The new rave seems to be producing the best hollow point or defense handgun round possible. A flurry of companies have re-engineered their staple offerings and new competitors continue to emerge to the market. Names that come to mind are the Ruger ARX… Sig Sauer V-Crown… Federal Micro HST… Gorilla Silverback… G2 Research R.I.P.… among numerous others. Speer has done the same with their Gold Dot duty ammo. The Speer Gold Dot G2 pushes the limits of performance and is shipping to law enforcement dealers.

Like the original duty ammo, Gold Dot G2 passes FBI barrier testing. What separates this defense round from the pack, but ironically makes it more similar is the hollow-point and what is inside.

Instead of a large cavity in the nose, Gold Dot G2 has only a shallow dish filled with a high-performance elastomer. On impact, the material is forced into specially designed fissures to start the expansion process, as opposed to conventional bullet designs, which need target media to enter the hollow point and create expansion forces. The result is extremely uniform expansion, and more consistent penetration across barrier types, gun platforms and barrel lengths.

The key to the success of this duty ammo lies in the elastomer center. Similar to Hornady’s Critical Defense and Critical Duty ammo, the new Gold Dot G2 has a polymer filled center to aid in expansion. At the moment, Speer will be offering 3 different calibers to start.

• 9mm 147 Grain G2 – $27.95 MSRP
• .40 S&W 180 Grain G2 – $30.95 MSRP
• .45 ACP 230 Grain G2 – $33.95 MSRP

Hopefully a variant of sorts will come to market for non-LE consumers as well. For now our men and women in blue will have to let us know how this performs.