Anyone use Speer Ammo?

[JPG]

Anyone shoot this ammo? Neighbor of my father bought some Speer Gold Dot 38 Spec +P 125gr GDHP. However his gun doesn't shoot +P.

Offered to sell to my father for $32/box.

Good ammo? good price?

 

[BradMacc82]

Decent price for good ammo.

Finally tried Speer in .357 SIG, was impressed at how clean it ran thru my M&P, wouldn't hesitate to run more.

 

[joppaj]

Our duty round is 165 grain Gold Dot. I've found them to be reliable and effective in the shootings that I know of.

 

[556ready]

The agency my brother works for uses it, he says it has performed well with their departmental shootings as well.

 

[ridethemessiah]

Runs good. Great price.

 

[NickZac]

It's good ammo IMO. While it performed a lot better than the Golden Sabre in my testing, it's not in the class of Federal HST and the Winchester Ranger T Series IMO because heavy fabric makes the bullet perform less consistent than the HST or Ranger T bullets do (the HST expands pretty much no matter what and the T isn't far behind).

The testing I've personally done with .38 has shown that virtually all loadings are variable in performance from barrel size. With the 1 7/8th inch guns, the bullets would consistently expand less. Actual force generated was sometimes far less than half (down to a quarter) of the round's rating. The Gold Dot SB did not do much more than the regular Gold Dot. Expansion over .58 inches simply didn't happen and penetration was usually under 10 inches, sometimes significantly.

 

[Lawman1800]

Carry it everyday in my duty gun. As my brother 556Ready said we have experienced good performance with it in our departmental shootings. Performs much better through auto glass than the ammo we used to carry.

 

[Joseph87']

I use Speer in my glock 23 and 27. I love it in the .40 rd but can not speak of .38s but definetly one of the better brands.

 

[iobidder]

Our duty round is 165 grain Gold Dot. I've found them to be reliable and effective in the shootings that I know of.

+1

Same as use different grain however, Speer is one of the best hands down.

 

[JPG]

thanks for the input. i will pass it on.

 

[Blaster229]

Many many thousands of rounds over 11 years and not a hiccup yet.

 

[buttersnipes]

I use Speer Lawman for practice and Gold Dot 124gr +P in my M&P. Always good stuff. Lawman is one of the cleanest I've tried. Standard brass cases are a plus too.

 

[Blaster229]

I don't know the technical term, but I believe the gold dot bullets retain most of their mass and hold together better on impact than any other or most hollow points out there.
Someone will chime in who studies such things. I just seem to recall reading something like this a few years back.

 

[NickZac]

I don't know the technical term, but I believe the gold dot bullets retain most of their mass and hold together better on impact than any other or most hollow points out there.
Someone will chime in who studies such things. I just seem to recall reading something like this a few years back.

My testing is by no means scientific, but more a product of boredom, but it retained weight well through numerous mediums, as did the Ranger T and HST. Many other bullets had issues with jacket and core separation, including some bonded ones. For 9mm, the 5 or 6 different loadings give a lot of options. Interestingly enough, the 147 grain GD, RAT, and HST all seem to be the ideal loading for each respective round in 9mm, where as the .40 seems to do best with the 155-165gr, and .45 seems to hit like a mule regardless of whether it is 185 or 230 (the 200gr +p GD performs particularly well [see LE comparison chart]).

These are older comparisons of FBI tests...
http://www.firearmstactical.com/ammo_data/40s&w.htm
http://www.firearmstactical.com/ammo_data/9mm.htm (this indicates for 9 that the 147 is among the best but it doesn't test all of the loads including the +p+)


Here's a video I have bookmarked on the Gold Dot through a carry-size autoloader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_DAvTP56IjU
While I found no rounds did very well through a 2 inch barrel, I only did .38. It appears Gold Dot does well from a 3 inch...and 147 grain at that.

Consistent results through shorter barrels have been found with the 124 grain Gold Dot.
http://mousegunaddict.blogspot.com/2012/09/gel-testing-speer-9mm-gold-dot-vs-gold.html
(From what I've read online, a .6-ish inch expansion that meets FBI penetration requirements for a 3 inch barrel is exceptional. It seems that the .38 suffers more from a short barrel than 9mm.)


Gary Roberts favors the GD 230 and 200+p for .45, 155 for .40, and 147, 124+p, and 124 for 9, which he bases off of backyard ballistic testing and actual shootings. He doesn't advise the 115 grain for 9mm as he feels the heavier 9mm bullets give more consistency (although when I played with the +p+ I found it to be plenty consistent).

Images/info from:
http://frag.110mb.com/
http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Self_Defense_Ammo_FAQ/index.htm
Speer's LE page
http://ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=41183&start=15 (the picture shows jacket/core separation of the Golden Sabre. The top and center left is the Gold Dot.
http://www.ar15.com/ammo/project/Se...Documents/HandgunBulletchartaspicturerev3.jpg (long list on tested ammo)

 

[Traveler]

The agency my brother works for uses it, he says it has performed well with their departmental shootings as well.

I don't want to work in HIS department.

 

[F8L_Funnel]

Speer gold dot 9mm 124gr HP is an awesome round. It is extremely accurate and consistent through my MP9 at 25 yds and CX4 Storm 25 - 100 yds. I am also a big fan of the 62gr SP in .223. Again highly reliable and accurate.

 

[dfens42]

Speer makes all the CCI stuff too, never had an issue with any of their product.

 

[sleev-les]

I went through 500 rounds of Speer a while ago when Cheaperthandirt was true to its name. I got a bulk box of it and it worked really well. I would buy it again.

 

[NickZac]

Does anyone use it in any of the pocket guns that are historically more finicky than standard service weapons when chambering JHPs? I'm guessing it is probably a good load for this with how the bullet shape is designed to make feeding easy?

 

[IndispensableDestiny]

I just received 600 rounds of Speer Lawman 124 gr in 9mm for a new Sig P229 that is heading my way. Previously I've used Lawman in my .40 cal P226. My "real bullets" for the P226 are gold dots, and also in my S&W 686 revolver.

The factory ammo is very good. The Gold Dot bullets are great and have a home on my reloading bench..