230g Gold Dot Captured

Scott requested these 45 acp pistol bullets be tried in a rifle. It was snowing and about 33 degrees, so the camera wasn't left out to record the capture, and all the shooting was done from inside the truck. The distance to the first jug was 25 yard. The rifle used was the Omega Dream Season. The breech plug used today was the same one first used in the 'Leaky Primer Thread'. The load was 80g Blackhorn, STS primer, Harvester short sabot . The bullet was found in the second water jug, which had several small holes on the back side, evidently made by small pieces of lead.













The front water jug was pretty much blown up; the second jug kinda shredded. The remaining bullet weighs 93g.


First thing done this morning was to place a target at 25 yard. The first bullet tried was the 300g XTP in a crush rib sabot. The aim was the middle target, and the bullet hit about 11" high on the top target. The elevation dial was turned down more than 2 revolutions, and a second shot taken with the XTP bullet. It hit left a bit, and near perfect elevation. The windage dial was adjusted right, and a third shot taken with the XTP bullet. Not bad, so next, the Gold Dot was loaded, and shot; the bullet hit near center. Another Gold Dot was loaded, and shot; it hit near center. After seeing where the Gold Dots hit, it seemed it was time to shoot the jugs. After the two jugs were blown up, the target was walked out to 98 yards.

The falling snow made the target hard to see.
















The bottom target was the aim at 98 yard, and 3 shots were taken using the Gold Dots, and the 80g powder charge.

That is pretty much what i expected from the 230gr. Its a bit over expanded IMO and penetration suffers at that speed.

Do you know which 230gr GD you have. Speer offers a Short Barrel version and a standard 230gr GD. The Short Barrel 40cals i bought have a deeper HP than the standards but a slightly better BC.

Nice test an report Ron....the GD realy expanded nice...your primers look good also...seems the lesser charge was favorable to them...

it had to be a bit difficult shooting as the snow looked kind of making target easy to see....but great shooting...and good ballistic report....

I have some GD bullets coming in .40 for sabot shooting in the .45 so this helps alot...

Thanks

Al

Scott with that bullet being shot at 25 yards I would think that at longer ranges you would not have that much of expansion as the energy starts to decrease...

Part # 4483, is the bullet tested in this thread.

Myself, i just couldn't use one of these 'self defense' bullets in my rifle for hunting; they just don't seem stout enough for rifle speeds. Me, i have just about any bullet in the known universe, available to me for hunting this coming season, but if i was completely out of bullets, and wanted to hunt with a Speer bullet, it would be the 240g Deep Curl Soft Point; Speer calls it a hunting bullet. This bullet is available to purchase right now.

This up coming season i probably will hunt with the Federal Muzzle Loading Bullet; mostly out of curiosity. However, hunting season is a ways away, and things may change.

About the only thing sure, is i will not be using a bullet that gets a lot of bad reports e.g. the 45 caliber SST bullets, used in 50 caliber rifles, or them soft lead bullet with skirts; can't think what they are called. My thought is... why use a bullet that gets a bad report now and again, when there are so many bullets available, that never have anything bad written about them.

#4482 is the "Short Barrel" version of the .451 230gr GD

Looks good considering the range and velocity. Thanks Ron for all your post. They are always informative.

Scott

:applause: :applause: :applause:

Great report :!: :!: Thanks for putting in your time, Ron :!: :!: :!:

Ray............... :applause: :applause:

A few years ago, Speer changed the name of their hunting bullets from Gold Dot to Deep Curl. I wonder if the construction is different from their handgun bullets or if it's just a name change.

Emrah


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My understanding is the Gold Dots meant for defense using a pistol are called Gold Dots. The Gold Dots meant for use in a magnum revolver used for hunting, were renamed Deep Curl. Perhaps i am incorrect, but perhaps not. Check out this Speer webpage.

In the testing I did, the .44/.240 deep curl hollow points performed the best of the speers, outstanding performance actually. These are the bullets with the shallower hollow point. Any of the speers with the real deep hollow point that I shot did not fare nearly as well in the media I used (damp sand bullet trap). I have taken a couple deer now with the .240 DCHP with excellent terminal performance, and it is my go to bullet for hunting.

I'm not 100% sure, but my understanding is also that the gold dot to deep curl is a name change only, really to separate and distinguish the various uses. I have some older "gold dots" that are the exact bullet that the newer are now called "deep curl".

I have used the Speer .45/260gr jacketed hp as well. They shoot great, hold together well, and have excellent terminal performance on deer. This is the bullet that Knight sells with the sabot. Interestingly, Speer labels them as a "plinker", yet is contracted to make them for Knight as their main hunting bullets for many, many years. :huh?: I wouldn't hesitate to use them on game, they work very well. I've killed quite a few with them.

I have never used the .45 acp bullets for hunting. I've always been told they are to fragile, but I'm not an expert.

WV Hunter said:

In the testing I did, the .44/.240 deep curl hollow points performed the best of the speers, outstanding performance actually. These are the bullets with the shallower hollow point. Any of the speers with the real deep hollow point that I shot did not fare nearly as well in the media I used (damp sand bullet trap). I have taken a couple deer now with the .240 DCHP with excellent terminal performance, and it is my go to bullet for hunting.

I'm not 100% sure, but my understanding is also that the gold dot to deep curl is a name change only, really to separate and distinguish the various uses. I have some older "gold dots" that are the exact bullet that the newer are now called "deep curl".

I have used the Speer .45/260gr jacketed hp as well. They shoot great, hold together well, and have excellent terminal performance on deer. This is the bullet that Knight sells with the sabot. Interestingly, Speer labels them as a "plinker", yet is contracted to make them for Knight as their main hunting bullets for many, many years. :huh?: I wouldn't hesitate to use them on game, they work very well. I've killed quite a few with them.

I have never used the .45 acp bullets for hunting. I've always been told they are to fragile, but I'm not an expert.

Click to expand...

What WV said. They used to all be called Gold Dots, the name change was for liability reasons (home defense versus hunting). Another bullet that holds together very well is the .454cal/300g DC (ex GD). Basically it looks like the .44/.240 's big brother with the same type of shallow hollow point.

I think this shows the strength of the Gold Dot/Deep Curl