Thoughts on Cor-Bon 9mm

[dArtagnan]

I rarely see Cor-Bon cartridges but recently stumbled into a trove of cases which led to me to seriously look at what I did have. My older acquisitions’ headstamps fell into the following three types:

Immediately the 9’s, m’s, R’s, and varying font sizes strongly suggested to me they were made by Remington. I popped out the primers and they, too, were Remington. The cases also weighed an average of only one- or two-tenths grains more than Remington cases (57.8gr).

The latest acquisitions, however, are radically different. I didn’t recover any Cor-Bon boxes with them but its at least possible the ammunition came in two 20-rnd DRT boxes.

This fourth type of Cor-Bon case doesn’t have any characteristics I see to identify manufacturer, came with a primer I’ve not seen before; and averaged 55.94gr, well below Remington’s average. I don’t know who made them.

[DKConfiguration]

I checked my Cor Bon “Pow’R Ball” and “DPX” which hailed from the 2006 - 2011 era (in terms of when I purchased them) and they both had Starline headstamps. Just yesterday however, I did pick up a box of Cor-Bon 115gr +P JHP at Cabelas (index # SD09115/20) which are current production from the past couple months and they showed the following headstamp which is new to me:

[Fede]

Matt, this case was made by Lapua.

[DKConfiguration]

I recently received an order for some Corbon DPX with both 10mm and 9mm, and the 9mm looks like the same as the fourth headstamp type above in the original post. When you look at this 9mm headstamp in person, the lower half is very tiny font.

[DKConfiguration]

Here is a relatively scarce Cor-Bon .38spl +P+ case, and what I believe was their last variation of a 9mm headstamp from just before they went into limbo a couple years ago. This particular 9mm case was loaded with their “Urban Response” load, which was a slightly modified Pow’R’Ball.

And here is just a bunch of Corbon headstamps I have compiled: