27 Apr 99
This is from a friend in the ammunition business on the East Coast:
“Just wanted to update you about how Federal Hydra Shoks are working in the Baltimore/Washington Metro area. These incidents have all occurred within the last two weeks:
(1) Maryland State Police double tapped a suspect armed with a knife with 40 caliber 165gr Hydra Shoks. The incident grew out of a traffic stop. Both rounds hit center chest. The suspect was dead when he hit the ground.
(2) Anne Arundel County PD hit a perp just behind the right shoulder with a single 40 caliber, 180gr Hydra Shok. The perp was double-lunged. The bullet, fully expanded, was captured in the skin on the other side. It opened up to sixty-five caliber and smashed his shoulder bones to pieces.
(3) Harford County SO hit a perp armed with two guns, one in each hand. He was hit with multiple shots. One went up his anus all the way to his heart. It stopped in his heart, fully expanded.
(4) Howard County PD hit a perp at ten feet, armed with a knife, with a single 9mm, 124gr Hydra Shok to the chest. The suspect spun around, took two steps, and collapsed, with the knife still in his hand.
All the aforementioned perps were dead at the scene. Those cops knew what they were doing. None of the involved officers were injured. Hydra Shoks have proven to be an excellent self defense cartridge WHEN THE SHOTS ARE PLACED CORRECTLY. Missed shots, even with the best ammunition, are, of course, ineffective, as we have seen so many times. There is no room for incompetent, sloppy shooters in this business!
… Which brings me to the next point:
Since I have been on the road with the ammo-rep work, I cannot believe how many cops do not know what brand or, even what caliber, of ammunition they have in the very pistol they are carrying as I talk with them. When I walk into a PD, I ask to speak with the Range Officer, but I usually talk initially with a patrolman who is working the desk. I always ask him or her what brand ammo the department is currently carrying. Seventy percent of the time they answer with something like, ‘I don’t know! Let me look.’ They then pull out magazine and try to read the letters in the headstamp of the top cartridge. I even have had cops yank out there pistols and try to unload them in front of me!
In my experience, fifteen percent of the guys are gun and tactics oriented. Those are the ones who were involved in the incidents cited above. They don’t have accidents, and they don’t miss. Everyone wants one of them for a partner! Unfortunately, seventy percent look at there gun like a bologna sandwich, and the other fifteen percent should have a box of crayons in there holster.
It’s up to trainers like you and me to improve those percentages.”
/John
