440 Cor-Bon Ammo for a Desert Eagle

[Kesendeja]

In the "Monster Hunter" game I'm running the player wants a gun big enough to get through bio-engineered and/or demonic opposition, or god forbid something that's both. (think Resident Evil meets Devil May Cry). The Desert Eagle fits the bill nicely. But doing a little reaserch I found this:

.440 Cor-Bon Ammunition

"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."

"Its excessive penetration and recoil make it unsuitable for self-defense, it is a physically larger cartridge, commonly chambered in a large pistols such as the Desert Eagle"

I was wondering if using ammunition like this would change the damage of the gun. I was thinking it would up the damage to p++? or give it an armor divisor of half?

Opinions welcome.

[Varyon]

It should be pi+, as it's 10.89mm (which IIRC is fairly low on the pi+ scale). The increased penetration would be on account of it going faster than most .44 caliber projectiles (and sufficiently-so as to have superior penetration to the .50 AE... or at least that was the goal).

For a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation, GURPS damage is roughly linear with velocity if mass and cross-section remain constant. Wikipedia gives two very different velocities for 240 grain .44 Magnum - 1180 ft/s vs 1475 ft/s - and I'm not certain which is more typical. A 240 grain .440 Cor-Bon has a velocity of 1800 ft/s. That's either +50% or +20% to damage, respectively. Note that would be relative to a .44 Magnum.

Less back-of-the-envelope, Douglas Cole previously worked out that average damage, in points, is typically around 0.6*SQRT(KE/cal^0.4), with caliber in mm and KE in J. Applying that here, you're looking at 18 points, which is right between 5d pi+ (average 17.5) and 5d+1 pi+ (average 18.5).

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Less back-of-the-envelope, Douglas Cole previously worked out that average damage, in points, is typically around 0.6*SQRT(KE/cal^0.4), with caliber in mm and KE in J. Applying that here, you're looking at 18 points, which is right between 5d pi+ (average 17.5) and 5d+1 pi+ (average 18.5).

Working with the detailed version of the model with that formula, I also get 18.1 points, for 5d pi+.


The older version of the model produces the same results (it has an overly precise power law scaling that tends to also overstate rifle-bullet penetration by a tetch).

So it's definitely a monster.

[Anthony]

It appears that firing .440 Cor-Bon requires a specialized variant on the gun, not just a change in ammunition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Eagle#Mark_XIX), but at around 2300J, it's definitely rifle-level (comparable to 6.8mm).

[Kesendeja]

Thank you for the quick responses. I really appreciate the help.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It appears that firing .440 Cor-Bon requires a specialized variant on the gun, not just a change in ammunition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Eagle#Mark_XIX), but at around 2300J, it's definitely rifle-level (comparable to 6.8mm).

It's a rechambering, so either factory-produced or by getting a .44 magnum barrel and boring out the chamber to fit the 440 Cor-Bon, which presumably would require the barrel be mounted in a gun set up for .50 AE in order for it to fit in the magazines, etc.

[Pursuivant]

There might also be problems getting Corbon ammo outside of the U.S., although those could be ignored in a cinematic campaign.