Cor-Bon

"COR®BON/Glaser Ammunition" is a brand of small arms ammunition produced by Dakota Ammo Incorporated. Based in Sturgis, South Dakota, COR®BON/Glaser Ammunition originated when Peter Pi Sr. started making handgun hunting ammo back in 1982 for himself and industry professionals for their trip to Africa.

The company is known by law enforcement professionals and sport shooters alike for the development of the 400 COR®BON cartridge, essentially a .45 ACP case necked-down to a .40 caliber bullet, to which many guns chambered in .45 ACP can easily be converted. COR®BON also designed and developed the .32 NAA, essentially a .380 ACP case necked-down to a .32 caliber bullet, and the NAA Guardian .32 NAA pocket pistol in partnership with North American Arms(NAA). At the 2004 SHOT Show, COR®BON and NAA introduced their jointly developed .25 NAA

Background
In the early 1980s, Peter Pi, Sr. was introduced to handgun hunting and fell in love with the sport. Unfortunately, he found that there were no specialty bullets for handgun hunting of large and dangerous game. Most of the bullets available were designed either for self-defense and target shooting. These bullets did not work effectively because they were too light of a caliber and lacked sufficient penetration to reach the vitals for a humane kill. Frustrated with the lack of options, Peter took it upon himself to study ballistics and bullet construction which allowed him to develop ammunition for his own hunting needs. The first bullet he created was named the Penetrator, with a hardened lead core with a heavy copper jacket. It was designed not to expand, but to penetrate heavy boned and thick-skinned game. It successfully took down Peter’s first elk and American bison using a handgun, performing extremely well and getting the job done in one humane shot.

Company roots
Peter Sr. was actively involved with the Detroit Chapter of Safari Club International where he met and befriended Larry Kelly of Mag-Na-Port fame and J.D. Jones of SSK Industries. Both were avid, world famous, handgun hunters. Larry & J.D. were preparing to leave for an African safari to shoot the Big Five game or Grand Slam consisting of: Buffalo, Lion, Elephant, Rhino and Leopard. They knew that Peter had been swedging bullets and was developing high velocity loads for hunting with great success. After discussing their needs with him, they felt very confident in his work and asked him to design something special for their upcoming hunt. Peter was able to develop the perfect load. A prototype .44 Magnum with a 305gr Penetrator bullet. It was used successfully to harvest the first Big Five game with a handgun. A national article was written about the hunt, with others to follow. The design of Penetrator bullet quickly lead him to develop the very first Bonded Core handgun-hunting bullet, which is designed to prevent the separation of the lead core and jacket. This occurs when a bullet hits thick hides or heavy boned animals, which reduces penetration to the vitals, leading to only wounding the animal.

The unique process Peter Sr. used for his handgun hunting bullets was derived from a known process that was called, core bonding. This process chemically bonds the lead core to the jacket of the bullet creating a fused bullet. Since this was the process that started it all, the name for his business emerged; COR®BON Custom Bullet Company.

In 1982, Peter Sr. graduated from the Michigan Police Reserve Academy and worked part-time as an officer and range instructor. Graduating with a 6-shot revolver, the standard issue sidearm for Michigan police departments at that time, he quickly realized that this weapon and the training he received would not be adequate. There had been a slow, but steady transition within the majority of police departments to change from the traditional revolver to the high capacity 9mm-auto pistol. This transition was prompted from the Newhall Massacre that occurred in California in 1970 involving the death of four CHP officers. The standard of firearms and firearms training used across the country was being re-evaluated and redesigned. Peter Sr. felt that the current 9mm ammunition being built (compared to the 357 Magnum ammunition that it would eventually replace) was totally inadequate in stopping power. Envisioning this change for better ammunition happening, in 1985, he introduced the very first, high velocity, low muzzle flash, high performance 9mm hollow point ammo that approached the stopping power of the legendary .357 Magnum. (115gr traveled 1350fps).