Corbon PowRBall Ammo - Any thoughts?

scrum

I have been using Federal Hydrashok 230gr loads for self-defense in my Sig220 and have been looking at PowRBalls as a substitute but haven't heard anyone using them in my circles.

I was talking with a cop in SoCal and he said occasionally hollow points don't work on heavy clothing as the void gets filled with compressable cloth. So I guess the first question is whether the hollow point failure is true.

Second question (topic) is: Are Corbon PowRBall bullets with polymer controlled expansion superior to HP - Anyone using? Any thoughts on whether these work better than hollowpoints? It would seem to load as reliably as FMJ but give HP advantage as well, but since I have never tested...

Thanks,

Scrum

offeror

This is a new design made by a number of manufacturers -- a roundnose jacketed slug with a thin enough case that the polymer material under the tip and ahead of the lead portion of the core allows the bullet to expand like an HP on impact.

The main reasons to use these, at first, are probably improved feed reliability or the banning of HPs where you live. I like the concept and plan to stock up on some of these, particularly for any of my guns that are finicky with HPs. It's too new to have built up a lot of stats yet, particularly in actual shootings, but the testing that has been done suggests this design expands very well and will probably do so at times when HPs might fill up and not expand. And they have the cosmetic advantage of being less scary to anti-gunners than HPs, while offering very good, reliable expansion for a duty or defense gun. And if you've ever been stuck loading roundnose in a favorite small caliber back-up, it may be nice to have these as an alternative to FMJ or lead softpoints in your pocket protector, too.

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Char

PowRBalls are expensive and I have only ever seen them in small quantity packages. Try the EFMJ (expanding full metal jacket) instead, you can get them in 50 round boxes. They feed in everything I have tried and really expand. They are accurate too.

Contender Man

Hollow point ammo, especially those with a large cavity design can have performance problems from heavy clothing, layered clothing, leather or heavy canvas jackets, etc.

The soft tissue "hydraulics" are utilized to get the round to perform per design, so if the cavity becomes fouled, the "hydraulics" will be impaired.

Corbon and other ammo mfg. have designs that have the cavity of the HP filled and those designs do work.

The thing here is that you want ammo that is designed with fabric penetration factored in. When ever we test ammo into 10% gel a part of that testing includes placing 4-6 layers of denim (cut from old jeans)draped over the front of the gel block, once in a while I manage to catch a good buy on leather scraps and save them for tests, but generally we use cloth. And we test both w/ and w/o to be able to see the differences in penetration, expansion, depth and shape of cavity, etc.

Your using a good round now, but I think the Corbon may be a little better.




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1KYDSTR

All the excellent previous technical explanations aside, I have yet to use anything from Cor-Bon that did not perform up to their claims! Seems like an excellent concept and apart from the price I really liked what I saw out of them on watermelons! Did everybit as much damage as the Golden Sabers and Winchester Cut points I had handloaded for the trip to the plinking pit. This does not prove their efficacy on clothed "objects" but does, I believe, prove their expandibility claim.

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Sunray

Cops, as a rule, aren't the best source of firearm related information. Mostly good guys, but most know squat about firearms.
"...can have performance problems..." That doesn't mean the heavy coat will stop them. There will still be a big hole in the personal ecosystem under it.

Bison

short of some really exotic, expensive stuff, they are the best ccw ammo around, in autopistol calibers,anyway.

picwik

I have a Kimber pro carry with the stainless slide and aluminum frame. After some extensive shooting (3000 rounds) I'm experienceing heavy gouging on the aluminum frames feed ramp. I use wilson combat magazines exclusively so feeding position isn't a problem. The powerball might be a litte easier on the feed ramp. Just a thought.