I load oodles of Gold Dots and XTP's for 9mm, as well as a few other cartridges with those projectiles. But Gold Dots are by no means a target, or plinking round, just too expensive for that. XTP's are a bit less costly, but still a bit too much to just waste on paper punching for most. As for how Gold Dots rank in terms of a self defense bullet, I think they are among the top performers as self defense projectiles. Good stuff!
As for load data, JHP data and Gold Dot data are the same in my books, and my loading experience supports such. Plated bullets, other than Gold Dots, generally operate at lower velocity / pressures, with the exception being those specified as TP, or specified as being capable of handling jacketed data.
However, regarding self defense, I wouldn't rely on a plated bullet to perform, or expand anything like a JHP will. My personal top 3 self defense projectiles in order are Gold Dot's, XTP's, Golden Saber's.
I've loaded a good bit of 9mm using Blue Dot, and actually liked the load characteristics it produced. But again, we are talking about jacketed bullets, which are intended to handle such typical pressures produced by slower burning powders like Blue Dot. I would still load my SD carry rounds with Blue Dot, if unable to find Longshot. In this respect, Longshot seems to get me Blue Dot velocities, with easier to manage pressures.
GS