Speer Gold Dot 135gr.+P, Didn't Expand???

[sigbear]

I was shooting my new Ruger LCR .38 the other day and thought I would test it with speer gold dot 135 gr.+P. I shot 5 rounds into (dry) tied together phone books at about 10'. Not 1 of the gold dot's expanded, so, I'm not sure if it's the ammo or short barrel which this ammo is recommended for.

Last year I shot Federal HST, 9mm and .45's into phone books and had excellent expansion and penetration.

I'm a little disappointed with this informal test since I feel undergunned with a .38 snubby as it is.

Sigbear

 

[RevolvingGarbage]

Dry phonebooks aren't anywhere close to flesh, for the purpose of ballistic testing.

Its seriously easy to make ballistics gel with simple Knox gelatin from the grocery store. Give that a try and see how the gold dots do.

I understand that you are concerned by the fact that the HST performed well in the phone book tests, but the gold dots failed. All that really tells you is that gold dots don't work as well against phonebooks as HST's do.

Here is a thread I made to show the performance of Winchester PDX1 and Federal Nyclads in gelatin from a 2" .38 revolver. The gold dots you used are very similar to the PDX1 and I would expect them to perform equally as well.

 

[Steve C]

A hollow point works like a lead parachute and is designed to be forced open as viscous animal or human tissue pushes into it and flows out. A parachute would not open properly in a solid and neither will a JHP. Water soaked phone books will open hollows as will water and gelatin and you need something that's more pliable or liquid in consistency to observe proper expansion than dry paper, wood or sand. While a harder material may deform the nose of the HP it will not mimic animal or human tissue.

 

[bigfatdave]

Dry phonebooks aren't anywhere close to flesh, for the purpose of ballistic testing.

Apparently that didn't go without saying.

HP ammo is designed to expand in meat, not dry paper.

 

[Lucky Derby]

At a minimum you need to wet the phonebooks thoughly before the test.

 

[GP100man]

cheap foam cooler fill with oatmeal let it soak up the rite amount of water !!!

couple of cans will do it & ya can get off more shots than ya think!!!


Don`t shoot it to close though - - - - - Don`t ask

Or milk jugs filled with water inline of each other , best done in the summer !!!

 

[rbernie]

This is a gelatin test of the Gold Dot 135gr Short Barrel ammo:

http://www.brassfetcher.com/Speer 135 grain GoldDot Short Barrel.html

 

[Guillermo]

Don`t shoot it to close though - - - - - Don`t ask

LOL!!!

Thanks GP, that made me laugh.