Is the Federal Hydra-Shok designed for self defense or designed as a hunting round?

Hydra Shok was a Burczynski design intended for defensive uses. For its day it worked pretty well with big expansion vs other designs. By today's standards, it's not all that great although probably still a fair choice in .45acp.

Interesting how quickly the advancement in PD has grown. They can't sell new SD ammo if they don't change it. Since I settled on the Hydra-Shok as the reliable and accurate SD ammo for my pistols years ago, and thankfully haven't had the need to use it as such, I don't buy it regularly.

What are they going to sell me if they don't "improve" it and make my current stash obsolete?

I'm still carrying it myself. I reload my range ammo. I did stray from the 9mm a few years ago because I decided that I didn't trust it. The newer 9mm ammo offerings did bring me back into the fold however.

But I don't have anything I can use on Zombies I guess.

I use them, ever since they came out with them. Were a wierd shape back then, still have a round of it.

I use Hydra-Shok as my "carry" cartridge in my 9mm's, .40's, .357's and my .380. It has been the most reliable in terms of feeding/ejecting in my semi-autos.

Then why make hydra shock if the older HP were just as good? Or the ones before that? Just drill a hole in the center and it's fine! Basically they don't need to sell new if there is nothing better. How long had GD gone without a change? Here's a change for you....hydra shock jacket and core are not bonded. Bonded bullets retain their mass better. There has been much debate regarding the bullets unreliable expansion when fired through clothing or medias other than ballistic gelatin. In ballistic gelatin, the bullet typically displays very rapid expansion resulting in a larger but more shallow wound channel than would be typical from most other bullet configurations in the same caliber and of similar weight

Hydra Shocks are fine but improvements were made. Better expansion better penetration. Otherwise any chunk of metal in front of powder is just as good.

I still use Hydra-Shok in .45 ACP. So does one local LE dept. I haven't decided on a SD round for 9mm, yet. One other local LE dept. uses Black Talon in 9mm. That's enough cred for me. Sadly, I haven't found any BT at my LGS. I have seen some Fed. HST in 9mm, so I might just start with that and keep looking for the BT.

Makes a fine hunting round too. I once killed a running buck with my Kimber 1911 loaded with Hydrashoks. Connected on the 3rd shot.......Broke left shoulder going in...Complete penetration.....Clipped right leg on exit.........Mr. buck slid to a stop. Its an effective round. Glad they still make it.

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S&W Accumulator

Ditto! Buck shot 35 yds behind shoulder, through & through..357 mag!

BACK IN THE DAY WHEN IT WAS INTRODUCED, HYDRA-SHOK WAS THE CAT'S MEOW IN SELF DEFENSE AMMO IN .45ACP. THAT IS, IF YOUR 1911 COULD RELIABLY FEED IT. SOME FEED RAMPS HAD DIFFICULTY ACCEPTING THE OGIVE OF THE H-S, AS THEY WERE DESIGNED FOR RNFMJ, 230GR MILITARY BALL AMMO. THE AMMO REMAINS A VIABLE CHOICE TODAY…..

ITS A GOOD HUNTING ROUND FOR THIN SKINNED ANIMALS. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE HOLLOW POINT AMMO ON ANIMALS SUCH AS BOAR OR BEAR, WHERE BONE SMASHING PENETRATION IS DESIRED. THAT TASK IS BEST LEFT TO HEAVY SWC OR FN HARDCAST BULLETS, IMHO…..

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

I gather from the responses that it was primarily a self defense round. Since the .44 Magnum may be a bit much for self defense and that's what mine are for, I may use them for deer, or maybe just take them out and ventilate some cans.
Or better yet, save them until there are none anywhere and someone wants them and sell them for a million dollars.
May not be the most preferred round for deer but since they are so thin skinned I would imagine there won't be a problem.

The Hydro Shok is a defensive round although I have used them in .44 Magnum and .357 magnum to hunt with. Deep penetrators you see. My last Hydro Shok duty round in 9mm was the 124 grain Plus P Plus. Good stuff and I believe the US Marshalls carried it at one time as well with no complaints. I reckon they are still good rounds although mildly dated.

I'm not sure but I seem to recall that the first generation hydra-shoks needed some tweeting, which was done on subsequent generations of this ammo.

Ammunition is constantly undergoing R&D. It's important to remember that police ammunition needs may differ from CCW needs.

I continue to use them in both .40 and .45 never had a feed issue. That said the .38+P feed real well through my Md 37 as well.... They may be "old" but the rounds do not seem to be broken.

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always trust your cape...

I've carried it in all my pistols chambered for .380acp. I've researched a lot of .380 ammo, and Hydra Shoks appear to be the most reliable in terms of expansion and penetration. I also carry a 642, but unfortunately the .38spcl Hydra Shok is a marginal performer. When it comes to my snubby, it's either the FBI Load or the Winchester PDX.

