.38 Special 110 Hydra-Shok® JHP Premium® Personal Defense®---Effective SD Ammo???

S

Southern Shooter

New member
From a snubnose ( 2" barrel ) revolver, is this low-recoil ammunition truly effective as a self-defense ammunition?? Does anyone have actual experience with this ammunition or witnessed it's performance?

I have 4 boxes of this ammunition that was purchased for my Chater Arms Undercover, .38 Special.

Would this essentially be like carrying a .380 ACP in the form of a revolver??

http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/handgun.aspx?id=400

Thanks
 
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Havaing NO experience with a SD situation, ...

I consider and decided that a heaver bullet weight and lower velocity is better.

Originally carried Hornady .38Spl 140gr XTP, but they have dropped that load and now in process of switching to the 125gr XTP. Accuracy is my aim with roper placement.

Some other posters seem to like the Buffalo Bullet co., 158gr cast lead wadcutter.

Are you friendly with ant LEO's, some department actually do test that help them determine was should be carry ammo, might be a good source of info.
 
Ammunition choice is a very personal and hotly debated topic. Most people agree that any factory produced, defense-oriented, jacketed hollowpoint is acceptable. All handguns are relatively poor manstoppers, but the previous attributes maximize your potential. The brand you mentioned is fine.

Whether to get a heavier, slower bullet, or a faster lighter one depends on if you believe in things like underpenetration, overpenetration, hydrostatic shock, and santa claus. Personally, I prefer heavier, slower bullets. I use 158gr .38 +P LSWCHP (lead semi wadcutter hollowpoints) in my revolver. This is the old "FBI Load" and is what the FBI carried until they moved to semi-automatics.

According to Wikipedia: "[.380ACP] is slightly less powerful than a standard-pressure .38 Special". With +P I think you're quite a bit ahead of .380 with a .38 revolver.
 
If you hit the target boogerman where it counts it is fine ammo. I prefer heavier but I also prefer bigger holes. First rule in a gun fight is have a gun, second rule is the gun had better be loaded with something. Personal choice is get heavier bullets and use these for target practice but if that is all you have then load them up and hope they aren't needed.
 
I do not find the recoil of 110 grain Hydra-Shok to be substantially different than other ammunition in a snub. A little less recoil maybe, but blasty. Hydra-Shok bullet technology is old like the Remington Golden Saber, first of the "penetration" rounds to address new FBI ballistic specs after Miami. Great round in it's day, but time has perhaps passed it by.
 
I always thought the Hydra-Shok was good, but it is 25 year old technology. (I think around 25yrs IIRC).

OK, so the Browning designs are 100 year old technology and they work great... But there has been a lot of developments in ammunition designs since then - even by Federal.

So, maybe it fills a niche for you that HST or other more recent designs don't fill, but aside from that, there are probably more effective rounds in .38 Spl out there.
 
I still have 124gr Nyclads in 9mm.

I bought em by the truckoad when I read one article that Marshall & Sanow wrote, and of the rounds that were listed in the article, the Nyclad was the best "One Shot Stopper".

I guess I should have waited for the whole book to be published...:o
 
+1 For ScotchMan. I also prefer slower heavier bullets to the lighter faster and the old FBI load is the one I most often use myself. I just like it and am comfortable with it.
 
Shoot some water filled milk jugs and see what happens. If those bullets destroy the first jug and penetrate at least the second, I'd call them adequate. I would choose a lower recoil load over a higher simply due to the chance for a more effective follow up shot.
 
Some other posters seem to like the Buffalo Bullet co., 158gr cast lead wadcutter.
Click to expand...

I am one one of those posters.

I dont consider those 110's to be effective enough because they don't seem to be able to reach the velocity from a two inch barrel that the bullets need in order to expand. ( http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs12.htm )

The Buffalo Bore 158gr in standard or +P loads have no problem with velocity, penetration and expansion. The 158's also shoot to POA in my snubbies. I have shot the 110's and they shot very low.

