Corbon Pow'R Ball vs. Winchester PDX1

[B2Tall]

For me it's about consistency. The Powerball might not always be the best of the bunch but I've never seen a test where it fails to expand. I can't say that about HPs. Granted, I haven't seen every test ever done (nobody has) but I've seen quite a few. I also use Hornaday Critical Defense. I've seen one test where one CD slug failed to expand. It was attributed to a defective bullet.

For my personal safety I'll go with the ammo that always seems to function as advertised. Powerball/Critical Defense it is.

[G50AE]

Here is another tidbit. I was having a discusion with a mechanical engineer about various types of pistol ammo. I showed him a Corbon 150gr JHP, a hollowpoint with a very wide cavity, a salad bowl of a hollow point. I also showed him a 110gr. 38 Special Pow'R-Ball. He made an interesting comment. He supplied his non-profesional opinion that he thought the powerball would be more accurate due to better aerodynamics. I am not sure if this has been tested , and I do find it to be a curious idea.

Maybe I need to contact Corbon and ask for a 325gr. 50AE Pow'R-Ball.

[handgonnetoter]

Oddly enough, I seem to have some problem with the Critical Defense ammo in my Kel-Tec P-11. It functions properly while firing the gun, but the bullet gets beat up when I rack the slide to chamber a round and then take the round out to see if it shows signs of damage. I have some BVAC 124 grain hollow points with similar bullet profile, and the bullet is even seated further out than the 115 grain Critical Defense, but the 124's bullets don't get beat up while racking one in the chamber.

[Ed Hamberger]

I haven't used any of the Pow'R-Balls in my 709 yet, but the only bullet type it has chose not to feed properly was Federal WB 115gr JHP +P+. I think the round was just to damned hot and my gun was trying to eject and load simultaneously, because that is exactly what happened several times. I've not used anything more powerful than a std load since...

[handgonnetoter]

Yea, I only use standard pressure loads in all my handguns. If I can't get the job done with those, I'm in over my head anyway.

[tpd223]

The biggest issue I have with PowerBall is the extremely rounded nose profile. Read your Jim Cirillo to figure out why that bugs me.


In some guns +P is a problem, in other guns +P makes the gun run better. It all depends.

We have had great service from the 124gr +P Gold Dot 9mm load at my job.