.440 Cor-bon

The .440 Cor-bon is a large-caliber handgun cartridge. The Cor-Bon company produced the caliber bullet in 1998. Although it looks more similar to a .357 SIG, this cartridge was designed after being necked down from an existing cartridge, the .50 AE to accept a .44-caliber (.429 in) (10.89 mm) bullet. This is fairly typical in the wildcat cartridge industry.

History
The .50 AE was introduced in the Desert Eagle from Magnum Research 1991, and shortly thereafter shooters began wondering whether there was an alternative to the relatively small selection of factory ammunition, and, for sensitive shooters, the recoil of the .50 round, but still with more substantial stopping power than the .44 Magnum.

In designing the .440, Cor-bon created a lighter recoiling round than the .50 AE with greater penetrating power than the .50 AE and 44 Magnum. The round has a flatter trajectory, and leaves the barrel considerably faster than either the .50 AE or the .44 Mag. However, the cartridge has never taken off, and has remained fairly expensive. Consequentially, Magnum Research no longer produces a Desert Eagle in .440 Cor-bon.

Uses
The round is generally considered to be a hunting round rather than a defense round for a number of reasons. Its excessive penetration and recoil make it unsuitable for self defense. Also, as it is physically a very large cartridge, commonly chambered in a very large pistol such as the Desert Eagle, it is not particularly feasible to carry it concealed.

It is effective at disabling and killing large animals, able to penetrate large bones such as the shoulder in deer. Some gunsmiths are chambering lever-action rifles to take full advantage of this cartridge on large game.