Gold Dot Short Barrel .45acp Test

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hello,

I ran across some short barrel 230gn Gold Dot loads.  Knowing that Speer tests these .45acp short barrel loads in a 4" barrel,  I figured I had nothing to lose, so I bought a couple boxes.



Firing for function from my 5" 1911 at dusk revealed that, from the longer tube, these rounds have no muzzle flash. 



Additionally, these feed about like a hardball round.  The performance seems to come from more scores on the jacket, not a huge hollowpoint as is the case with the revolver rounds.

Expansion testing was problematic.  Twice I shot at milk jugs, and both times the front jug was shredded, the rear jug was penetrated, and the bullet was lost in the snow.  I will have to rig up something when it gets warmer - 10 degrees is not a good time to be playing in water!

However...



The above round was recovered from a tree.  I will draw no conclusions from this other than it doesn't seem to have a problem expanding.

During function testing, a big problem arose:  The last round of the first magazine failed to go completely into battery.  A slap on the back of the slide put it in, but the second box got measured with calipers, and dropped into the chamber after I had cleaned it to ensure the remaining rounds were not loose.  I then decided to run them through a Lee Factory Crimp Die to bring them all to the same spec. 

The older Hydra-Shoks that this is replacing don't show this sort of deviation.  If they hadn't been in the gun longer than I'm comfortable with, I'd retain them pending more testing.

As it is, I have had zero failures with reloads, and I believe I'm going to reload the next batch of carry ammunition so I can be sure of quality control - this is not anything against Speer, but something several people seem to have noticed of late from many manufacturers.

Josh

[twoguns]

Howdy folks,

The original Speer GD SB loading was in .38 spc, and was made for use by NYPD.  They wanted a round that would expand more reliably from the shorter barreled J and K frames often carried by detectives and officer off duty.  NYPD was very impressed with the performance they got from this load, which used a slightly different GD round used in "standard" (non short barrel) loads.

With the results being positive, Speer then opted to expand their line of short barrel loads in other more commonly found calibers often used by LEOs.  Today the SB rounds are available for both revolver and pistol calibers.  The .45acp SB load discussed is intended primarily for pistols, but would work equally as well from short barreled revolvers.

The key to this round is the bullet is constructed so it will expand reliably at lower velocities produced by shorter barrels.  I was discussing this round with Speer folks once, and they noted it was best restricted to use in short barrel weapons, as the name implied.  They feared that when driven to higher velocities (from longer barrels) the round would not expand as reliably.

They noted these rounds were best used in handguns with 2" and 3" barrels, and probably would perform properly in 4" barrels (discussing revolver loads specifically).  But if using a longer tube they suggested folks stick to the standard GD round, which was designed to work effectively at higher velocities. 

So my best suggestion is to look at the Speer site for more info on the SB GD loads.  Whatever barrel lenght they used for testing the particular caliber from is probably where you want to draw the line using SB loads.  With longer barrels you are probably smarter to simply use the standard GD projectile.

Just wanted to share what I could on this SB loading.

twoguns

P.S.  My agency used a lot of various Speer calibers, and because of that I had frequent conversations with both their LEA and normal customer service folks.  Our only short barrel issued handguns when I went out on injury leave were either J framed Smiths or the Glock 26.  But we had not purchased any of the SB loads for either, as we were using a different vendor for .38spc loads, and simply handing agents either the standard or +P GD 9mm for the Glock 26.  But from what I understand the SB load was being debated.  I have no idea if they actually went to that loading or not now.

[D!rtyH@rry]

if it held up to that tree i think it will do OK.

seems one of the better.45ACP rounds.

thanks!