Looks a lot like the .452-255 Lee RFN that I use in mine.

Russell,

Are you going to the picnic Saturday. If so I would like to see some of your loaded Rowland ammo. I believe that Roy is using a Lee 255 mold.

Yep that is the lee bullet. If I do the Rowland that is the bullet I am planning on using. I have been thinking about having a mold cut with a slightly more tapered nose so that the edge of the meplat has already left the ramp into the throat before the ogive catches up. With the higher slide velocity of the Rowland it should feed perfectly. reflex264

You guys that roll your own lead are killing me ;^) Not sure if you have actually played with Rowland brass yet, but the added length of the Rowland brass over standard might give some seating fits on the ogive of the bullet. Perhaps not.

One suggestion if you have not tried some different feed lip geometry magazines might be to do so. It would be dandy to keep the meplate like it is if you can. The older style Colt magazines do offer a bit of difference in the timing of the release of the base of the loaded round, so that might help with the feeding.

Craig

My thinking is a bullet with a slightly longer shank so that the longer brass would still crimp without getting the ogive. If done right the bullet would work fine in the super and the Rowland. Weight would be 245-255. reflex264

Hank did you ever get it running? reflex264

Yes, but only loads I have used are 250 gr Hornady XTP and Rainer 250 gr Fp. Both 9.3 Longshot at 1160fps.

I am looking into havong another mold cut. There are a few out there that look close. Veral Smith has a design that might work out as well. I tried the XTP but the thickness of the brass caused the bullet to deform my brass before I got it seated deep enough. Still playing with it. reflex264

Of course the 250 gr XTP is .452 rather than .451 that normal .45 ACP is so when I load it in my .460 Rowland brass I get a very light bulging of tha brass. I assume you are using .45 Super brass. Perhaps it has a little thicker wall thickness than the .460 Rowland brass as you seat it deep enough for the 250 gr XTP.

A possible answer if that is the case is to use Rowland brass trimmed to Super length. I know that Bearbait has done this in the past for his Super.

Yep the super brass is really thick. I tried sizing them down but still get a pretty good bulge. The molds I am looking for are hopefully going to work with the Rowland and super. I am still kicking around a Rowland as well. reflex264

Don't automatically assume a little bulge will not work. I am messing with Barnes bullets right now and they are a bit long for size. I have a dummy made up with the Barnes 200 XPB Colt bullet in Super brass, and I get a little bulging when seating, but they feed fine by hand.

I am gonna try to get them running in my Rowland. I also have the 185 Tac from Barnes, and while I have always been a heavy bullet kind of guy, Barnes said that they need a fairly low velocity of 700 to open, and have no upper threshold beacuse they are "solid". My thinking is try and get the Barnes 200 and XTP 200 running at full throttle, and see if they group similarly. I have my 250 grain "pokies" worked out. Then I will do more penetration testing.

And Reflex, for your mold, take a look at the Beartooth website at their 225 grain TC bullet in .451. Marshall highly recommended them for my Rowland years ago. They group very well, penetrate like crazy, and in my wet print testing really blow nice sized holes out of the back of the stack. have not used them on a critter, but like them a lot. That is my lead go to bullet right now.

Craig

Reflex, you might also check Accurate mold's website, They have a long list of .451-.454 mold cherries that they'll cut for you. I recently bought a 4-cavity 230gr tc/rfn style to try in my acp/super/rowlands. They're showing promise so far.

Thanks fellers. That is good to know. I will check them both out. I figure there has to be a perfect bullet out there. Making one work perfectly in the super and Rowland shouldn't be a big deal. I may even end up with a Grizzly .45 Win mag. It would be nice to cover all bases with one bullet. reflex264

This one looks like it should work great

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-230R-D.png

Reflex,

I threw the calipers on my Beartooth 225's and they are extremely close to that bullet. Mine are flat base, and maybe the mold is also, I'm new to looking at mold spec's.

Craig

This particular mold is a gas check design. That beartooth 225 looks like it would be fine until you try to max it out. I will probably give those a whirl. When you really stand on it the gas check prevents burning the base of the bullet which has several bad effects such as leading and poor accuracy. When I do figure out which mold to go with I will send you some after we get them cast. reflex264

Reflex,

Thanks for the clarification on the base. That makes sense looking at it now. I have not seen accurcay degredation or leading from the Beartooth bullet sans gascheck. Of course it is hard to know whether it could be more accrate, but the Beartooth hangs right in there accuracy wise with the XTP's, at 1250 fps more or less.

Craig

Thats good to know. I have burned the backs of bullets in several of my wheelguns in the past. My thinking as long as the typical powders that are used in the Rowland and Super are used melting the rear end of the bullet may not happen much. Having a gas check will open some doors though. 2400 works well with the heavier bullets in them and if pushed will burn a bullet. reflex264