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From: auspex!bae@uunet.UU.NET (Brian Ehrmantraut)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Ordinance Gelatin, where to get it?
Message-ID: <35275@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 5 Jun 91 19:02:37 GMT
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Organization: Auspex Systems Inc
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In article <35001@mimsy.umd.edu>, U16244%uicvm.uic.edu@OHSTVMA.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU writes:
# 
# Ed Sanow is a Facklerite and he's done similar tests on Hydra-Shoks.
# Now, why don't you actually get a lathe and spend the time to test
# whether Hydra-Shoks do better without the posts or not, or just listen to
# the FBI and chill out?

	Chill out yourself...

	I observed Mr. Freeman performing just the test you suggest, quite 
some time ago.  We were testing 10mm/.40 S&W loads. We used Fackler's 
methodology.  

	The 10mm Hydra-Shoks performed poorly with the post in place - they 
usually opened up too quickly.  Without the post, they performed better.  
(There was a high shot-to-shot variance in velocity noted as well.  Testing 
was a bit interesting - the Hydra-Shok with the post tended to behave "funny" 
at times, once exiting the block of gelatin sideways after only minimal 
penetration.  Several posts broke/deformed without doing their job. Shots
through intervening materials seemed to indicate the post didn't really
help/hinder things.)

	Who knows - perhaps due to the attention the Hydra-Shok has been 
getting recently, Federal has altered the design/composition slightly.  
It is certainly possible that the results we got months ago would not
be reproducible with a new lot of ammo, but you're going to have a devil
of a time getting Federal to release any information about the composition
of any particular lot of ammunition.  (This is why it is a good idea to
test the lot of ammunition you are planning on using for defense, and
stay with that lot.  Lot-to-lot variations from a single manufacturer can
sometimes be greater than differences between manufacturers.  Of course,
currently almost nobody releases any lot-specific data...)

	Until I see otherwise, I'll continue to believe the post in the 
Hydra-Shok is just a marketing gimmick, as I have seen Hydra-Shoks perform
poorly far too often in testing to bet my life on them in the real world...



-- 
		Brian A. Ehrmantraut

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