I’ve seen some bad history lately regarding the Hydra-Shok. Federal Cartridge’s PR department keeps stating its introduction date as one year later, and some folks don’t realize that the Hydra-Shok was marketed for roughly a decade before Federal licensed the patent.
Filing in February 1974, Tom Burczynski received US Patent #3,881,421 a little over a year later in May 1975. The original Hydra-Shok Scorpion UDL (Ultimate Defense Load) was introduced circa late 1977.
Their semi-jacketed Hydra-Shok SDL (Super Defense Load) appeared around early 1981, several years before Federal Cartridge licensed the patent in 1986.
Federal announced their new Hydra-Shok lineup in January 1988.
Does anyone remember Richard Rosenthal’s “Man Stopper Products” and their .44 caliber variant of the Hydra-Shok Scorpion? As you can see, the 192gr projectile was swaged by Alberts.
Scattered Shots 
I walked into a gun store last week and saw several boxes of 357 mah hydra shocks n the shelf. I was surprised they still make and sell them. They really fell out of favor some years ago, I thought
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got any history on the PMC el dorado starfire hooowpoint?
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Interesting stuff. Hydra Shoks we’re still cutting edge when I got into guns in the late 90s. I didn’t realize the design was that old.
For a bullet based on hocus-pocus (hydrostatic shock), they were an excellent choice in the old days and remain a pretty OK bullet in general.
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Those pics of that expanded 192gr .44 Cal man stopper products look wicked. I had never heard of that bullet before.
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