#GoldDot

Despite the jokes, the French have an incredibly storied history in the use of firearms. They’ve been involved in over 100 wars and conflicts around the globe, in which firearms were used. Domestically, their GIGN (Groupe d’intervention de la Gendarmerie nationale) counter-terrorism unit is one of the most elite in the world. All of those firearms need to eat, and Speer is here to feed them. Speer was just awarded contracts to supply several French police agencies with duty ammunition.

Speer and CCI ammunition have just announced two new ammunition offerings that will be heavily showcased at SHOT Show 2023. However, in advance of the show, they’ve released all the information you could ask for on these two new ammunition products including CCI’s new polymer-coated Clean-22 Hypervelocity and Speer’s new Gold Dot G2 Carbine 135-gr ammo. Speer has one of the most well-trusted names when it comes to personal defense ammunition and CCI shares similar fame when it comes to reliable and accurate rimfire ammunition.

Speer Ammunition needs no introduction. This Idaho-based bullet farm has been putting out quality rounds for decades. Their Lawman and Gold Dot lines have become practically synonymous with duty/carry ammo, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with any other top ammo name in the business and trusted by more than 3000 law enforcement agencies around the globe. With a July 21st press release, they have announced the addition of one more agency: the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection. The release reads:

During January’s pre-SHOT Show frenzy, TFB reported on several new ammo options that would be coming out over the course of 2020. At SHOT, TFBTV went a little more in depth with Speer about their new additions. Now in a June 18th press release, Idaho-based ammo manufacturer Speer has announced that their Gold Dot G2 Carry Gun ammunition, specifically optimized for compact handguns, is heading to market. Your current options are 9mm, .40, and .45 +P. The release reads as follows.

Up until recently, this author was thinking that no matter how cool the 5.7x28mm FN cartridge is, its fate is quite concerning. But things have changed. As you know, yesterday Ruger announced a 5.7x28mm pistol, the Ruger-57, and what we’ll talk about today is Speer’s newly released Gold Dot 5.7x28mm defensive ammunition. Well, looks like Ruger and Speer breathe a new life into this little cartridge.

Selecting a good defensive round is one of the most overlooked but perhaps one of the most critical elements of selecting your tools for self-defense. Arguably, ammo selection is just as important, if not more important than selecting the gun itself.  However, I would guess that most shooters simply go to their local Academy, plunk down a $20 bill and ask for “a box of them hollow points.”

Speer is revered in ammo circles for the performance of their Gold Dot hollow-points for law enforcement. For some time now, if you wished to reload your own Gold Dot ammunition you could for your handgun calibers, but not rifle. They now have opened the door for all of us to produce our own rifle ammo with Gold Dot rifle bullets especially designed for personal protection.

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Speer has always been highly regarded for the hollow-point (HP) ammunition they are able to produce for law enforcement and civilian use. Similarly, the French National Police force is well respected throughout the world for their training and capabilities.

The 200gr Gold Dot is something that best millimeter shooters have been wanting for a very long time. It’s finally here. Gold Dot is a fantastic bullet and 10mm deserves a heavier projectile like this.
A very special thanks to BROWNELL’S – check out their new Retro line here:
https://www.brownells.com/.aspx/bapid=606/ClientPage/brownells-retro?utm_medium=external%20partners&utm_source=secondmedia&utm_campaign=2018_01_22_shotshow&utm_content=events

Gold Dot has been a leader in defensive handgun ammunition for more than two decades. During that time, the Speer rounds have shown to be effective in both ballistic gelatin and in real-world lethal force encounters.

The Speer Gold Dot load of ammunition has always been a benchmark of quality and performance for law enforcement. Now, as of December 19th, Speer has been awarded a contract with the DHS (US Department of Homeland Security) and ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) to the tune of 120 Million Rounds of ammunition.

Take a look at our test of Speer’s .45 Auto 230 Gold Dot. The Gold Dot is not technically a bonded bullet, but rather a plated one. Nevertheless, it tends to perform like bonded bullets and the plated construction is essentially the same as a bonded bullet in that core and “jacket” are chemically bonded to each other, resulting in high weight retention. This bullet lives up to its reputation as one of the very best defense loads by expanding well and penetrating perfectly in both bare gel and when fired through heavy clothing. The moderate velocity of approximately 830 fps proved adequate to initiate expansion and the bullet was able to perform properly even when fired through four layers of denim. The IWBA standard of four layers of denim is a more difficult protocol to pass than the more realistic FBI heavy clothing standard. The IWBA heavy clothing test is not intended to simulate real world clothing, but rather to present a worst case scenario of many, closely packed, dense fibers which can clog the cavity of some hollow point ammunition, preventing expansion. Having performed well even in this worst case scenario, the Gold Dot proves to be an outstanding choice for personal defense and the more rounded nose tends to feed better in unmodified 1911A1 pistols than some other hollow point designs. Not only was the bullet able to expand adequately in adverse conditions, it was also able to penetrate to an appropriate depth. The variation in penetration depth was also extremely consistent, with only a small difference between bare gel and heavy clothing. Retained weight was also 100% for every bullet and expansion measurements varied little from bullet to bullet. This highly consistent performance indicates excellent quality and speaks to superior performance across a range of other conditions not evaluated in this test.
Avg velocity: 834 fps
Avg penetration: 14.6″
Avg retained weight: 229.6 gr
Avg max expansion: 0.695″
Avg min expansion: 0.601″

We fired Speer 124 gr Short Barrel Gold Dot from a S&W Shield through heavy clothing and bare gel to assess penetration, expansion, and retained weight. The Speer Gold Dot is one of the most highly regarded handgun projectiles for defense, but we find some surprising results with this load.