how effective is 9mm hydrashock compared to .45 ACP?

Question

I have heard it can be just as powerful if not more.I'm a little confused about it though.

Answer 1

The 9mm will not have the energy that the heavier .45 ACP packs. It may come close, but the .45 is always going to pack more punch.

Let's compare the both in a Federal Premium Hydra-Shok Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP).

For our comparison I have chosen:
Federal Premium Hyrda-Shok .45 ACP JHP 165 grain
Federal Premium Hydra-Shok 9mm Luger JHP 147 grain (I went with Federal's heaviest 9mm to possibly give it a chance).

Just looking at energy in foot pounds alone
at the muzzle we are looking at a difference of 412 (.45 ACP) and 326 (9mm). If we travel out to 25 yards it drops to 377 (.45 ACP) and 311 (9mm). Let's keep going out to 50 yards where it continues to drop tp 349 (.45 ACP) and 297 (9mm). Then keep following the bullets out to 75 yards where it drops to 325 (.45 ACP) and 284 (9mm). Finally out at 100 yards the .45 ACP is dropping to 305 foot pounds and the 9mm has dropped to 273 foot pounds.

As you can see at 75 yards the .45 ACP has dropped its energy down to what the 9mm is coming out of the barrel with. How's that for a comparison? I also looked at how the 9mm Hyrdra-Shok compared to a .45 ACP FMJ, and the .45 ACP still beats the 9mm in energy, but not as much as it does when comparing the two in Hydra-Shok rounds.

I won't get into velocity since you questions was about power. The stopping power of the .45 ACP is legendary. Usually the big reason why you see so many law enforcement and military using 9mm over .45 ACP is because most 9mm weapons can carry more ammo in a clip versus the .45 ACP clips. Now Springfield Armory is changing that with their new xD series pistols. Even now the US military is looking for a replacement for all of their 9mm pistols and the requirement is for nothing less than a .40 S&W, but they are really pushing for a pistol that fires the .45 ACP.

I put Federal's website in the source listing so you can compare you own handgun cartridges in the future. Pretty nifty little set up where you can pick and choose which cartridges you want to compare.

Answer 2

The answer is yes and no...

I'll explain. The best .9x19mm rounds rival or exceed the 'worst' .45 acp rounds. A good, defensive .9mm round in the 115 to 127 weight range is a better stopper than a .45 acp 230 grain ball round. Even a .45 acp in 230 grain ball configuration is better than a .9mm Hydrashok 147 subsonic round. The best hyper velocity Hydrashok .9mm round (the +P n +P+) are as good or better than the .45 acp Hydrashok 230 grain rounds.

The .45 acp utilizes early last Century technology. It is a fat, heavy slow-moving round that doesn't have to expand to put sunlight through its target. It needs no high tech tricks, it is just a big, wide round that hurts when it makes contact, period. That was then, this is now...

Today bullet designs and powder efficiency have improved in leaps and bounds. The wave of the future/present are slim, hyper velocity rounds that not only perforate people, they are effective against barriers such as automotive glass and sheetmetal. The .45 acp was never designed to do anything other than stop people. It wasn't intended to shoot through car bodies or glass and so in today's day n age, it becomes... Dated. This is one of the reasons that DPS dropped the 220 Sig in .45 acp in favor of the new flangled .357 Sig round. This is why you see the 5.7mm becoming more and more popular.

Even back during the roaring Twenties the old .38 Super was considered the most powerful handgun in the world. It defeated early soft body armor, something the .45 acp has NEVER been able to do. For this reason people like Texas Ranger Frank Hammer prefered the Super over the .45 acp. Today we have the hyper velocity nine, the .38 Super is still around, we have the .357 Sig, the 5.7mm and the .10mm which are all good manstoppers and better barrier penetrators than the veneral .45 acp. So if all situations were of the High Noon type, where two pistoleros faced each other out on the street face to face, no barriers, no body armor one armed with a 5.7 and the other with a .45 acp, my money would be on the man with the .45, but, alas, that is not reality. So we most go with the times...

Best.

H

Answer 3

You probably read some that compared the 9mm hydroshock to a 45 acp ball ammo. I remember reading that several years ago.
If you compare both cartridges with like bullets the 45 will always come out ahead, as standard 9mm loading is 115 grains and a 45 is usually 230 grains. That's twice the weight. The 9mm may open up to the size of a unexpanded 45acp but the 45 will open up to nearly 80 caliber once expanded.

Its all marketing ploys.

Answer 4

The 9mm folks want to believe miracles of their little round, just like the 223 folks. They do this by comparing apples with oranges. A 9mm hydrashock may work just as well as a low power 45ACP practice round, but it will never do as good a job as a full power 45 hollowpoint. The 45 carries more energy and typically doesn't over penetrate, so it deposits all of it in the target. No chance for the 9mm to catch up on that equation.

Answer 5

45 Acp Hydra Shok

Answer 6

Everything you've heard about "power" is wrong ;)

.45acp Fed Hydra-Shok has only 300ft.lbs of energy give or take a pound....9mm +P JHP (Corbon) can have 450ft.lbs of energy. The .45acp will still be a more reliable "stopper" round because the .45 Hydra-Shok will cause a wound channel that's 3/4" in diameter with a 12" penetration where the 9mm will only cause a 1/2" diam wound channel with a 14" penetration.

That .45acp Hydra-Shok ranks at a 95% one shot knockdown capability on the FBI ammo chart....that 9mm +P JHP Corbon ranks at 91%.

Penetration and wound channel are all that matters for "effectiveness". "Power" is simply misleading.

9mm Hydra-Shok expands to a bit over a half inch with 10" of penetration....so it's about on a par with ball .45acp.

Answer 7

Well, there is a .45 ACP Hydra Shock too.

There are also several other types of hollow point designs available to both the 9mm and the .45.

Comparing similar designs would have the .45 winning simply because the .45 is bigger.

Answer 8

well to put it in simpler terms, think of the .45 as a giant hunk of metal flying towards you at fairly high speeds, then think of the 9mm as a small pointy projectile flying at speeds a little bit faster, so one penetrates the skin, and the other is blunt, although in real life both would penetrate, just the .45 acp would leave a bigger hole and would rip open the skin instead of being so pointy that it stabs through, these are with standard loads, i wont get started on hollow point loads becauyse that leads us into a world of confusion

Answer 9

I would never ever consider owning a 9mm, they are highly ineffective in comparison to 45acp*... Waste of money and time to even consider it a lethal weapon*.....The other caliber besides 45 acp is the 357 Magnum which is far better and lethal than the 9mm*...

Answer 10

no comparison. the 9mm is a much smaller bullet. the 45acl is a big bullet with great knockdoan power