CorBon 44/165

M

mec

New member
These come in the Special and Magnum variety and set out to provide a good controllable self defense round for the .44s. They succeed.

The Special load is advertised at 1150 in a 4" Barrel and does 1205 from my 4" 29-2. It is up to 1363 in my 6.5" Mod 24

The Magnum load is rated at 1300 in a 4" and does that and a few feet per second more from my 4" Smiths. It gets out of my 8 3/8" at 1533 and I just put in a 1" 25 yard bench group from this:
 
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bullets 4" Revolver Barrel

shot through beef rib pack and into brisket.
 
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Hmmm. Great pics and post.

Looks like they're getting close to coming unglued at 1,300fps. That's fine. If you have a 5" or longer gun, definately think about the Specials...2" or 3" barrel, think Magnums, at 4" place your bets they'll prolly both work :).

All JHPs have a certain speed range they're designed to work at. Too slow, no expansion, too fast and the nosecone "shreds" leaving you with the original caliber minus about 25% or so original projectile weight, and the scraps dribbling back along the wound channel where they don't add to wounding much.

Note how the Magnums in the second pic have "flaky" edges and are of smaller expanded diameter than the Specials. At 1,300, the "shredding" process is just starting. They'll still work just fine, but I wouldn't push 'em another 100fps if I could help it.

Figure this projectile's "sweet spot" is somewhere around 1,200 - 1,250 or so, maybe as low as 1,100.

Kewl.
 
I have used the 165-44 special load and like it. I was also surprized to get a bit more velocity than advertised. Mine was out of a 4 inch Taurus.
 
I'm using them exclusively now in a 3" 24-3. I no longer have access to chronograph equipment, so your information is appreciated - looks as though I'm getting very near the advertised 4" velocities, but the main thing is that this gun loves the stuff. It puts them in "puppy print" groups at 25 yds., over and over.
 
Anyone know whether Corbon loads the exact same bullet in each of these two rounds? Ideally, JHPs should be "tweaked" to their expected velocities, so am curious what Corbon does here (the advertised velocities are only 150 fps apart, so they likely load the same bullet in each).
 
Either flavor should perform great...thanks for the data. I have some SPEERvGold Dot .44SPLs, 200 grain, but can't find info on them anywhere. Maybe they were discontinued ? ! ? dewey
 
Mr. march has read the pictures correctly. the Specials at 1205expand profoundlyt- to about 75 cal. and the magnums blow up like bombs but still leave a small jacket and core. A lot of people think this extreme fragmentation is not a good thing and they may very well be right. I tend to like for them to do this and may very well be wrong.

In my hunting area, the game - to deer size are lightly constructed. A JHP that come unraveled does massive damage to them. I once shot a little bitty deer right wheere his head and sholder join. the combo was a 7.5 " ruger bisley with a 158 XTP doing 1520 fps. this is about 100 fps over its operating range and it would blow up worse than any 110 grain. In this case it exploded the deer's neck leaving the head attached only by a one inch wide piece of skin and a slice of bacon thin muscle.

the same load bounced an armadillo about two feet in the air and caused him to explode like a bomb. . I've had lyman Keith Hollow points in .44 come unraveled in the chest of a deer with the fragments traveling together ina swarm to the opposite side and under the skin. Big d**n hole. Dead d**n deer.

I (heart) distruction!
 
A lot depends on whether you hit bone

here's some pork ribs with a few hits from corbon loads:
 
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Close up of rib cage hit with 165 grain CB .44 mag at 1300+. These things are extremely mild in the recoil department and the .44 Specials are like target loads.
 
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Mec,

The usual complaint with such "excess speed rounds" is that yes, they fragment, but the fragments don't get "flung forward or outwards" the way a true frangible dispersion pattern works.

Instead, such "overspeed" rounds suffer weight loss, with the bits flaking off past the back end and ending up "along the trail of destruction".

In the picture of the round that was doing 1,300 and change, it was STILL a very effective load as the diameter hadn't yet collapsed. But much more and you'd lose diameter.

Now, there may be rounds that are so "poorly constructed" and come apart so FAST when over-driven that they actually DO act like frangibles. And there's other loads that hang together particularly well (Speer's Gold Dot features a core bonded tighter'n'hell to the jacket) that they can survive a lot of over-speed. But the best approach is to know what the load is SUPPOSED to do and then use it that way.

You want a "big splat"? Get Cor-Bon to release the Glaser projectiles as a reloading component, and drive 'em like a bat outta hell.

:D
 
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