[Cav]

I had some questions on PowR'Bal ammo, and a friend of mine sent me this thread: http://www.thegunzone.com/powrball.html. Dean was kind enough to reply to me. Here are my questions to him:

I was reading your article on Pow'Rball (http://www.thegunzone.com/powrball.html).
I own a Kimber Polymer Pro Carry and am/was considering Cor Bon Pow'Rball for my self defense rounds.

I came across an independent site that tested and was impressed by the results of their tests of Pow'Rball.

You come to a different evaluation conclusion. And yet there is a positive testimonial on the same page.

I'm not that well steeped in ballistics and was hoping you would expand on your conclusions.

Thank you

That link seems to lead to some questions about PowR'Bal and penetration and whether this is a good defensive round. I liked the thought on an HP that feeds like a FMJ and the polymer ball helps the mushrooming. The above thread suggests that penetration is not sufficient to recommend as a defensive round.
I came across a site from another forum where they were very pleased with PowR'Bal (there was no CorBon ads on the site that I saw). A friend of mine who was a beat cop, is an FFL and is also a state certified firearms instructor (who taught many police jurisdictions) that his concern is that a 165 gr. round may not have the push that a 230 gr does to ensure that all parts of a .45 work as designed.
I'd appreciate your help as to what you find works for you and why.
I know that this thread is long for a first post, but this is a serious question for me. I hope never to have to find out if my ammunition works, but if I do, it has to work.
Thanks for your help.
"You can not reason a man out of a position that he did not first reason himself into." Jonathon Swift

 

[Jim Bellino]

Cav,
I don't have any experience with Corbon Pwr ball but another round to consider is Federals Expanding Full Metal Jacket ammo. It has a hardball profile and a soft inner core at the nose. It should feed just as hardball. I don't know the penetration and expansion figures but it may or may not perform better than Powr Ball.

 

[Nemo]

Old trusty...

Federal HydraShok 230gr JHP.

You won't go wrong!

Cheers,
8)
Nemo

 

[Charlie Petty]

I have decided to devote the remainder of my time on this earth to inventing a machine that will unerringly perform critical thinking analyses.

When it detects hype lights will flash, bells will ring and a large red flag will pop up bearing a motto yet to be determined. I'm also investigating whether or not it can be made to spray an odiferous substance when activated.

 

[Dean Speir]

Hi, Cav…

Although I've already addressed the substance of your inquiry on TGZ's letters page, let me go over a couple of items.

As a recovering "Ammo Freak," I can readily understand your quest and confusion.

Look at it this way:

1. Can you afford however many rounds it takes for you to be able to run 200 consecutive rounds of CorBon Pow'RBall through your Kimber Polymer Pro Carry without a bobble or hiccup to assure reliability?
   
   [/*:m:1oe2utpk]
2. Can you routinely hit the Central Nervous System of a humanoid target at 15 yards with CorBon Pow'RBall and your Kimber Polymer Pro Carry?
   
   [/*:m:1oe2utpk]
3. Can you afford a minimum of 100 rounds of CorBon Pow'RBall per month to maintain
   proficiency?[/*:m:1oe2utpk]

Because you originally mentioned that "an independent site … tested and was impressed by the results of their tests of Pow'Rball," rather than another Forum, I asked "Does that 'independent site' carry advertising from CorBon?" since AmmoLab does carry ammunition company advertising.

You answer those questions to your own satisfaction and your way should become clear in respect to the Pow'RBall issue. Remember, Brasshopper, the only "magic bullet" is the one with which you practice!

Now, Nemo's advisory about 230-grain HydraShok may be well intended… and I personally have no quarrel with that statement… but it was not well-grounded in the context of your question.

I tend to shy away… w-a-a-a-a-a-y away… from trick rounds. It's not that someone is incapable of developing a better ballistic mousetrap, it's just that no one's quite accomplished that yet, and you'll note that the heavy-duty guys in this particular realm, men like Tom Burczynski, Dave Schluckebier, Alan Corzine and the fellow from ATK/Speer whose name eludes me at this moment, are not fooling around with either "exotics" or, Gawd help our troops on hostile soil, "dual mission capable" stuff like the Le Mas/RBCD flummery.

Look at the great advances in handgun munitions design over the past 15-17 years… not withstanding the Burczynski-created Quik-Shok and EFMJ (which core concept I think is fair to credit to Tom's friend, the late Joe Zambone, an "exotics" maven if ever there was one)… rounds like the various iterations of Hydra-Shok, XTP, Starfire, Black Talon and the "glitter twins," Gold Dot and Golden Saber, and you'll perhaps note that for the greater part they utilize projectiles of a "conventional" weight (caliber-for-caliber) engineered to perform in a specific way in soft tissue. They are less "velocity dependent" (which virtually all of the "exotics" are) than designed to perform at standard velocities (read: "which don't require the pushing of the pressures envelope") to provided an effective and time-tested wounding mechanism. (It may have turned 56 this past August, but you might want to read Hatcher's Notebook sometime soon!)

I trust that you are somewhat deconfused at this point….

 

[Guest]

you are somewhat deconfused at this point….

Shouldn't that be disconfused? :roll:

 

[Dean Speir]

Shouldn't that be disconfused?

It's a coinage of my dear ol' Dad's which has served us well for going on 60 years… I'll stay that course.

 

[Skeeve]

Pow'RBall "new..."

I enjoyed the test/expose on Corbon's Pow'RBall ammo in TGZ, but question Corbon's [apparently; TGZ article indicates the following is quoted with Corbon as the source] statement:

"The Pow'RballTM is a breakthrough concept; developed by renowned bullet maker Peter R Pi. It is an expanding lead bullet capped with a polymer ball giving it a full metal jacket or rounded ball profile."

How can someone who has taken a design produced by Winchester almost a century ago & call it "new?" Yeah, yeah: so they replaced the steel bb in the tip of the hollowpoint with a polymer bb: big whoop; this does not a "new design" make!

 

[Charlie Petty]

Of course you're right, but the strict constructionist view of "new" does not always agree with the "new" used by marketers and hypemeisters.

You gotta be flexible sometimes... :sm_angel:

 

[Mad Ogre]

The round has its place.
Some states don't allow civilians to use hollow points. This gives them a decent option.
Some guns just don't want to run hollowpoints. This gives the owner an option if they dont' want to have the gun worked on.
Cor-Bon wants to make some extra cash. This gives them something else to sell.

 

[Alarmed]

Cor-Bon wants to make some extra cash. This gives them something else to sell.

Even though I run CorBon in most of my carry guns & some get fed it exclusvely, this is probably the most truthful answer

 

[Shawn Dodson]

PowR'Ball = Glaser Silver polymer ball swaged into the nose of a JHP bullet.