[2Barrels]

A local gun shop has 50 round boxes for $14.99. They are marked with a clear sticker on the flap that says "reclassified - not for law enforcement." Is this the same Speer Gold Dot that makes the list of top self defense loads in 9mm? The SKU is 53617 and another number (lot maybe?) is E10F21. My son seems to recall reading somewhere that some Gold Dot didn't make specs and was sold at discount prices. Does that ring a bell with anyone else? Thank you for your input.

[Lee Woiteshek]

That's my duty ammo. 53617 is the SKU on my box. Best ammo we've ever carried.

[universal]

I believe the box your local store has was part of a recall some years back. Somthing to do with the primers. They sold it off as practice ammo due to the chance of misfires, do not recommend it be used for duty.

It is the same ammo, but this particular box may not be worth the money.

[Bix]

I purchased a big mess of the 124 +p reclass when it hit the market dirt cheap a couple years ago. The best answer I've been able to find on the reasons of the reclassification is here:

http://greent.com/40Page/general/speer-reclass.htm

I've put about 500 of the reclassified rounds downrange in a couple classes and had absolutely no problem with them.

[CJ]

I'm with Bix. Got a few bulk boxes back when it came out and it's been flawless. Wish I'd had the foresight to pick up more!

[5Wire]

I've put about 500 of the reclassified rounds downrange in a couple classes and had absolutely no problem with them.
and I'm with Bix. Got a few bulk boxes back when it came out and it's been flawless. Wish I'd had the foresight to pick up more!

I did the same but actually bought and used over 2500 rounds of the 9 mm. There was a similar deal on .40 Cal. Only certain dealers got the ammo. It was repackaged in a cubical box of 250 rounds for $36 and labeled "Not for Law Enforcement Use". I did some research on it and, IIRC, the lot's tested failure rate (due to primers, as posted above) was something like 1 in 45000. I didn't find any other issues.

Good stuff! It was a treat to practice with +P at $7.20 per 50 rounds that matched 'real' carry ammo costing closer to $20 for fewer cartridges.

[P. Plainsman]

If it works, that's an excellent deal on an excellent round.

The 124 gr +P Gold Dot is my second favorite 9mm carry load, but at standard prices it is far from a bargain.

I find Black Hills 124 gr 9mm+P (tipped with Hornady XTP) is more accurate than the Speer GDs in my CZ pistols, is loaded hotter, is utterly reliable, and typically undercuts Speer on price by more than 30 cents per round.

[the naked prophet]

I use the 147 grain Gold Dot loaded by DoubleTap ammo to over 1100 fps. It's not exactly bargain-bin prices, but it's not very expensive.

[GeorgiaGlocker]

I was going to say that is a great price on that ammo. There had to be a catch.

[universal]

Edit: I misread the last post. Ignore this reply.

[TN-popo]

The Speer 124+P GD is a great SD round.
But, something prompted Speer to "reclassify" certain lots of the ammunition and take a loss on it.
Companies don't just do that for kicks.

If Speer says it's not good enough for Police duty use, why would you use it for anything but practice?

[nitesite]

The 124-gr Gold Dot ammo that was marked "Not For Law Enforcement Use" was accidentally loaded with military-grade primers which were harder than commercial-grade primers. There was some concern that some police and civilian handguns which might have been 'tuned' for lighter trigger pulls may experience light firing pin strikes and misfires.

The ammo in question was part of a huge law enforcement contract for several police agencies within the United States. When it was discovered that the primers used were not within the contact specifications, the entire production run was disqualified.

The concern was the hard primers only. Not squib loads, not under-charged powder measures, not defective bullets, and not primers that would not detonate. There was a concern that it would perhaps require a firm firing pin strike to set them off. That's all.

For the most part, most modern (re: STOCK) high quality 9mm semi-automatic pistols will have no problems detonating these primers.

I bought several 250-rd boxes and have shot up most of it. Not once did I have a failure of any kind. If you can buy this ammunition at a decent price, and you put half of it downrange without a problem, you can bet your life that you the other half is as good as it gets.

For comparison, when Lake City military contract ammo doesn't comply 100% with the contract specifications it is sold off as "surplus" and not used for military issue. If the velocity is just one or two feet-per-second below the contract threshold it gets marked "Not For Military Issue".

[TN-popo]

You may be right.
Then again, you may not be...you don't cite your source.
I've heard hard primers, dead primers, etc.

Do what you like...I'll use the "not-reclassified" stuff for real and save the seconds for practice.
Best

[5Wire]

You can look up the lot number from the 250 round and find the explanation. One other thing I think I remember is that the 250 round box clearly stated the ammunition was not to be repackaged. So, if you're buying 50 round boxes, it's a different lot or somebody's cheating.

[2Barrels]

At the website cited by Bix in the 4th post on this thread, case "flaking" is mentioned as a reason for the reclass of some lots with a warning that this might cause functioning problems. That concerns me for even practice use since I'd hate for metal flakes to get deposited in the pistol's actions. I wonder what you'd look for to check for that and I wonder if it's possible to check the reclass reason by lot number (?)

[2Barrels]

Hmmm...the boxes I've found/bought are 50 rounders and in apparently commercial packages, not plain cardboard. I'm confused.http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u56/jgivo/untitled.jpg

[5Wire]

Hmmm...the boxes I've found/bought are 50 rounders and in apparently commercial packages, not plain cardboard. I'm confused.Then it must be a different lot than the lot I posted about. The 250 cubic, brown cardboard boxes were at least two years ago. I didn't keep track of that lot number.

Nobody's cheating, your stuff is in Speer's own packaging. The brown box stuff had the no repackaging label.

ry googling the lot number/product code and the word Speer. I got a bunch of hits including RFPs from municipalities in PDF files. Maybe you'll get an explanation for THIS lot.

[Gary G23]

I'm with TN-popo.

[strambo]

I bought 250 rds a couple years back labeled "not for duty use" or something similar. Haven't had any problems with mine even after putting a reduced power mainspring in my Sig P226. My carry ammo is from a 20rd retail box. I use these for carry ammo practice. By 'em up...if you have no problems with 'em I could see using them as carry ammo too. Like others said, it's a primer spec issue not a poor QC issue with the loading process that makes them unsafe.