Early H-S .45 had a truncated cone shape which didn't feed well in some guns.
Federal switched to a more rounded ogive that solved any feeding issues.
H-S had pretty good street record from full-size pistols.
I still use it.

YMMV

Good Luck

The Hydra-Shok is good SD ammo, but I do think the Federal HST is an improvement.

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John

My little Makarov IJ70 (.380) has been loaded with them for years too. I honestly haven't researched any new ammo for it since I found the HS many years ago. I remove them to practice with the little guy and then load them back up.

(that's my 4040PD hiding under it from when I was comparing sizes)

Attached Images

Mac on 40PD.jpg (131.4 KB, 27 views)

I use it in a 380 BG.It works well and runs around 900fps.It is one of the top loads for 380 as tested ny ammoquest.It does not do well in 9mm short barrels.

They were good in their day, and certain loadings such as the 124 gr 9mm +P+ developed pretty decent street creds. That said, there are now better performing rounds in the market. I would use the analogy that the 1860 Colt .44 Army was a great development in its time, but the 1873 Army in .45 Colt 13 years later was a huge leap forward.

Yup in 124 +P+ and 4 inch barrel or more still would do well

All pistol calibers with the exception of a couple of newly introduced calibers are fairly anemic in terminal energy vis-a-vis centerfire rifle loads. To make up for that deficiency designers like Tom Burczynski have been designing and redesigning bullets for optimum results in SD. Since the huge leap forward Tom Burczynski's design of the original Hydro Shok bullet gave us the advances in results have been much smaller leaps. The point of diminishing returns seems to have set in. Today, with most any caliber and most any bullet, it is not what you shoot the BG with, IT IS where you hit and how many times. I for one have no problem carrying Hydro Shoks in any SD handgun. ........................

I before E except after C

I used to carry .45 Hydra-Shok before and after the bullet profile had been revised to enhance feeding. Worked just fine in my Commander.

I was issued the 147gr 9mm version for duty back in the early 90's (briefly replacing the 147gr W-W OSM load, until its cost proved prohibitive for procurement).

As a matter of fact, I was just unpacking some older boxes I'd been moving around for years before our move to our new property, and I discovered I'd carefully packed away a fair amount of older carry ammo from those younger days.

In it, I discovered many hundreds of rounds of Hydra-Shok in 9, .45 & .44 Magnum I'd put back in plastic cases, from when I was shooting and carrying it all the time (and prices were significantly less expensive).

I also found many hundreds of rounds of other types of high quality JHP's for .357, .38, 9, .40, .45 & .44, too, as well as a couple thousand rounds of .22LR/MAG I'd forgotten about.

FWIW, the usual observation made of the Hydra-Shok is that it's more sensitive to plugging in the more difficult 4LD testing than the newer duty ammo designs, making it less likely to offer consistent, robust expansion in those testing conditions. Still a popular, albeit somewhat expensive, design offered in the commercial (private citizen) ammo line of Federal, though. I still have some left over in the standard pressure .38 Spl and .357 Magnum loadings for a couple of my snubs.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Just a FYI, all of the big name older designed PD/LE handgun bullet designs have been modified over the years, some multiple times, in various calibers. This includes the Hydra-Shoks, Gold Dots, Silvertips, Starfires, Golden Sabers, SXT and even the new(ish) HST.

Not always the case.

Use the same thing you use on Vampires....Winchester Silvertips.

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CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

So many "good in their day" comments. Then man created goose down vests and the bullets were good no more. . .

I attended a ballistics workshop two weeks ago put on by Winchester at one of the area police ranges. The participants were invited to shoot their issue ammo into gelatin blocks. One fellow from the state DMV police was issued 9mm 124 grain Hydra Shok and tested some of his ammo. It was a half day event and the testing consisted of 4LD, drywall, and auto glass. The Hydra-Shok did not perform quite as well as the newer rounds there that day, such as the Remington Golden Saber Bonded, Speer Gold Dot, or Winchester Ranger Bonded and T series. The round that impressed me most that day was the .45 +P Ranger T series 230 grain bullet. It opened to almost one inch in 4LD and had lots of very sharp edges around the circumference of the expanded bullet. Really nasty looking..

Early on, the .44 and .45 versions worked quite well, (.44Mag as a hunting load) while the first iterations of the 9mm and .38's were pretty dismal. It's my understanding that the bullet has undergone some development, and the newer versions tend to work better, especially out of 'longer' barrels--4" and up.
Like a lot of the 'older' designs, there are 'newer' options available; doesn't mean some of the older designs are bad choices. Acebow