Federal Premium Hydra-Shok - What Load .45 Auto??

[slice38]

I keep the Federal Hydra-Shok JHP in my .45 Auto carry gun (which is a Kimber Pro Carry). The MV for the 230 gr. is 850 fps. (listed on the box). I cannot find (either on the box or on the Federal website) what the powder and load is. How can I find out? Is this considered a +P cartridge?

I also have some 165 gr. Federal Hydra-Shok JHP and the MV on those listed on the box is a smokin 1,050 fps! This might be a +P load too but again, I cannot tell nor can I tell what that load is.

Can anyone tell me and can anyone tell me if my Kimber Pro Carry is rated for +P ammunition?

By the way, I'm considering getting started handloading but I'm not going to buy my equipment until I know I can get supplies. Seems everything is in short supply. Reminds me of the gasoline "shortage".


Best regards and Thanks,
Mike

[Sevens]

I would imagine that your Kimber is built to handle +P ammo. Please note that +P is an actual industry standard as set by SAAMI. It follows certain pressure guidelines in just a certain few calibers. It is NOT simply shorthand or a nickname for ammo that is "loaded hot." For example, you can't come up with .357 Magnum +P, because it doesn't exist and it's not a SAAMI standard. As for the two loads you listed, Federal has to very specifically state on the packaging if they are indeed +P loads. I don't know offhand if they are.

As for factory loads and what is in them, this is a question that folks new to handloading often asks. The truth is that there in NOT a specific load. The big ammo companies use blended powder that is not available to handloaders. They basically have a velocity that they intend to push a specific bullet to, and pressure standards they must stay inline with, so they constantly test incredibly large lots of powder and adjust their loads as necessary to make THEIR powder push the bullet to the velocity they want, along the lines of pressure they need to follow. There is a good possibility that a Hydra-Shock .45 you bought in 2006 and one you bought in 2009 might use two different charge weights, because the blend of the powder has likely changed.

The best that a reloader or handloader can do is to try and pick the same bullet (if they are offered in component form) or find a similar bullet, and attempt to push it to the same velocity. You'll need a chronograph to know for sure what the factory load is doing and what your handload is doing.

Welcome! You are correct... components and tools are both in short supply right now. Demand is staggering and the prices reflect that.

[Unclenick]

Welcome to the forum.

Commercial cartridges are loaded from lots of bulk non-cannister grades of powder that are not blended to a certain burning rate range the way powders available to handoaders are. Instead, the manufacturer depends on a pressure test barrel to determine a new charge for each batch of powder he gets in. It has no exact equivalent among the burning rate blended powders available to reloaders (which come in cannisters, ergo, cannister grade). In fact, if you pull bullets from same label commercial ammo over a period of time, you will often find the powder doesn't always even look the same. A fine ball powder one time, a coarse ball powder another, a stick powder on another day, and in one case a friend of mine actually found a flake powder in a rifle round. I've forgotten the chambering, but that's not what was usually in it.

The Kimber should be fine with +P loads of .45 ACP. Standard SAAMI spec for .45 ACP is 21,000 psi max. For +P it is 23,000 psi max. Most any gun will have the ability to stand the extra 8.7%, but they will cause the slide to batter the frame harder, so it is not advisable to feed any gun a steady diet of the stuff. I would advise at least installing a Shock Buff pad if you are going to try some out. Your 165 grain Hydra Shock load is not +P, however, so the point is moot with that round. New +P and +P+ loads are manufactured using cases that have +P or +P+ impressed into the head stamp. Only a small independent ammunition maker reloading fired cases might have the headstamps confused.

Federal's Tactical Hydra Shock line for law enforcement includes a 185 grain +P Hydrashock that runs 1130 fps at the muzzle (5" barrel). That would do a little better about barrier breaking. 1000 fps seems to be a magic number for popping tires and some other piercing activities the 9 mm otherwise has an edge for.



Note the warning at the bottom that the gun manufacturer should recommend the gun for +P loads. That is CYA speak, but if you are concerned, do call Kimber and double-check.

[Don P]

My question is why would you want to load +P and shoot +P. IMO standard loads put enough of a pounding on me and the weapon. To me it's like adding insult to injury. Like shooting 44 mags and 357mags for a steady diet. The pounding to me gets old fast. If standard loads are not hot enough get a howitzer.

[Unclenick]

Howitzer has the muscle, but it's a little slow coming out of the holster. Hard to conceal a crew-served holster anyway.

[Steviewonder1]

There are lots of them out there (+P Loads) including the single caliber per book loads. I have a collection of all of them plus what I have worked up in the last year that includes the Barnes Pistol Copper XTP loads.

[slice38]

Thanks for your time and information. I do not run much of this Fedral Hydra-Shok through my Kimber at all but I do fire a half-dozen rounds or so of it when I go to the range just to keep the feel of it in mind.

Best regards,
Mike