460 Rowland OAL

akinswi

New member
Any suggestions to getting an accurate seating depth every time on this cartridge? I know you can get bullet comparators for rifle cartridges, but for the life of me I cannot find any for 45 Caliber???

It’s very important to have a consistent Bullet seating depth on this cartridge due to the pressures it produces. I just don’t think measuring the OAL with a digital Caliber using the tip of the 230grn Hornady XTP bullet is going to yield very consistent results I need to consistently have the O.A.L come 1.245

Any suggestions??

Thanks
 
I imagine most handloaders are using calipers for this caliber, like they do with all handgun cartridges.

Most loading presses will seat a given bullet to the same depth +/- 0.005". That's typical, and hard to imagine it would cause any blown up guns.
 
I agree that it's not something that ever caused me any concern when I was loading .460 Rowland, however your idea for a comparator is sound. So now let's take a look at a comparator, what is it? Well, pretty much just a little device with a hole in it that lands on top of a bullet, always at the SAME place, bullet to bullet.

Seems to me that you can make one, no?
 
First,while the 460 Rowland has longer brass,it still has to fit in the 45ACP magazine your pistol was designed for.That is your max LOA limit. For function,its pretty well set in stone.

With some 45 ACP bullet designs,SWC's in particular,Ogive length and SWC shoulder are designed for 45ACP case length /case mouth.If you seat the SWC shoulder as deep as you can in a 460 Rowland case,it won't fit a magazine if the ogive is too long.

I understand you are concerned about the powder volume space under the bullet base,and as you are looking at things,measuring cartridge overall length does not tell you bullet base position. But it certainly can,very easily. Simply measure the length of a bullet. Measure the length of whatever "ideal" bullet is in your loading data that gives you a cartridge LOA. Subtract.The cartridge Length overall minus the bullet length will give you a case head to bullet base measurement.
So,indirectly,you can measure and compare bullet base position via cartridge overall length.
That gives you the answer to your pressure question.

I'm not sure I understand the relevance of the ogive comparator.Isn't that generally about controlling centerfire rifle bullet distance from the rifling lands?
If I understand,the comparator is a way to find an answer to a different question.
Are you concerned about bullet to bullet manufacturing variation?.Probably close enough.Every bullet in the box probably came out of the same die.
If your seater punch is not finding a consistent surface on the bullet to reference,maybe a change in seater punch is in order. A seater punch and a bullet comparator or calipers both reference a surface on the bullet .

How you balance acceptable magazine and feed length against bullet base/COAL/powder volume is one of the joys of owning a 460 Rowland.

Most bullets are designed to suit the 45ACP case length.Using a longer 460 Rowland case in the same magazine length makes a number of 45 ACP bullet designs unusable in a 460 Rowland
 
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No need to trim the brass unless the chamber is short, or you want all cases to be the same length.

If they are trimmed too much, this changes headspace and accuracy can suffer.

With use, cases in semi-autos usually shorten with use.
 
Akinswi,

Sinclair makes an insert for .458 bullets that fits either their comparator holder or the Hornady holder. Part number 749-000-921WS. You can call them and ask the actual hole diameter to learn if it is narrow enough for the .452 bullets as well. Their next size down from there is for .429" bullets, but that may work well enough for what you are trying to do. It would measure a little high on the ogive, but if the bullets are consistent enough, that won't matter. You could also ream out a .429 insert. You could also ask if they will do that custom for you.
 
1.275" is max OAL according to 460Rowland .com. The Rowland isn't listed by SAAMI though.
"...bullet comparators..." OAL is measured from the pointy bit of the bullet to the flat part of the case. Use your vernier calipres.
 
COL is not what the OP asked for. Seating depth is.

Seating depth is how far the bullet sticks into the case, controlling the height of the powder space.

Seating Depth = Case Length + Bullet Length - COL
 
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