9mm 124gn Gold Dot with strange head stamps

[DBEAM]

The gold dots on the left are what I get from SG ammo on a regular basis, The ones on the right I got from PSA . The head stamps are much different and the primers look different. At first I thought they had different primers but now I think it may be some kind of sealant. Also the bullets them selves have slightly different cavities but do look like gold dots. The lot # is A01X22, I emailed Speer Tuesday and have yet to hear anything from. From looking around on the internet I have found maybe they have something do with bullets made for the French government/police. Anyone know anything? I'm going to ask PSA about it after I eat.

 

[d'Artagnan]

The cases are the same, the headstamps are different. Those on the right were made for Speer's French National Police contract, and indicate lot 001 of 2016. That corresponds nicely with the lot number which equates to January 1st, 2016. They appear to have not-nickel-plated CCI primers, which are not available to reloaders. Those primers appear to have a clear primer pocket sealant. Since the French contract cases I see come in Independence brand boxes, I only see the overrun/reject cases loaded with 115-gr plated round nose bullets. The bullets in the French contract cases probably are available-to-law-enforcement-only Gold Dot bullets. Speer doesn't give out the dates the lot numbers equate to citing that its proprietary information. (That's why I had to figure it out on my own.)

 

[DBEAM]

If you wouldn't mind could you tell me how to decipher Speer date codes, it would be handy for me to know. So from what I am gathering from you as these bullets are probably at least as good, if not better due to the sealant, then standard head stamped Gold Dots? The comparison box from SG AMMO is 53618, the exact same mfr number as the boxes from PSA.

 

[d'Artagnan]

Check out the lot numbers in this Speer recall notice and look for the pattern:

J26Gxx to J30Gxx (September 2001)
K01Gxx to K31Gxx (October 2001)
L01Gxx to L30Gxx (November 2001)
M01Gxx to M31Gxx (December 2001)

A01Hxx to A31Hxx (January 2002)
B01Hxx to B28Hxx (February 2002)
C01Hxx to C31Hxx (March 2002)

First 4 characters in the lot number are the date: month/day/year. First letter is month:
A is January
B is February
C is March
D is April
E is May
F is June
G is July
H is August
I is skipped
J is September
K is October
L is November
M is December

Then comes the two digit day. Last is the year. Speer began producing ammunition in 1969 but started their lot number system started in 1970.

A 1970 1995.......... N 1982 2007
B 1971 1996.......... O 1983 skipped
C 1972 1997.......... P 1984 2008
D 1973 1998.......... Q 1985 2009
E 1974 1999.......... R 1986 2010
F 1975 2000.......... S 1987 2011
G 1976 2001.......... T 1988 2012
H 1977 2002.......... U 1989 2013
I skipped skipped..... V 1990 2014
J 1978 2003.......... W 1991 2015
K 1979 2004......... X 1992 2016
L 1980 2005.......... Y 1993 (2017)
M 1981 2006.......... Z 1994 (2018)

So a lot number with the first 4 characters of A01X is either January 1st 1992 or January 1st 2016. It ain't rocket science.

 

[DBEAM]

Thanks a lot d'Artagnan, I'm going to print out a copy of that to keep with my ammo. Do you have any idea to the quality of this ammo, overrun perhaps? Never got a response from speer or psa and was planning on using these for concealed carry and practice.