Federal Hydra Shok handgun round. Anything more powerful?

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Was just discussing powerful handgun rounds with a friend. As of about 2 years ago, my research told me that the Federal Hydra Shok was the most powerful store-bought handgun round, in terms of sheer knock down power, damage caused by the round, and velocity and energy of the round. Anyone know of a more powerful round? Or disagree?
 
If you are talking about humans as the target I think Magtech Guardian Gold and Hornady TAP ammo my best the Hydra-Shok..If you are talking about game in general and dangerous game in-particular than none of the above is suggested, the best round from a handgun would be a heavy,large caliber, hard-cast round..
 
GoldDot hollow-points have pretty much replaced the Hydra Shoks in law enforcement use. Supposedly better performance.
 
The actual Hydroshock bullets themselves are good performers. They are not, however, loaded in the most powerful rounds of a given caliber.

Two rounds that are clearly more powerfull are the Speer Gold Dots or any offering from Cor-Bon.

Cor-Bon has no problem with bullets that fragment somewhat and, indeed, this can be a good thing. Cor-Bons tend to be some of the highest velocity rounds out there.

Gold Dots are electrochemically (as I recall) bonded so they stay together through various mediums (car doors, windsheilds, wall board, leather, denim etc) and still have a good chance of becoming an expanding projectile. From what I understand, they have proven themselves anectdotally in actual gunfights.

Some of Federals Law Enforcement Only offerings are hotter in the 9mm offering. I carry the Federal 9BPLE 115 gr +P+ in my 9mm carry guns and Speer Gold Dots in my 40's. I have thought about making the switch to all Gold Dots since they are easier to get.


All in all Federal makes a good product with some of the best quality control, but they are not pushing the envelope enough for me.
 
I was really surprised to see how GoldDot has such a good following in Law Enforcement. Great expanding round. Hornady penetrates better with less expansion. Hornady needs to put more effort into their marketing. Corbon has a good following.

Found Hydra shoks to be very accurate but, lacking the knock down power I like. Navy SEALS with SEAL Team 6 use the Hydra shok but, it is the law enforcement variety not available to the public. Two to the chest and one to the head is their method for take down of a bad guy.

I'm gonna try some GoldDots after I use up my Remingtons. I'm sticking with my trusted revolvers after all the stove piping and feed jams I have seen on the range and real world after working in law enforcement. A quality firearm is another factor to look at. I'm not bashing semi automatics but, no matter the make I've seen all of them malfunction. Could be the weak magazine springs that Glocks suffer from or the Jamomatic Berretas (Had five of them and all malfunctioned). If your gonna carry one use high pressure ammo. #1 Practice, practice, practice.
 
quote:

Navy SEALS with SEAL Team 6 use the Hydra shok but, it is the law enforcement variety not available to the public.

Got a link??

Hydroshock is a 25 year old design now. I have never been a fan of them. They do well on bare skin/light clothing, but plug up on thick clothes and act like a ball round. They tend to shed their jackets when they hit something hard (like glass) and break up. The Black Talon type rounds with their thick jackets seemed to be much more reliable and do more damage.

In the current offerings I would go with Gold Dot or the core bonded Golden saber from Remington. For higher power loadings with the Gold Dot, I have heard great things about Double tap ammunition. I have yet to use it myself however.
 
In any caliber the Winchester Ranger T rounds are some of the best stoppers around. The 127gr +P+ and 147gr Ranger T make the 9mm equal to pretty much any .40 or .45ACP round for stopping power.
 
Anybody ever tried Glasers? I shot a milk jug full of water once with a 9mm Glaser. You had to see the results to believe it. It completely shredded the jug. Previous tests with several different hollow point rounds were not nearly as destructive.
 
quote:

Originally posted by wavinwayne:
Anybody ever tried Glasers? I shot a milk jug full of water once with a 9mm Glaser. You had to see the results to believe it. It completely shredded the jug. Previous tests with several different hollow point rounds were not nearly as destructive.

Ya they work great on thin folks with a t-shirt on. When forced to use them on 300 pound guys with leather jackets on the results have been less than spectacular.

