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.