I have read lots of good press about the Gold Dot .38+P 135 gr short barrel for use in snubbies. I recently picked up some Win .38+P 130 gr PDX1 and decided it was time to test them.
Lacking ballistic gelatin, I used newsprint soaked about 20 hrs, then drained of excess water. The box was a bit short so I had to fold the paper a bit to get it to fit, which may have influenced the results a bit, as discussed below.
I fired 8 rounds each of Win PDX1 130 gr .38+P and Gold Dot 135 gr .38+P through 4 layers of denim into saturated newsprint. I used my S&W 642, 1-7/8" barrel.
I recovered 6 of the PDX1 and 5 of the Gold Dot. One of the Gold Dot hit at the very top edge of the pack (missing the denim) and exited the top surface, passing though perhaps half of the wet pack.
The PDX1 penetrated from 6.75" to 10+". All those recovered show exemplary expansion. One is not entirely clear, since it struck one of the Gold Dots that had been previously fired and flattened the nose quite a bit. But the picture tells the story.
The Gold Dot penetrated about 7.5" - 10+". Two partially expanded, three expanded almost like in the gelatin pictures. But they all tumbled. Four were found sideways, and one backwards.
Four rounds (besides the one at the top) exited the back. The depth of the newsprint was about 10.5" at the top and about 9.5" in the middle due to how I folded the paper when I put it in the box. My conclusion is that I cannot say whether the four rounds that exited expanded or not. Examples of nicely expanded Gold Dot and PDX1 at the 10"+ depth, right near the back of the newsprint, tell me that those that exited could have expanded. I did not see a difference in the bullet track through the pack between those that did and did not exit the pack.
The penetration appears to be correlated to how high up on the pack the bullets struck. The higher the point of impact, the greater the penetration. The lowermost row of hits were all PDX1, and they were 6.75", 7", and 8". The middle row had a mix of PDX1 and Gold Dot, and they were all 7.5-8.5". The top row was a mix of PDX1 and Gold Dot, and they were all 10" and a bit more. The only explanations I can think of are that the fold in the newsprint at the top made it so the bullets hitting there were traveling more between the sheets than perpendicular to them (but still at an angle through the sheets). Also, perhaps the weight of the pack influenced the density and ease of penetration of the lower rows.
Bottom Line:
PDX1 had more consistent expansion.
Gold Dot had a bit more penetration and tumbled. Even though not as consistent with expansion, the penetration did not seem to be correlated with the degree of expansion, which can probably be explained by the tumbling.
Top Row - GD 135 gr .38+P short barrel
Bottom row Win PDX1 130 gr .38+P
Lacking ballistic gelatin, I used newsprint soaked about 20 hrs, then drained of excess water. The box was a bit short so I had to fold the paper a bit to get it to fit, which may have influenced the results a bit, as discussed below.
I fired 8 rounds each of Win PDX1 130 gr .38+P and Gold Dot 135 gr .38+P through 4 layers of denim into saturated newsprint. I used my S&W 642, 1-7/8" barrel.
I recovered 6 of the PDX1 and 5 of the Gold Dot. One of the Gold Dot hit at the very top edge of the pack (missing the denim) and exited the top surface, passing though perhaps half of the wet pack.
The PDX1 penetrated from 6.75" to 10+". All those recovered show exemplary expansion. One is not entirely clear, since it struck one of the Gold Dots that had been previously fired and flattened the nose quite a bit. But the picture tells the story.
The Gold Dot penetrated about 7.5" - 10+". Two partially expanded, three expanded almost like in the gelatin pictures. But they all tumbled. Four were found sideways, and one backwards.
Four rounds (besides the one at the top) exited the back. The depth of the newsprint was about 10.5" at the top and about 9.5" in the middle due to how I folded the paper when I put it in the box. My conclusion is that I cannot say whether the four rounds that exited expanded or not. Examples of nicely expanded Gold Dot and PDX1 at the 10"+ depth, right near the back of the newsprint, tell me that those that exited could have expanded. I did not see a difference in the bullet track through the pack between those that did and did not exit the pack.
The penetration appears to be correlated to how high up on the pack the bullets struck. The higher the point of impact, the greater the penetration. The lowermost row of hits were all PDX1, and they were 6.75", 7", and 8". The middle row had a mix of PDX1 and Gold Dot, and they were all 7.5-8.5". The top row was a mix of PDX1 and Gold Dot, and they were all 10" and a bit more. The only explanations I can think of are that the fold in the newsprint at the top made it so the bullets hitting there were traveling more between the sheets than perpendicular to them (but still at an angle through the sheets). Also, perhaps the weight of the pack influenced the density and ease of penetration of the lower rows.
Bottom Line:
PDX1 had more consistent expansion.
Gold Dot had a bit more penetration and tumbled. Even though not as consistent with expansion, the penetration did not seem to be correlated with the degree of expansion, which can probably be explained by the tumbling.
Top Row - GD 135 gr .38+P short barrel
Bottom row Win PDX1 130 gr .38+P
