Introducing 135gr +P .38special Gold Dots to play dough

[Snowdog]

I finally got the chance to expansion test Speer's 135gr +P Gold Dot .38 special out of my little Taurus M85CH.

Nothing fancy, just a couple tests against 2 layers of denim, both expanded just lovely.
For comparison, the cartridge and expanded slug to the left of the Gold Dot is a Winchester 130gr +P SXT, another excellent load for a snub nose (expanded slug also fired through 2 layers of denim).

As for penetration, it wasn't measured, but I can say for certain the 135gr Gold Dot dug in deeper than the milder 130gr SXT.

130gr SXTs on the left, 135gr Gold Dots on the right

The gaping maw of Speer's new Gold Dot (right)

Fuzzy, yet still shows the petal uniformity (left)

 

[Jim March]

Cooool!

Yes, the Winchester 130 is a good round. I'm willing to bet at this point that the Speer 135 is better.

One odd thing: Speer's own pics of rounds shot into denim-wrapped gel from a 2" show expansion, but without the JHP cavity "bottoming out" the way your rounds above have. Nothing particularly wrong with that, it's just surprising and I guess related to either the test medium, or your Taurus has a good barrel and tight gap and is hence spitting rounds out on the hot side.

Anyways. This is great. Can you try one more time with four layers of denim though ? See if these babies CAN clog?

 

[TonyB]

I've been wanting to try the play dough thing...how much do you use???maybe you can post a pix of the play dough and denim........thanks..

 

[Snowdog]

Here's an update:

I've been meaning to test Speer's 135gr +P Gold Dot and retest Winchester's 147gr 9mm Ranger against 4 layers of denim which I just got to yesterday.
Here are the results (I included the Rangers in the photos for my own reference).

It appears there was a noticeable difference in expansion for Speer's new 135gr +P Gold Dot when another two layers of denim was added to the barrier... however, expansion seemed positive. As this is fairly hard to get in my parts (mail order only), I tested only two against 4 layers, with identical results. All .38 special tests were using a 2" Taurus M85CH at a distance of roughly seven feet.

In the photo below, a chunk of denim which still resided in the recovered Gold Dot is shown to the left of the 4-layer test specimen, with the 2 layer test specimen to its right.
If interested, the 2 layer expanded 9mm Ranger is positioned to the far right, flanked by the recent 4 layer test (notice the positive deployment of the "talons" in both tests).

A frontal shot for expansion comparison (the talons of the 2 layer 9mm Ranger test made it impossible to lay on its side).

A close side view to show the remaining shank for both the 2 and 4 layer Gold Dot test.

This time I did measure penetration for the Gold Dot which made it to 14" after four layers of denim. For comparison, this was only half an inch or so shy of the depth reached by the 147gr 9mm Ranger.

 

[Jim March]

That is EXCELLENT. It's working well enough in four-layer, a hair better with two.

Oh ya. Very, VERY good.

 

[TonyB]

Damn it I need these 135 grainers!!!
Looks like I'll be ording off the web...anybody know where's a good place?

 

[Snowdog]

Tony, I placed my order from TheGunSource. I'm not sure how they stand pricewise, but they got it out to me in less than a week.

http://www.thegunsource.com/shopping/store/manufacturer_name.asp?idmanufacturer=102&idcategory=18

 

[Trebor]

On the Speers and Winchester .38s.

What's the recoil like?

How about the flash in low-light?

 

[Snowdog]

Trebor, I certainly noticed a difference in recoil between the 130gr SXTs and 135gr Gold Dots (both rated as +P).
Those 135gr +P Gold Dots seem to buck as stout as the 110gr +P+ Rangers I tested a couple months ago. As I'm sure you know, felt recoil is subjective; opinions may vary.
As for flash, maybe others can answer that. All my testing is done in broad daylight, leaving little opportunity to observe muzzle flash.

I think I'll go ahead and settle on this load for my M85, thus ending 5-year-long search for the perfect load. I think this is about as perfect as a snubby round can get... after all, it was designed with the snub barrel in mind IIRC.