Russell,

Pressure sign in the Rowland are pretty tough. You have the bunch that say primers only flatten in the 50k range, but clearly we are not in that range, even oopsing a little. In about a half dozen Clark barrels, working up loads to published I always seea little flattening of the primer. I think it best to mix that sign in with primer pocket looseness, and other common sense things. One of the reasons I keep my 230's closer to 1250 or 1275. Wilson seems to think the mid 12's are better for their gun, I think. My first batch of 1000 cases got a lot of loadings. I did not keep track, but 6 or 7 for sure, some more, unless you run right at the redline. I started retiring the brass by and large more for the nicks in the case rims from all of the feeding and ejecting. Starline is good stuff.

I give two big thumbs up for the Novak adjustable. On my Colt with the recommended Novak front, the blade is down a bit for the Rowland, but real close to the top for 45 acps. Good range of movement, and Novak did a wonderful job of installation. Only took about a week, and they re-beadblasted the top of the slide.

I would imagine if those hollowpoints are cast without serious hardening, they would make a mess out of a coyote. The Clark barrel is reasonably tolerant of softer lead, as the bore is pretty dang nice. The comp may be another matter ;^)

Craig

Craig,
The hollow points are cast from an alloy that Roto-Metals puts together and is 'tested' at Bhn 9. I use it in casting hollowpoints for a 270gr for my .45 colt, a 200gr for my .41 mag and the 200gr for the acp. At 1000fps I can usually count on the bullet holding together and expanding to nickle size. Much faster and it starts coming apart so I'll have to watch it with the Rowland. Didn't notice any comp leading to speak of in my first outing, but as the 255's were 'hardball' alloy.

I've already reloaded the 'oops' bunch and the primer pockets were tight. I may have 'lucked thru' this time. Thank goodness Clark makes a good barrel and the Remmy's all steel.

I ruined a nice little Martini cadet's chamber with too heavy a bullet seated too deep once, pains me still.

I've got a big brother to the 255 RFN that drops from my mould at 301grs w/ gas check. Haven't seen any Longshot data for anything heavier than a 260. Did find a Unique load for a 300+ load but it was pretty anemic. Have you ventured up in that weight, yet.

Russell

Russell,

I only have one dead Springfield slide to my credit ;^( The frame is still in use, as well as the barrel. I have wrecked my fair share of brass over the years, and my kinetic bullet puller has seen some use ;^) So all in all fairly lucky, or at least methodical enough to catch a few of my own goofs.

You might find the 300 starts to hit in the brass case web before any hope of a load. I have only been as high as 250-255. I did try and seat a few heavier bullets last week in acp brass to get a feel for feeding and nose profile, and few got into the case web. Them be some goofed up rounds, but I did not loose any powder or primers.... The nose profile is gonna be the deal breaker there.

Craig

Hank
Just a 'heads up'. When I got back from the OPHA hunt, my Novak adjustable had come in. It's definately not going to fit. It appears that the cut on my slide is the standard
'GI' dovetail cut and not the Novak. Don't know if mine is an early slide or a later one, but it is definately not a Novak 'cut'.

 Originally Posted By: Russell

Hank
Just a 'heads up'. When I got back from the OPHA hunt, my Novak adjustable had come in. It's definately not going to fit. It appears that the cut on my slide is the standard
'GI' dovetail cut and not the Novak. Don't know if mine is an early slide or a later one, but it is definately not a Novak 'cut'.

I was sure that a Novak adjustable would not fit as is, but there should be plenty of "meat" left on the slide with the existing cut that a gunsmith can recut it to a Novak rear sight cut. To do the job he has to have the proper dovetail cutter however..

I know that Remington states that the R1 has Novak cuts on their web page, but I believe that that is only on the enhanced model that comes with an adjustable rear sight. The front sight on our guns is some unknown cut, but is small enough to be cut to a Novak front cut also. That is if I have the correct info on what a Novak front cut is.

I assume that your adjustable Novak is a low mount which not only reqires a different cut but some milling on the slide also.

I did quite a lot of research on the various dovetail cuts and it can be confusing.

It's not supposed to require more than a 'Novak cut dovetail' according to the instructions, but ..... If the smith can't do it, I'll send it in with the slide to Novak and let them do it. Their turn a round is supposed to be a week.

I'm finding out that you're right on the various 'cuts'. Seems every manufacturer has their own.

You guys need to also note that the Novak Adjustable requires a small falt be also cut in front of the dovetail. Once cut this way, I think the adjustable Novak is the only one on the market that will cover/need this small flat. Kinda a one way proposition.

Craig

 Originally Posted By: Bearbait in NM

You guys need to also note that the Novak Adjustable requires a small falt be also cut in front of the dovetail.

This is the additional milling other than the dovetail cut that I was referring to above. It should be no problem for Russell's gunsmith if he has the proper size dovetail cutter and Novak's instructions. The instructions are available on their web page if they did not come with the sight.

http://www.novaksights.com/products/sights/installation.html#adj

I'm wanting the sight 'melted' into the top of the slide so if can't do it like I'm wanting, it's off to Novak.

Russell,

Not sure how much material is left between the bottom of the dovetail and the firing pin tunnel, but in my standard installation the bottom of the dovetail has very little room above the slide serrations. Not sure if you would care about getting into those, but a little melt would be pretty cool. While my front sight is not what I would call excessively high, it can be a little hard in some leather. The Brown barrel that fit to compliment my Rowlands is looking like for all loads, my rear is down a little in the notch, so I may have a little wiggle room to reduce my front sight a bit.

Along the same lines, the one thing I really like about the Novak adjustable over a Bomar is that the sight body really protects the notch/blade from wear or loss of bluing. It really is a joy to have a rear blade that does not require touch-ups.

Craig