Lawman for Gold Dot Practice

[Candiru]

While looking around for a carry load for my P9, I stumbled across Speer's Gold Dot hollowpoints, which are in themselves highly lauded for their expansion and accuracy. What really piqued my interest, though, was Speer's Lawman line of ammo. For almost every Gold Dot round they offer, they have an equivalent Lawman version with identical bullet weight and very similar ballistics--the bullet itself is even truncated like a hollowpoint. I'd imagine, though, that these rounds aren't loaded with the pricey low-flash powder, which would account for the slight variations in ballistics.

To me, this seems like a really great idea. It's said that one should shoot what one carries, but the reality of the situation is that not everyone can afford to practice at fifty cents a round, and going with low-grade ammo just to enable practicing with hollowpoints is highly unpalatable. The Speer Lawman rounds seem like a great compromise at 20% the cost of Gold Dots.

Does anyone carry Gold Dots and practice with Lawman ammo? If so, what is your experience? Do the Lawman rounds shoot like the equivalent Gold Dots?

 

[waterhouse]

Interesting idea. I'll have to look into the lawman rounds.

I certainly don't "practice" with my carry ammo, because as you mentioned it would be very expensive.

I do run about 50 rounds of carry ammo (Gold Dots) through each gun I decide to carry and make sure that it feeds well. After I know it will feed I usually practice with whatever is cheap.

 

[logical]

Other than both being made by CCI/Speer, I don't get it. Bullet shape is what gives many autoloaders fits and using FMJ to prove reliability with JHP doesn't work.

First, gold dots don't need to be 50 cents a round....look in a few threads from the last week and you'll see a number of places selling a box of 50 for about $14. And lawman isn't 20% the cost unless you are buying a box of them for $3.

But maybe a better option is to find some of the so-called "recall" gold dots. They had some suspect primers get out and the recalls are dimensionally the same as any other gold dot and you can get a bulk pack of 250 rounds for $50 or so to use for practice.

If your goal is to practice your technique or whatever, by all means use the lawman. It's fine range ammo and I use more of it than any other brand. But ony after you are satisfied the gun is reliable by putting enough gold dots through it.

 

[Candiru]

logical, I'm not talking about using Lawman ammo to prove reliability of Gold Dot, although identical powder charges and bullet weights would indicate how well it cycles the slide. The primary advantage in my eyes is identical recoil behavior and ballistics, which would permit learning where the round goes and becoming accustomed to the recoil without having to pay through the nose to do so.

Although if someone knows any place that still has recall Gold Dots available, that would be even better.

 

[nico]

hmm, does anybody have an idea why my local range wouldn't allow lawman?

 

[Tman]

Candiru:
Try ammoman. He has some of the gold dots in bulk in certain calibers. I picked up some gold dots 9mm. I use them in my P7M8 and STI Trojan, they have been reliable.

 

[BHPshooter]

As Tman said, you can get 250 round loose-packed boxes of Gold Dots marked "Practice Ammunition" that is about as perfect as you can get. I don't buy mine online, but I know ammoman carries it in 115-grain flavor (I buy mine in downtown SLC in 124-grain. Price is $39.95 for 250).

NOTE: This bulk Gold Dot is NOT recommended by Speer for Carry/Duty/Defensive use, as they primers are not the same as the "commercial" ammo, and have been known to have 1 failure per 100,000 shots or so...

Wes