The rounds I did get off are pretty impressive.
 
AKElroy said:
First, I ordered the wrong kit. Apparently, the Series 80 "Enhanced" I own actually uses a "Gold-Cup" cut to the breech-face, so my first attempt did not fit. Now worries, Clark was super fast in returning the proper kit, and off to the range I went. First mag, as well as all subsequent mags produced constant failures to both feed and extract. Easy fix I thought, I'll use the slightly lighter 20lb spring provided for Stainless guns, and pray. Nada. Just as bad as before, but now it will not feed anything at all. Trashed the Extractor.

No biggie, I was wanting to upgrade some stuff anyway, so I ordered a new Extractor, Ejector, Extra-Strength Firing Pin Spring, 30lb Mainspring to slow the slide down a bit, and while I was on the Wilson Combat site, I went ahead and ordered a new Beavertail and Mainspring Housing, along with a long three-hole trigger. This begins my saga.

First, the the OEM extractor appears to be held on with red lock-tight. I had to ruin it with vice grips to get it off, and then made the mistake of tapping the new one home before cutting the "notch" for the roll-pin that retains it. Ruined part number one.

Everything else comes together nicely, with Youtube making quick work of explaining how every little part goes back together. I wish Youtube were as well equipped to teach proper filing of "drop-in" parts. I have learned this my friends, there is NO SUCH THING.

My FIRST Beavertail FINALLY worked, only to gladly drop the hammer without being engaged. I filed just enough "ramp" on the leading edge to allow the trigger to "creep up" on it, pulling it down to disengage. Oh well, no way to put metal back, ruined part number two.

Replacing the Mainspring with a 30lb spring was straight forward, except for the ridiculous amount of strength and dexterity needed to actually get the retaining pin in place. Several bits were launched into orbit, only to be found each time, except the last launch actually did not come down. Apparently, some light fixture now owns it, that or it is still going. In any event, lost/ruined part number three.

For good measure, I installed a recoil buffer, and I am now the proud owner of three sweet looking Wilson .460 Rowland mags. These last items were likely all I needed from the start, but then I would have missed out on all this fun! Range report to follow----
Click to expand...

Thank you. I too have had such projects. Nice to know I'm not alone.
 
Oh this sucks, but your podtnos funny as hell. Sorry for your troubles but thanks for the laugh. I've had some non gun projects work out that way.
 
Cannibul said:
The extractor is held in place by the firing pin stop.

You're confusing extractor with ejector. That might be part of the problem.
Click to expand...
^^^This^^^
Have you ever fitted these 1911 parts before? Ejector, grip safety(beaver tail), mainspring housing?? Sometimes there's more fitting involved than just getting them in place. There's so much going on there with all the changes that I wonder if you should go back to stock on th GS, mainspring housing & mainspring. Stock MS Is 23lbs. 30lbs is a big jump.
Did Clark Customs recommend all these changes? (Showing my total ignorance on their kits!)
 
AKElroy

Your descriptive (and very humorous), narrative reminds me how well most of my gun building attempts go. Please keep us updated to what I hope will be a favorable outcome with your .460 Rowland conversion.
 
I have to say, I looked at this thread because I also bought a clark 460 rowland conversion for my springfield loaded stainless a few years ago. It fit tight but worked OK. The 24 pound spring was very difficult to manage for reassembly, but I had no real issues with the firing cycle using cmc power mags I had on hand. I was also using underwood (255 grain hardcast, yeah, thump). Very accurate. My notes show I had one round that didn't fully feed - the last round in a string of 19. I may yet give this a go again myself with some stock mags or some wilsons.

I've detail stripped this gun several times, but that is as far as I go in that department. My hat is off to you for persevering in the face of multiple apparent issues.
 
UPDATE! so the saga continues, calling for desperate measures. After polishing the feed ramp, throating the barrel and tuning the extractor I made another range trip. Nada. Still a jamomatic. Only one thing have yet to try, going back to a stock recoil spring. For obvious reasons, this is not my first choice, but is listed as an option for FTF issues on the Rowland website. I load 3 mags, and fire 24 rounds cleanly! No jams, cloverleaf at my exact POA, could not have been more ideal. I am running a shock-buffer, so I do not fear harming the frame. If I get a clean box or two through it, I'm inclined to trust it. I will say that I also switched to the 255 gr Hardcast loads, I am sure they are feeding better than the HP'S, and are better for a woods gun anyway.
 
AKElroy

Good to hear back from you on your recent success with the stock recoil spring! Please keep us apprised of any other future range trips as far as reliability goes with the 255 gr. Hardcast loads.
 
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