327 Federal 85 grain HydraShok ammo expansion

[dougader]

When I shot these through water jugs I thought the little 85 grain jhp would fragment all to pieces. To my surprise, these little slugs are made for speed. The jhp blew up 2 jugs, shredded them, and was found halfway through the back of the 4th jug. This is not your Daddy's 32... its the bullet on the left. The others are 45 hp's

 

[contender]

Neat pics & a great report on the newest 32 cal!

 

[dougader]

I actually made a mistake. I had mixed up both the Federal 85 grain HS with the Speer 115 grain GDHP. This is the Speer Gold Dot.

Now I have to see how the 85 grain HS jhp does because I have come to expect this kind of performance from the Speer Gold Dot.

Oh, BTW, when I say "half way through the back of the 4th jug," I mean it was embedded into the plastic on its way out of the 4th jug. It looked like a cork had been shoved in there to plug a leak.

 

[Landric]

What gun & barrel length was it shot out of?

 

[dougader]

Hi Landric: I fired it from a 3" Ruger SP101. I was impressed.

I didn't get a chance to chrono anything except some 45 Super loads before the rain chased me and my cousin away... next time. A neighbor just gave me his rarely used tripod so now I have a better way to set up my little chrony.

Also, the recoil is nothing to me. I think a 38 Special with the 158 grain lead hp +P kicks a lot more.

 

[CraigC]

That's about what I'd expect out of the Gold Dot. I also expect the 85gr to fragment. I know that when you drive them over 2000fps out of a .32-20 rifle (of appropriate strength) they're wonderfully destructive varmint bombs.

 

[dougader]

You and I are on the same page, Craig. That's just what I was expecting when I went into it, too. So I was surprised to see one solid chunk of expanded lead and core there stuck in the backside of the 4th jug.

I recall when I first looked through the box of Hydra-Shoks I was wondering why they all didn't have a post in the middle... these little bullets are so tiny I couldn't tell that some of them were gold dots until I actually took the time to read the even smaller print on the base of the nickle-plated brass cases some said Federal, and a few others said Speer. Only then did it finally dawn on me what was going on.

Fast learner, eh? :wink:

 

[llkanne]

if you think 85 gr make good varmite stuff then try the 60 gr horady 312 diam. bullets. no rickocheys w/ them. lyle :lol:

 

[nn]

The 100 gr soft point will expand to 1/2 inch in paper magazines.

Some time ago I posted that info here and some jumped all over it as if I faked it, I suppose it was just the new ammo naysayers.

Glad you posted your results, the little bugger is fun to shoot unopened pop or beer cans. .32 H&R hollow pts will do a good job on those tgts as well.

 

[mattsbox99]

I've had the Hydrashoks come apart, but usually the Gold Dots, HSTs, and Rem Golden Sabres hold together pretty well.

 

[llkanne]

until now have been pushing the 60 gr through a single shot 30 carbine oer l8 gr of h110 at about 2200. about nickle diam & about as thick. makes a real mess of things. they seem to hang together nicely lyle

 

[dougader]

Here's a surprise to me, the left bullet is a 90 grain jhp from Sierra loaded to 1119 fps. I thought it would completely fragment like other Sierras I've loaded in the past but only the nose sheared off and the remaining slug stayed intact and penetrated through 3 water jugs:

 

[nn]

Here are some .327 shot into magazines.