Try putting a jacket and a few inches of some type of animal fat in front of the milk jug prior to shooting it with a glaser. I suspect you may be more impressed with a traditional expanding projectile after that.
 
The best stopper is a question without an answer.

Shot placement and evironmental factors are a far better indicator of stopping power than bullet selection.

Use any of the premium bullets/loadings and you will be well protected.

Bullets are a lot like motor oil. They are all good and the gap between the best "premium hollowpoint" and the worst "premium hollowpoint" is like the differnce between Chevron supreme and havoline. Nill.
 
milwaukee, that also depends what one considers to be a "premium hollowpoint"

Some of the "premium" rounds actually offer less all around usefulness than the generic $10.97 a box Winchester 147gr hollowpoints from Walmart.

I'm starting to favor the heavier rounds now after reading a lot about them and talking with people who have been involved in shootings. A friend of mine was in a shooting several years ago and his gun was loaded with Cor-Bon 115gr +P hollowpoints, which some people consider to be the best available. At the time they very well may have been, but they wound up fragmenting early instead of penetrating. With a solid torso shot the guy still didn't go down, which would have probably actually been a fatal shot with a deeper penetrating round.

Tests have shown that the cheap 147gr Winchester JHP's in the $10.97 50rd box do very well in penetration and expansion, and I would rather trust my life to them than the explosive fragmenting Corbons or Glaser/Magsafe rounds.

So you can see why the term "premium hollowpoint" can be misleading.
 
I've got some of the .38 Special +P and .357 Mag in Hydra shock lying around. I also have them in the .40 Short and Weak and .45 A.C.P as well. My favorite, when I was a deputy was my Ruger .45 DA with .45 Black Talon rounds. Vicous little round.

A friend of mine used to handload 357 magnum wadcutters backwards for some close in protection. They always seemed to work well.

PS Federal Hydra Shock is not a handgun.
 
There is very, very little difference in any of the hollowpoint rounds.

Stopping power statistics are almost useless in determining a good "man stopper".


The "tests" people reference are very meaningless in the real world.
 
quote:

Originally posted by milwaukee:
There is very, very little difference in any of the hollowpoint rounds.

Stopping power statistics are almost useless in determining a good "man stopper".


The "tests" people reference are very meaningless in the real world.


Except when the actual street results mirror the tests.
 
That is not the case at all.

The numbers are too small to eliminate the varibles like clothing, drug influence, shot placement.

Also not all of the stats use the same criteria for one shot stops.

Some stats consider it a one shot stop if the subject gets hit and then runs away because "it stopped the confrontation".

Time would be better spent with practice instead of spending time looking into which bullet is .000001% better.
 
milwaukee makes some valid points. I would respectfully disagree that there is a difference in HP projectiles through different mediums, specifically using the Gold Dots as an example.

Some projectiles have historically performed well in human targets. While the sample size of the data is less than ideal and anecdotal, one cannot conduct double blind controlled studies in humans in this arena.

I will personally use the data available to govern MY choice of ammunition. Having said that, his point about practice is well taken. Indeed, I have fired many thousands of rounds in IDPA and IPSA matches as well as taking classes for this reason. After all, putting 5 shots in center mass in less than a second is more effective than the best projectile.
 
I didn't say anything about one shot stops. I think the theory of one shot stops is idiotic because if something is worth shooting once its worth shooting twice, or even three times.

There are still differences in how a bullet performs. Velocity and weight are a major key, as well as bullet construction (bonded cores, the way the cavity is formed, etc).

There are rounds that perform better than others through various objects and differeing types of clothing. There are rounds that are good at only one thing, and rounds that do well at everything. Why not carry the round that does well at everything?
 
Gold dots are the best at the moment. Time and technology march on. One of the worst objects for a hand gun round to go through is glass. The person you are shooting at will have more damage done from glass fragmentation over the impact of the bullet. Glass is a bullet killer.
I just bought replacement Federal Gold Dots for my 9 mm and .45. I was carrying magazines filled with alternating Hydra Shocks and Silver tips.
 
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