What do you guys think of Speer Gold Dot's as a self defense round? What do you use?

They have a pretty good track record, from all accounts. Mostly I carry Cor-Bons.

If I'm on the way back from a hunting trip and the Bisley is still loaded with 300gr. WFNGCs, that will just have to do :eek:

I only have a .40 SW so I'm looking at 155gr.-180gr.
A 300gr. is huge. an would deffinetly do the job.

I only have a .40 SW so I'm looking at 155gr.-180gr.
A 300gr. is huge. an would deffinetly do the job.

Use to be pretty hard to find good hollow point bullets...but in the last 10-15 years, they got it right. Even down to 800fps, are HP bullets on the market that work; in fact, nearly all of the HP factory loads do expand pretty much as advertised.

That's kind of amazing to me as I started out when JHP bullets were rather rare...and WORKING JHP bullets even more rare. In semi-autos, getting both expasnion and reliable feeding wasn't as easy a trick as you'd assume form today's ammo. The eairly stuff would opften either not expand even if fired into a pile of bricks or would expand, but not feed reliably.

Took a while, but the comapines sorted it out, and today's ammo actually works.

INformation never seems to die...are mountains of older books cthat bemoan the lack of reliable JHP ammo. That was proably so even 20years agao, but things have changed. Gold Dots work...so do all of the other JHP .40SW made American ammo I've tried (have seen some unreliable expanders in non-US made ammo)..

230 gn Federal Hydra shoks in my 45. Winchester 200 gn silvertips in my 44 special.

You might want to look at Federal's Expanding full metal jacket rounds.
They are copper clad, but possess a rubber tip in the nose that allows for consistant expansion. The FMJ also keeps the "hollow point" from filling up---the thing that makes hollow noses fail most often....
I has given 2 boxes of 9mm EFMJ, which I shot one into wet newsprint. All the recovered rounds had completely expanded

http://www.federalcartridge.com/default.asp?menu=1&s1=7

The other round I would recommend is Winchester's Black talon, which I believe they do not produce anymore, but do offer others in HP and partition.

http://www.winchester.com/lawenforcement/catalog/handgunlist.aspx?cart=9mm%20Luger

Hornday XTP and Speer Gold Dot should both be suitable for self defense. Larger the caliber the less expansion is needed.

Back when I was working with a city P.D. one of our narcs shot a fellow who was holding a revolver on him, at point blank range with a 9mm. It took 7 shots to get him down and 4 more to stop him from trying to reach the revolver he had dropped. I do believe the narc was using hollow points.
That was eleven shots - he still had 4 left in the Browning Hi-Power. Moral to story - use the biggest diameter bullet you can.

axlenut

Back when I was working with a city P.D. one of our narcs shot a fellow who was holding a revolver on him, at point blank range with a 9mm. It took 7 shots to get him down and 4 more to stop him from trying to reach the revolver he had dropped. I do believe the narc was using hollow points.
That was eleven shots - he still had 4 left in the Browning Hi-Power. Moral to story - use the biggest diameter bullet you can.

axlenut

More important is shot placement.

Dave

The Winchester Ranger-T series is arguably the best.

You can find their "law enforcement only" ammunition for
sale all over the place, online. For .40 caliber, I would start here:
http://www.capoliceequip.com/ammo.htm

Yes, it is legal for you to own and use this ammo.
As far as I'm concerned, from the legal standpoint,
I would rather use something equivalent to what
police are using.

People rave about the Speer Gold Dot bullets, but then
you have to worry about who is loading them.

Winchester is Winchester. They load THEIR bullets to THEIR
specifications, and they work.

Hey, if it is reliable enough for police officers to stake their
life on, then it is good enough for me.

Dave

I carry Speer/CCI Lawman ammunition in all the calibers that I carry. All of which are loaded with Gold Dots. Fedral Hydra-Shocks also work well, at least they did in my only shooting encounter as an LEO. (Department issue at the time.)

Lee L.

Gents,

Gold dots have a reputation for staying together, and everything that I have observed indicates that the reputation is honestly earned.

I was given an asignment in which we were authorized hollowpoints once upon a time for our M9s, and our subject matter expert gave us three options, 124 grainers all, Win sxt, Fed Hydra shok, or speer gold dots. Gold dots were the lowest bidder, so that is what we ended up with.

The only issue that I am aware of, is that I have found CCI primers to be harder than the norm, and that is an issue if the main string has been worked on.

Good load, all told. I have no issue with these bullets, and think they deserve consideration, most notably in the mid weight for caliber choice.

Regards,

Steve

Good load, all told. I have no issue with these bullets, and think they deserve consideration, most notably in the mid weight for caliber choice.

Regards,

Steve

The Gold Dots are definitely good bullets.
I hope I didn't sound like I was knocking them at all.

I believe independant tests have shown the Winchester
Ranger T series perform better.

But, the Gold dots are more popular than the Winchester
flavor because
#1, you can't buy the Winchester T series at your local
sporting goods store, and
#2, you can't even buy the bullets to load your own.

