I asked a question about this ammo in a recent thread and got no input.

CCI designed this ammo for short barreled guns, then tested it in a 4" vented barrel. Has anyone clocked the Gold Dot .44 mag 'short barrel' out of a 3" barrel, which, unless I'm mistaken, is... short?

I found this in a Google search from a Forum question two years ago:

The numbers I got from Speer Gold Dot out of my 3" 629

44 Spl 759
44 Mag 983

So, this will save thread viewers the trouble of not replying to my question.

There is nothing special about the "Short Barrel" ammunition which has any effect on velocity. It is loaded with bullets having a larger and differently shaped hollow-point bullet that is more likely to expand when fired at the lower velocity generally achieved by the short 1 7/8 to 2" "Snubby" barrels.

Why so nasty about the thread that was only up about a half hour?

My turn, if you can find the answer on Google why did you bother us?

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

The folks at Ballistics By the Inch checked a couple of different calibers, including 44 magnum.

BBTI - Ballistics by the Inch :: Calibers/Cartridges

At least for the 38 special, it's worth noting that the velocity they measure for the 135 gr "short barrel" load out of a 4" barrel is higher than the velocity Speer reports for the non-short-barrel 125gr gold dot out of a 4" barrel. My 4" model 64 stays loaded with the short barrel loads.

Didn't mean to be nasty. That's my sense of humor. The bold face you put on that sentence makes it look more important to the post than it really was. This thread replaced one just like it that sat here for days with no comment. I finally deleted it. I do wonder though why on some threads 78 guys can look at it but leave no comment. We must have serious attention deficit issues.

My apologies for the tone if you were offended.

This is pretty much exactly what I was looking for, thanks. I agree the size of the hollow points and thin walls are impressive. I get the engineering now that you've explained it. They remind me of the .45 flying ashtrays of the late 70s.

Or maybe we aren't blowhards who answer questions we don't know the answers to, just to look like we do.

__________________
Pisgah

Will have a lot more viewers than comments and out of those with comments only a few will have real answers.

Now if you would have asked what is the best powder for yada yada or which is better blah blah you would have 200 replies by now.

btw I have clocked GDSB out of 3 difrferent 2" revolvers and don't get their minimum 860 fps required velocity stated for expansion.

Actually, the .38 Special bullet will reliably expand at only 800 fps and the rated velocity of their 135gr .38 Special +P round is 860 fps. Out of my 2" J frames I get close to that velocity, I would give you the exact numbers but I can't find the book they are in right now. (but I do remember it's very close to 860 fps)

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Once upon a time, while enroute to a black bear hunt in Idaho, I stopped off in a gunstore in Salt Lake City.
I bought several boxes of the Speer 44 Mag 200gr Short barreled load, at a good price.

I was staying at a buddies remote cabin in the Idaho wilderness.

It came a pretty good snow storm for a few days and I became "bored" so I thought some shooting was in order.

SO, I stepped outside and took a few pieces of firewood, of varing sizes, and in a safe manner fired a few of the Short barreled loads into them.

Some bullets went through some of the pieces of wood, and I dug the bullets out of the larger pieces of wood, where there was not 100% penetration.

I used a 4" S&W Mountain Gun.

Now this is about as an "unscientific" test as a fella could do...

But I have been shooting a 44 Mag into "things, since 1970, and carried one as a Work Gun for several years.
I have seen a few people shot with the 44 Mag as well.

Baised on the penetration, and bullet performance of my "firewood" test, I consider the Short Barreled load to be worthy of carry.

The best recomendation I can give it is that I use it quite a bit in Urban situations.
It has pleasant recoil for anyone used to shooting the 44 Mag or a 1911 in 45 ACP, very controlable IMHO.

I haven't seen the same statement you have, saying that it expands at 800fps. What I am referring to is the Supplemental Data sheet for 38 Spl. +P GDSB loads where they say... "This bullet fully expands at velocities of 860 fps" so if it actually expanded at 800 fps, I would think they would have said that instead. Maybe it only partially expands at 800. The best I could get with the loads I tried, presented in that data sheet was 820 fps which I didn't think was good enough to rely on.

http://www.speer-bullets.com/pdf/Rel...A/38s135GD.pdf

I then looked thru my load notes and came up with my own load of N-320 that does make a good margin over 860 fps.

In my M49 38 spl snub I get 860 +/- with the 135 GD....

I also noticed that the 9mm 124gr GD comes in 3-4 different
boxes of ammo for the short or long barrel pistols..........

Just wondering how many types they have for the 44, never checked before for short and long barrel types of ammo.
The different types of ammo is made with powder and bullets to best fit the barrel length, I never
could find any detailed info..........but I trust Speer with its fps more than some other ammo makers.

as per post #8..........
Many a time I look at a post and it was not what I expected or worded wrong etc and I had no
information that would help out. When I post I do not expect answers til the next day, since
many work or might be on vacation or doing "Something"........

Are you certain it's only the bullet, and there's nothing different in the powder used for short barrel loads versus standard?

I popped a round into a woodpile and was very pleasantly surprised by the absence of blast. It was a soft shooting round. I couldn't recover it, but it looked to have penetrated plenty well on a fir log.

Based on what the member said about bullet design being a key component here, I'm good with the ~950 fps velocity. I've been looking for a 240 gr LSWC at that speed for quite awhile now.

I've been on this forum for about 10 years and I haven't seen a blowhard yet. It's a forum where people exchange opinions and information. I was just surprised by the almost complete absence of comment on a direct question that seemd like it would be of interest to more people than just me. Handload data, yeah -- I can see the basement chemists coming out in force for that. And I get that not everyone has an answer, and even I walk into some threads just to look around and walk out, but if the guy hasn't gotten an answer, sometimes for days -- I see those threads -- I say SOMEthing. It's just polite. I've seen those replies too -- "Someone who knows more than me will come along in awhile..." How many times have you told an excited forum member that his ugly gun looked as good to you as it did to him? I've done it. Nobody comes here to be ignored.

If asked my opinion, I'll usually respond. I have not chronoed that load, but looked in to see what was said........

__________________
dd884
JMHO-YMMV

He is wrong hap!! They did change the powder also along with the bullet

__________________
Rob

But from what I read they only added a flash suppressor but didn't change the burn rate. (but do you really expect them to tell trade secrets? lol)

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I expect them save my backside if I ever need it...

I don't think he said that they didn't change the powder. He just said that they didn't do anything different to change the velocity. He underlined velocity to emphasize that they may have changed things that effect other factors, like flash.

Best,
Rick

oops... I totally missed the .44 part of the original post... sorry