SERIOUS problem with Federal Hydra-shoks

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PUMC_TomG

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A friend of mine on another forum gave me permission to post a thread he started over there... Make me cringe a little bit, and feel happier that I use Gold Dots.:

I was just cleaning my XD40 and was cycling a mag through it just to make sure the feed ramp was clean and working. I loaded my mag up with the Federal Hydras and got to the 7th round in the mag and it jammed. I was like "????" So I pulled my gun apart and looked at everything and saw it was normal. Then I load up my mag with Speer Lawman and it cycles fine. Okay. I load up WWB, It cycles fine. I load up the same Federals and got TWO jams. Im like ***? So I pull all the hydras out and look at them and see this on 3 of them.

hydrashok1.jpg


hydrashok2.jpg


So the sub compact is pulling bed side duty tonight, due to the fact that i just disposed of all of my Hydra shoks. Tomorrow I have the day off and im going to the range to fire a few more Gold Dots off to test them out (I had been considering them anyway.) I hope the XD isn't at fault here, Its just strange that the other brands cycled through and the Hydras didnt.


Just thought I'd share.



All in all an interesting post... kinda scary setback on those cartridges.... :uhoh:
 
Actually I have seen Gold Dots do that as well.

Any rounds that you hand cycle a bunch have the potential to do that. That is one reason we are supposed to rotate/shoot our carry ammo.

Everytime that cartridge makes the jump into the chamber it is taking a beating. After awhile it will loosen in the crimp and get shoved back in. The post didn't say how many times that particular batch of ammo has been hand cycled through the gun, but do it enough with anything and it will eventually get set back.
 
Good point... he didn't mention how often he cycles these through, and how old they are...

I'll have to ask about that.
 
Right, this has nothing to do with the bullet used: Gold Dot, Hydashok etc. This could just as easily happen with hardball.
 
You cycle the ammo enough and your ammo will setback. Shooting that ammo will get you killed to death. Good thing you noticed your ammo was setback. Its nothing new :)
 
Any time I try out a different brand of ammo, I cycle one round in and out a few times to get an idea of how much said brand can be cycled before it is signifigantly set back. It varies from brand to brand, and gun to gun, but it happens with ALL autoloading pistol ammo, in my experience. With practice rounds like WWB, chambering a cartridge even one time will cause noticable setback, if you compare the round to one that has not been chambered. SD loads are usually better (better crimp, I imagine), but it happens with them as well.

Any round that is so set back that it won't feed (and even before that point) will be MUCH more likely to cause a pressure spike resulting in a KB. Thats why you are obligated to chamber/unchamber as infrequently as possible, rotate the top round on the mag, and shoot out your carry ammo in favor of fresh stuff OFTEN, no matter what brand it is.

As has been said, the observed setback has nothing to do with the brand of ammo, and WILL happen with all ammo. Tell your buddy to be much more careful about checking for setback on all his carry ammo. Had he been able to fire one of those rounds, he might very well have lost the gun and/or some body parts.
 
Set back of the 40 by .10" will double the pressure !!! That's going from 35,000 to 70,000 psi and that's where many of the Kbooms come from. That will happen with all ammo. The 357sig is at least as sensitive as the 40.
 
Set back of the 40 by .10" will double the pressure !!! That's going from 35,000 to 70,000 psi and that's where many of the Kbooms come from. That will happen with all ammo.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but I shoot 9mm, .40 and .45 and the only caliber I've ever seen do it is the .40.

DUDE: buy a revolver for your protection, autos are for playing.
 
Swap out carry ammo once every six months, don't unload your carry weapon but for shooting practice, and you won't have this issue. Why would you hand cycle anything? You cannot possible generate the force a cartridge does in cycling the action, so all you are doing is abusing the ammo for no reason.
 
I was looking at a friend of mine's XD40 at work the other day and we noticed one of his Hydra Shoks was just like that. He took it out but left the others in. I've been shooting Hydra Shoks in my 92FS Vertec for a couple of years and haven't seen one like that yet.:uhoh:
 
Set back happens as others have said. Also its not totally unusual for particular guns not to like particular bullet designs. So long as they work with the ones you want to carry its fine.
Pat
 
Maybe, but I shoot 9mm, .40 and .45 and the only caliber I've ever seen do it is the .40.
Click to expand...

I've seen some pretty terrifying amounts of setback in .45 FMJ from Winchester, Federal, Magtech, S&B, CCI...

If a round is cycled through the action of a semiauto, even once, at least glance at the OAL before stuffing it back in a mag. :uhoh:
 
My setback problem went clean away when I began riding the slide forward on that first round.

The pressures on a 380 acp will double with less than half the setback listed above for the 40 (0.04"). I once popped off a 380 round that stung my hand like a hot 357 mag with wood grips. Put a nice burr on my slidestop. I'm just a bit fanatical about my crimps these days.
 
not sure I understand

I rotate the mags I use on duty so my sidearm is allways loaded
but I have a few mags left unloaded to let the springs in the mags get a rest.
I should not empty my mag except to shoot??
I am glad I just got a new box of gold dot my fed hydra has been in my mags for a few months...my company forbids fed hydra for some politically
correct reason anyway,they never check so I was keeping them in there anyway as it is my life on the line not the guys in the office
 
Can you elaborate on that, brad?
Click to expand...

Yeah, one time, for instance, David Difabio (the ammolab guy) was testing some .45 hydra-shoks (165 gr through a 5" barrel) and he shot five in a row through denim and into ballistic gelatin and all five failed to expand and shot completely through the 20" long gelatin block with enough force to dent the backstop behind it. None of them were able to expand through the denim. This is not uncommon with the HS and many have found similar results shooting through denim including Roberts and Fackler et al... The hydra-shok is an outdated design. Go with a modern design that expands and penetrates reliably. Federal actually has a new design now that is to be released in the near future that so far is creatively called "HS2." It doesn't have the post in the center and is a completely different bullet. We'll see how that one performs. I'll continue to stick with my Win. Ranger T LEs.

brad cook
 
I have found this to be a common occurance with UMC FMJ in a 1911 after a round has been chambered several times. Others, above, have explained it well.

If a round is cycled through the action of a semiauto, even once, at least glance at the OAL before stuffing it back in a mag.
Click to expand...

That is good advice! :D

I would also suggest trying to push the bullet into the case with your thumb. If the fit is loose enough to allow this, then chambering the round would likely set it back and you would wise to dispose of the round (or resize the case and reseat the bullet re-establishing a tight fit and shoot it at your next range session).
 
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