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Post by boxilar on Nov 1, 2017 5:39:48 GMT
Curious if anyone here owns or has shot a .440 CorBon Desert Eagle? For those that don't know, .440 CorBon was a cartridge created by necking a .50AE case down to .44. creating a cartridge that looks like an oversized .357 Sig. There case headspaced on the shoulder of the cartridge and apparently the manufacturer had trouble getting it right. Production was halted with only a few hundred complete guns made and a few hundred more barrels shipped out. .440 uses .50AE magazines and the n.44/50 bolt, so all you need is a .44 or .50 gun and a .50AE magazine if you can find a barrel. I know there are devotes to the cartridge that have .44 barrels rechambered in .440 CorBon and modify .50AE cases and load their own ammo. I happened upon a box of 20 when my favorite local gun store was closing down. I nabbed it thinking I might find a .440 Deagle barrel before I found out how rare they actually are. I've never shot it and am curious if anyone here has. listed stats for the cartridge show that it throws a 240 grain bullet 1800 fps from a six inch barrel.
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Post by mrblackcat on Nov 1, 2017 10:26:07 GMT
I remember when they came out and then I remember them removed from the lineup later and didn't know why for many years. I have never shot one, and have only seen one barrel on a gun at a gun show. That was when the .440 was at its peak, I would say.
I have thought about converting my own barrel over the years, but only seriously considered it recently... until I found out the ammo/case issues. I don't reload (yet) so it would be impractical. The conversion would be pretty easy really.
I enjoy shooting everything I have so much, one expensive complicated to load round isn't very appealing. Seems like an excellent round ballistically speaking though.
MrBlackCat
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Post by mrblackcat on Nov 7, 2017 20:10:19 GMT
Here is an auction for a Desert Eagle with a .440 CorBon conversion barrel. Appears to be a Mk1 Gun originally .44 Magnum. The slide in use with the .440 barrel is a Mk VII .50AE, and the .440 appears to be a converted .44 Magnum 10" MkXIX Barrel. www.gunbroker.com/item/715592306MrBlackCat |
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Post by boxilar on Nov 16, 2017 2:54:58 GMT
Thank's for the heads up.
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Post by American Deagle on Dec 10, 2017 13:22:40 GMT
Ya i am really surprised that no one these days and age has built up a aftermarket industry around desert eagles. I mean look at glock, there i so many parts available. If someone could manufacture some after market 440 barrels or even 41 magnum, kind of like lone wolf distributors do for glock. I think it would be a fair market. Decent amount of money in it i am sure. Lot of people have desert eagles.
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Post by mrblackcat on Dec 10, 2017 17:29:44 GMT
I was thinking about that myself as I have been preparing for my 10mm Auto barrel attempt. If the 10mm Auto project goes well enough, I will also make myself a MkXIX .41 Magnum barrel. Of course I have a .41 Magnum Desert Eagle, but I wan't the convenience of a MkXIX. I thought to myself... I wonder who else would buy a MkXIX .41 Magnum conversion... I think the answer is not many. If you think about what a magazine, barrel, and bolt would cost... then add on the cost to rechamber a Desert Eagle barrel. Even if you got some kind of volume discount to make a run of them. Lets assume a slight volume discount for a small volume run for testing... Barrel.......$350 Bolt.........$175 Magazine..$30 Labor/ Tooling....$180 (3 hours at $60/Hr) Total......$735 This is all theoretical of course, and mass production could change these numbers a good bit, but Desert Eagle barrels are a lot more complicated than most barrels out there. Bore and sleeve would be cheaper/faster than bore/ream/re-rifle, but you have to get a blank from somewhere still. I love the idea, but I don't think it marketable. I suppose Magnum Research already knows this, as they have the real numbers of how many of the alternate barrels are bought vs how many guns are sold etc. You can bet their marketing/accounting guys have looked at this. I would love to see this happen of course...  MrBlackCat |
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Post by KAYDADOG on Dec 18, 2017 22:09:39 GMT
I just went out last week to shoot 192 rounds of 440-Corbon loaded over fifteen years ago. Mine is the 50/AE Desert Eagle in Satin Nickle with a matching 10" barrel in 440-Corbon. Form my own cases and have loaded these rounds since purchased in 1999. I have an old Bushnell Red Dot type site mounted. If you place the site on the center of the target you definitely hit it, very accurate rounds. All 192 rounds fired with several minor feed issues. Overall nine of the case necks caught when feeding and put a slight nick in the mouth of the case. Actually they still were OK to reload. Finished up four boxes 256 rounds today for the next time out.
Need to shoot the 50/cal since I now can swage my own from using 45/ACP cases for jackets. I can now make these bullets for about $0.05/each versus the factory $0.50 to $0.80 each. The reason I never shot 50/AE bullets. I can also swage the 44/cal bullets using copper jackets or 40/S&W cases for jackets.
Overall I never had a problem with the 440-Corbon loads that I loaded. Just a pain to clean, at least several hours.
This is a rare barrel to own since discontinued.
Thank You
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