HydraShoks = old technology with questionable penetration in clothing
HST = New technology with the best ballistics of most any modern hollow point ammo
Speer Gold Dots = great standard design hollow point with excellent expansion and very good reliability
Here's a comparison for the Federal HST 230gr +P and the DoubleTap 230gr JHP Gold Dot
Federal HST +P Sources:
Wound Ballistics Basic Ballistics
Muzzle Velocity - 950 fps
Muzzle Energy - 461 ft/bls
Penetration in Ballistic Gelatin - 14"
Expansion in Ballistic Gelatin - .9"
DoubleTap Gold Dot Sources:
Wound Ballistics Basic Ballistics
Muzzle Velocity - 1010 fps
Muzzle Energy - 521 ft/bls
Penetration in Ballistic Gelatin - 15.25"
Expansion in Ballistic Gelatin - .95"
Based on these numbers, the better round is the DoubleTap 230gr JHP. It's a standard pressure round and boasts better performance than most 230gr +P rounds.
And before anyone quotes the results from
Terminal Ballistics , remember that these tests are done in water jugs which yields different results than tests in gelatin. To quote the
The Box O' Truth, "As we have observed in the past, water works pretty well to test penetration, in a 2 to 1 ratio as compared to ballistic gelatin."
Even though DoubleTap is more expensive than HST's, it was my pick because of the isolated reports that some were experiencing feeding issues with HST's in their XD .45, and due to the fact that when it comes to stopping power, I want the best round available that will most effectively stop the threat. Certainly it could be argued that the HST will do just as good a job as DoubleTap, but the numbers don't lie and I'm willing to spend more for better penetration and expansion. The question to others is do they think it's worth the extra cost. In my mind it is.