Extra Speer Gold Dot Expansion

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Thompsoncustom

Thompsoncustom

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Has anyone reloaded the Speer gold dot 147gr to higher velocitys, say 1200fps? I see that Underwood Ammo is pushing the 115gr to 1400 fps and the 125gr 1300fps.

Tnoutdoors9 has a nice video on the 115gr +p+ from Underwood ammo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ7ri9wa728&feature=plcp
Tho he only got 9 inches of penetration the expansion was very good and came in at .889 of an inch.

So my thoughts are maybe you could push the 147gr bullet faster to get more expansion and keep some of the penetration with the extra weight.
 
Thompsoncustom said:
Has anyone reloaded the Speer gold dot 147gr to higher velocitys, say 1200fps? I see that Underwood Ammo is pushing the 115gr to 1400 fps and the 125gr 1300fps.

Tnoutdoors9 has a nice video on the 115gr +p+ from Underwood ammo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQ7ri9wa728&feature=plcp
Tho he only got 9 inches of penetration the expansion was very good and came in at .889 of an inch.

So my thoughts are maybe you could push the 147gr bullet faster to get more expansion and keep some of the penetration with the extra weight.
Click to expand...
Striving for these velocities seems like foolishness to me. Clearly larger diameter bullet of more substantial mass at reasonable velocity is what is needed......perhaps time to upgrade to .45ACP?
 
no I'm happy with my 9mm even with FMJ I just like playing around and seeing what I can do. I've pushed a 173gr SWC out of my CZ 75b at 1000fps just to do it.

It looks like this guy had really good luck with those buffalo bore rounds. Anyone have some ballistics gel test with them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2anqr_frJM
 
This video should tell you that going supersonic with these is a waste of time.
 
So my thoughts are maybe you could push the 147gr bullet faster to get more expansion and keep some of the penetration with the extra weight.
Click to expand...

At some point, it may fold over/back resulting in a net decrease in final expansion, or just break apart.
 
Sometimes I think Tim Sundles is pushing bullets too fast for their own good - an example would be his 38 Special FBI Load - the lead is too damn soft and actually breaks apart, in both his standard and +P loads. Brassfetcher did a test of them that showed all the fragments of the standard load. IIRC, it's a BH of 6 or 7 - pure lead, even though he claims 8-9. The picture of that 147 grain Gold Dot shows the same...

I do love his 38 Special 125 grain GD Loads for 38 SPL, and his 45 Colt +P fug-em-up rounds... :p
 
I wonder why the lighter 115gr bullet is able to be pushed 1400fps but the heavy 147gr breaks up at 1200fps?
 
All of the ammo companies have done research and developed plenty of handgun bullets that don't require +1000 fps velocities to expand. They just don't need to be run at high velocities to expand. Running them above the design speed will just have them shedding jackets and coming apart. I have tested enough bullets to prove this. The Speer Gold Dot will expand at moderate velocities every time. In the old days this was not the case and that's why a lot of people still hold to the belief 'the faster the better".
 
Drail said:
All of the ammo companies have done research and developed plenty of handgun bullets that don't require +1000 fps velocities to expand. They just don't need to be run at high velocities to expand. Running them above the design speed will just have them shedding jackets and coming apart. I have tested enough bullets to prove this. The Speer Gold Dot will expand at moderate velocities every time. In the old days this was not the case and that's why a lot of people still hold to the belief 'the faster the better".
Click to expand...
Well put!
 
I wonder why the lighter 115gr bullet is able to be pushed 1400fps but the heavy 147gr breaks up at 1200fps?
Click to expand...

Because 147s are designed to operate at 1000FPS and 115s at 1200+FPS. There are differences in jacket thickness, core hardness, hollow point depth and shape, etc.
 
Speer has claimed since the introduction of the Gold Dot that is is designed to expand at lower velocities. Running it faster does not make it work any better and at some point the bullets will start coming apart. If they will reliably expand at 900 fps. them why punish yourself and the gun with more recoil?
 
It seemed to work better in the link posted above. That's opinion tho since it expended more but penetrated a little less just under 13in which passes the FBI standard with an expansion of .791 average I think that is very good.
 
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Being a .38 Super owner for the last 28 years, and a 9x23mm owner for the last 6, I have easily driven 9mm bullets too fast.

The only 9mm JHP 147 grain bullet I could not get to fail was the 147 grain Hornady XTP. Conveniently, it was the only one I could find that would fit the 9x23mm case.

Today's bullets really are designed to operate in a certain window of velocity.
 
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