Unlike the Gold Dots, which are available loaded by several
commercial manufacturers, and are available as a
reloading component.

Dave

A guy I know put a gold dot from a .357 Sig (125gr. I think) through two small pigs, 50-60 lbs or so. Pretty impressive.

I spent about five hours Monday testing every load I had in a 38 three-inch, and the Gold Dots were, once again, outstanding. I bought the component bullets, the new 135-grain slug, and loaded them from 800 to about 1050 fps. All loads were shot at a 12-pound block of Duxseal (Stiff oil-based clay) from about ten feet. Even at the lowest velocity, the Gold Dots expanded beautifully, and retained all their weight. I have tested GD's in 40, 44 Special and 45ACP as well, and they have always outperformed nearly everything else. The new Speer 135/38 was designed to expand reliably from a 2" snubnose barrel, and they have succeeded admirably. I plan on arming all my officers with them. Being limited to a .38 revolver is no longer a major handicap! :)

Papajohn the Putty Perforator

You might want to look at Federal's Expanding full metal jacket rounds.
They are copper clad, but possess a rubber tip in the nose that allows for consistant expansion. The FMJ also keeps the "hollow point" from filling up---the thing that makes hollow noses fail most often....



Sounds like a rip off of a Cor-Bon Pow'Rball

I'm also looking at Self Defense rounds for my Ruger P93. I was debating between the 147gr Gold Dots, or the 100gr Pow'Rballs.

As far as target ammo, I just use the Winchester FMJ's that come in the 100 round boxes.

A guy I know put a gold dot from a .357 Sig (125gr. I think) through two small pigs, 50-60 lbs or so. Pretty impressive.

Which begs the question of the OP, what sort of environment are you living in? If you're in an apartment or close-packed house, better search for a round that won't go through your walls and into your neighbors. Glasers would be a good choice there, or even simple birdshot.

Discouraging your assailant should be sufficient, if defence is all you have in mind, since that would avoid endangering those around you. Being hit with any round at all seems to me a discouraging enough event to make him run.

Assuming you won't need to shoot through an engine block, I am a BIG believer in Glaser Safety Rounds...they enter the body and after a half inch or so they explode with buck shot.
They create a huge cavity inside the body...geletin block tests of it are just plain scary.
one hit in the main body, and the person is down, gone, toast, end of story, bye bye.
If you are worried that you have to shoot through a wall or door, then load every other round with a hydroshock.....

Remember.....You only shoot to wound on tv shows.

I use the Hornday XTP for every gun I have...
9mm
357mag
S&W 500mag
....

Here you have the power to stop any bad guy or mad animal!!!

This Glacer ammo, is underpenatration a problem? How does it react to jean, or leather. I know some hollow points dont like some materials? If the round releases the bucksot before entering the tisue what then?

At work generally limited to FMJ. However in .45 I keep Fed 230 Hydra shoks. For hunting with the .45 I load the 230 Gold Dots as fast as I can push them.

In 9mm I like to use CorBons 115 +P+, or +P+ 124 Hydra shoks. In .38 SPL Fed 125gr +P Nyclads.

CD

This Glacer ammo, is underpenatration a problem? How does it react to jean, or leather. I know some hollow points dont like some materials? If the round releases the bucksot before entering the tisue what then?


If you ask me, i don´t really know... I have only tested them at some pine tree, but if you look at the bullets you could see how it works.....

The Speer GoldDot is a great selfdefence bullet, many officials are now using the golddot, that alone tells you something, I did some testing using my reloads, the picture I'm posting is a GDHP 200gr 44SP using 8gr of unique shot through a wet log and a picture of the bullet before, check out that ashtray;) Aim small hit small. RAMbo.
http://www.hunt101.com/img/201384.jpg

http://www.hunt101.com/img/201328.jpg

http://www.hunt101.com/img/202442.jpg

Sounds like a rip off of a Cor-Bon Pow'Rball

On the contrary.....Federal put them out about 4 years ago, before the corbon ammo

I have carried and shot these Federal rounds. They have fed well thru both rifle and pistol, and accuracy is on par with the other Federal ammo.
When firing these rounds into wet news print at distances from 7 to 20 yards, they expanded well and did not seperate.

I am issued the Gold Dot In 9mm at work, my agency has had great results with it with a large number of shootings. The Ranger (the old Black Talon) has been dropped from our authorized ammo list due to a large(50% +) failure to expand in critical situations. This isnt a small dept making these choices either. I work for the largest LE agency in this country right now. Good luck Mike

I was involved in ashooting in May against 2 teenagers in a stolen toyota 4 runner. I shot 8 rounds of corbon 115gr .357 sig through the back of their car. I got the girl in the front seat twice (both rounds went through the tailgate, rear seat and then her.) The rounds both opened okay and the damage to the what was left of her left hip was a hole about the size of my fist (about 6") I now carry 125 gr gold dot speer ammo. I hope you never have to go through what I did, but if so, you know what I carry. It works.