A 1176 nm Raman laser is obtained by use of self-frequency Raman conversion in a laser diode-pumped actively acousto-optically Q-switched Nd∶YVO4 1064 nm laser. The characteristics including the average output power, pulse width and pulse energy versus incident pump power and pulse repetition rates are measured. The widths of the typical fundamental pulses at 1064 nm and the Raman pulses at 1176 nm are 26.3 ns and 9.0 ns, respectively. At a repetition rate of 20 kHz and an incident pump power of 8.46 W, an average output power of 0.384 W at 1176 nm and an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 4.54% are obtained. The rate equations are used to describe the performance of the self-Raman actively Q-switched Nd∶YVO4 laser. Experimentally measured and theoretically calculated pulse energies and pulse widths at 1176 nm for the pulse repetition rates of 10, 20, and 30 kHz are compared, the theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental results on the whole.