Anyone shoot 40 super or 400 corbon???

[throttletony]

Hi all -
Does anyone here shoot .400corbon or 40super (both are necked down cartidges that shoot a .40 caliber bullet).
They are a bit appealing as an alternate use for a .45 (either 1911 or glock 21) for carrying in wolf/bear country of MT & ID.

The other options would be a 6 shot 357 revo, or just gettin a while new gun (either G20 in 10mm or a 44 mag revo)

If I can exceed the 10mm and save money, I'd like that. Is this possible by doing a caliber conversion?

Overall I'm intrigued by doing a conversion - IF it's powerful and reliable. Any experience you can share on these necked-down calibers ??

 

[Tombs]

I don't think you're going to find many people interested in the round. 400 corbon is generally a bit weaker than 10mm.

40 super really requires building the gun up with absurd recoil spring weights. In the end, you could run 45 super out of most 45acp guns with a recoil spring swap and have just as much muzzle energy as most of this exotic stuff.

Personally, I'd recommend getting a gen 4 glock 21 with a 460 rowland barrel. You only need to change the barrel to switch between 460 rowland and 45acp on a gen 4 glock 21. 460 rowland will give you 900+ftlbs of energy at the muzzle and feed from standard 45acp magazines, preserving your capacity. Ammunition has become more widely available in recent years, and a lot of it is a real barn burner than can stand toe to toe with 44 magnum.

I have an old clark custom 1911 conversion kit for 460 rowland. It's a rather ridiculous round, yet the recoil really isn't all that bad. Accuracy has always been astonishingly good. Since it's the same OAL as a standard 45acp, reliability isn't compromised. The only difference is that the case is much thicker internally, and has been lengthened a 32nd of an inch to prevent chambering in a normal 45acp.

 

[throttletony]

Yeah, i had overlooked the 460Rowland, that might be the best option in a conversion.

Similar balliatics as a medium 44mag, right ?

 

[Bigtanker]

Wiki says the 460 can get about 930 ft/lbs of energy which is the lower end of .44 magnum.

I'll throw this out for fun. A Dessert Eagle in .44DE which is a .50AE necked down to a .44 cal bullet. (Previously known as the .440 Corbon I think.)

 

[AmmoManAaron]

Wiki says the 460 can get about 930 ft/lbs of energy which is the lower end of .44 magnum.

I'll throw this out for fun. A Dessert Eagle in .44DE which is a .50AE necked down to a .44 cal bullet. (Previously known as the .440 Corbon I think.)

I've been trying to find a .440 Corbon barrel for my Desert Eagle for years. Supposedly they were unreliable with the only factory ammo available (Corbon brand) and that is why they were discontinued, but that just seems strange to me. If your company is the only one making ammo for a high-end gun in one of your namesake calibers, you would think they would have made sure they got it right. Anyway, I've just always liked bottleneck pistol rounds and wanted to see for myself what the .440 Corbon was all about. Wanted to see if the factory ammo was actually a problem and, if so, if it could be solved with reloading.

 

[Bigtanker]

Whats weird is I saw the .44 DE on G & A TV in January. I still can't find anything about it online.

 

[AmmoManAaron]

I like .400 Corbon. Picked up a conversion barrel for a 1911 many years ago at a gunshow for a measly $40. I had read about it for several years prior to that and the idea always looked good to me, so when I saw that barrel and price I grabbed it. To answer your questions:

1. The .400 Corbon idea was to match 10mm performance, but with just a barrel and maybe recoil spring swap - easy and very cost-effective if you already have a 45acp pistol. If you don't own a .45acp and don't want one, then there's not a lot of point to the .400 Corbon caliber. With the popularity of 45s, this super simple conversion should have caught on - especially since 10mm was not very well established back then.

2. It is a reloader friendly cartridge. Brass is easily made from regular 45acp brass just by running it into the normal full-length sizing die. I take all of the small primer 45acp brass that I get and turn them into .400 Corbon so that I don't have to deal with mixed SPP and LPP brass in my .45acp reloading - perfect solution to that problem and it theoretically gives your 400 Corbon brass a little more strength.

3. You won't exceed full house 10mm performance, but you can match it. You will want a heavier recoil spring for max loads - makes them more pleasant for you and your gun. You can have a lot of fun with different loads and different recoil springs - the sky is the limit. You can make very soft plinking loads and use a lighter than stock spring, you can go with a slightly heavier than stock spring and get good performance from "normal" loads with a smooth recoil impulse, or you can get a little crazy with your loads and heavy recoil springs. If you want to go further, step up to .40 Super because of thicker (in the web area) purpose-built brass and a purpose tuned gun that requires more than just a recoil spring change.

4. The bottleneck nature of the .400 Corbon makes it feed very reliably even with blunt nose bullets. Any bullet profile that feeds in a .40 S&W or 10mm will feed in a .400 Corbon. Think about it - same bullet profile, but the entry point of the chamber is much bigger. It uses standard .45acp mags, so the feed angles are the same - no muss, no fuss.

5. I have no experience with Glocks in .400 Corbon - sorry.

 

[throttletony]

great info, thanks yall

 

[Tombs]

Yeah, i had overlooked the 460Rowland, that might be the best option in a conversion.

Similar balliatics as a medium 44mag, right ?

Right, you can load 44 magnum hotter than a 460 rowland, but 460 rowland will be right up there with the majority of factory loadings in 44 mag.

Ultimately the point is to give you magnum level performance from a standard handgun without extensive modifications. The glock option is the cleanest, as the 1911 option requires a 26lb recoil spring, which has forced me to excessively crimp the brass to prevent bullet set back under normal cycling. Also usually needs really strong magazine springs to keep up with the slide velocity.

With a glock, it's going to run like a glock.

All options require a ported barrel, because it delays opening of the action. Without a ported barrel, 460 rowland would be pretty dangerous.