Until something better comes along, I will only carry BB 158's in my personal carry snubbies.
 
I bought a couple boxes of the 110 Hydra-shoks to use in my non +P rated J-frames. I found the ammo shoots to point of aim, recoil is fairly light although as previously mentioned, it does blast a bit. While it is difficult to get a hollow point to expand out of a 38 snub, the cavity gives you a meplat which is probably a little bit bigger than a SWC. Should be a reasonably effective round.

It's easier to do a reload with this profile than a full WC, and as the bullet is jacketed, it is less likely to deform than a soft lead hollowpoint if dropped or carried in a pocket as a reload. I fired at least several hundred +P LSWCHP's in the early 90's after my agency switched from that round to the 158 grain +P+ Hydra-shok as a duty round, and saw quite a few with deformed cavities after they were dropped on concrete or bounced around in a pocket.

FWIW, I think it's a pretty good round for a standard velocity 38.
 
Everybody join the chorus

SHOT PLACEMENT
SHOT PLACEMENT
SHOT PLACEMENT

Put that 110 grainer in the right place, and it will do the job.
Remember, distances will be very short, 7 yards or less, & time will be limited
For years the Treasury Dept issued all hands a 110g +P+ .38 Spl JHP, and it worked just fine.

Hitting the outlaw is far more important than what you hit with.
 
wasnt it marshall and sanow who decided that a half inch peice of marine grade plywood was a good way to aproximate the resistance of a human body when they did there experiments concerning shooting 44 magnums through a carseet and the "human" plywood cutout on it?

if thats the way to test human body resistance, test a piece with your ammunition.
 
They may have ""discovered"" it, but it has no scientific basis, and has not been adopted by any professional agency as a standard. The FBI protocal does have one test (outof six) using plywood, but also light shirt material (two different kinds) backed by ballistic gelatin.
 
I got perfect expansion and reasonable penetration out of a two inch snub with Federal 110 grain HydraShok in four layers of denim and wetpack. I just didn't see any use for it with more powerful rounds now on the market that seemed to have about the same overall feedback as the 110 grain Federals. But I would not hesitate one second to load them if nothing else was available. And the bad guys better have some real hesitation about getting shot with one. This may not be the best handgun ammo anymore, but it's still a killer round anyway you cut it.
 
When I carry my 637 j-frame, it's loaded with the low recoil Federal rounds ... tried the FBI load, actually fired two rounds before deciding there was wayyyyy too much recoil for me, wound up shooting them far more pleasantly from my 686+ ... the 637 is mainly a neighborhood weapon, I prefer 9mm or .45 when out of my little town and carry accordingly ... hitting the target is the key, whatever you carry, and that takes practice, practice, practice ...
 
.38spl

I carry a .38spl from time to time and I usually like my WW LE ONLY 147gr, +P+ subsonic. I carry 147 gr. loads in 9mm and the less velocity but heavier rounds appeal to me. Having said that I must say also that "Hydra-Shok" rounds WORK! I have used them to stop a car chase in a .45acp and they worked as I needed them to. Some years back I was shot in my left hand by a .40 cal, 165gr Hydra Shok and I have to admit it worked. I lost a finger on my left hand and a large part of my palm. Had I received the round in center mass areas I might not have been commenting today, as it was I was out of the loop for a month and still ache like a rascal.
 
I don't trust the Federal Premium Self Defense loads to expand. I have tried a couple of different 9mm offerings with the same result, no expansion. If you want expensive FMJ go for it.

That is my opinion based on personal testing that does not include gel. I usually shoot through plastic bottles of water or plastic jugs filled with shredded newspaper and water. With clothing in front they always sail through with zero or near zero expansion. It happens with 3.5", 3.8", and 4"+ barells.

The thing to remember is that there is a difference between the Personal Defense rounds and Tactical Hydra Shok round. I'm not sure what the difference is exactly. I just know I've never seen a "Tactical" version fail to work as advertised.
 
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