I'm considering ordering some mail order ammo for the 3913LS I just bought.

I plan to order gold dot ammo and probably 124 gr.

The issue is, there are two kinds of 124 gr gold dot's available.

Standard pressure and +P.

Does anyone have an opinion on these?

I'm leaning towards the 124 gr Gold Dot standard pressure as:

1. At 1100 fps is fast enough.

2. The 3913 is an old gun with an Aluminum frame, and doesn't need to be beaten up by extra hot ammo.

3. I've never been a believer in punishing myself needlessly.

The 124gr +p is good for 4" barrels plus.......
while the 124gr Short barrel is best for barrels at 3.5" or less.

The standard 124gr Gold Dot is the lower fps of the three.....
and it can work for you, if needed.

Barrel length is the key to fps with this loading.
1120fps is about as low as you want to go for 100% expansion...........
all the time.

There are actually 3 Gold Dot 9mm 124gr: 23618; 23617 (+P); 23611 (+P Short Barrel).
They all shoot well in all my 9mm pistols. Now you have 3 choices. I use the +P Short Barrel in my Shield

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Science plus Art

Just my opinion, but I honestly think you'll be fine with either. Standard pressure and +P GDHP are both recommended by Dr. Roberts, and it's hard to go wrong with ammo he recommends.

Personally, with GDHP, I'd probably lean towards the +P; it's established a very good track record in actual shootings and, as has been mentioned, the extra velocity does seem to help performance in shorter barreled guns.

As far as not wanting to punish yourself or your gun, you don't have to do all of your shooting with +P. Run enough of the +P GDHP through your gun to make sure it's reliable and you can shoot it well, then use standard pressure FMJ for the rest of your shooting. You could fire some +P periodically just to make sure you can still shoot it well (it doesn't necessarily have to be the GDHP...you could find some cheaper +P practice ammo for occasional use).

But, like I said, I wouldn't worry about it. I'd feel adequately armed with either option.

I shoot the standard 124gr Gold Dot ammo in my 9mm pistol. In this case I see NOT reason for an additional 100fps with that bullet.

Note: If the +P ammo was more accurate in my gun I would consider it since accurate ammo is paramount when choosing carry ammo.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

I've found the Speer 124 grain standard pressure LE load to be 100% reliable and extremely accurate. My little Sig P938 up to my full size S&W Pro Series 1911 9MM all love that load. I don't see a need for the +P version, unless car doors and windshields are barriers you are planning to encounter.

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Virtue,Liberty & Independence

Barrel length plays a very significant role.
The +p has increased velocity which does create greater expansion but at the cost of less penetration.
The standard pressure has slightly less expansion and usually more penetration. Gold Dot 124 gr. 9mm of any variety works as well as anything on the market. Better than most.

The few 9mm Gold Dot that I have logged are;

M&P Shield 3.1"
#23611 124 GD +P .......... 1109fps
#23617 124 GD +P .......... 1093fps

C9 3.5"
115 GD .............. 1143fps
124 +P .............. 1141fps

G19 4"
#53614 124 GD ....... 1196fps.

All should work.

Prior to the adoption of the .40 cal H&K P2000, Customs/CBP uniformed officers were issued the Glock 17. We were issued the "standard velocity" Speer Gold Dot 124 grain bullet as a duty load. There were positive reports of good performance from the field.

You really won't beat it up unless you shoot thousands of rounds of+p.

Standard pressure will work fine but when it comes to self defense there's no such thing as "fast enough", "good enough". A BB gun will be good enough for 99% of the situations but who is relying on a BB gun? If it's works better it's good. If something better comes along it's .... better! No such thing as settling.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

Recommend the 124 gr Gold Dot 9mm +P - round of choice for the NYPD...you won't get a better track record than that!

Search sales online. If you are paying more than $20 per 50 Gold Dots you are overpaying.

Personally I would skip the 124s and get 147s. You might want to check out the federal HST also

FWIW, my preferred 9mm self defense load is the standard pressure 147gr HST. But like I said before, I think you'll be well-served by either of your Gold Dot choices if you want to stick with those options.

My Shield doesn't like HST 147, they seem to hang up on the feed ramp 10% of the time. I'm going to try Gold Dots and hope they feed better.

My Shield 9 had feed ramp hangups with HST 124+P rounds 10% of the time. Interestingly, it fired 50 HST 147s without a problem. I tested the reliability and accuracy of hundreds of self-defense rounds with this Shield, and decided to carry Hornady Critical Duty 135+P rounds because they were the only ones with zero failures to feed or eject among those that were fired at least 100 times. The Hornadys were fired 174 times without an issue. Other rounds that did well were Remington Golden Saber 147, with two FTEs in 250 rounds, and Speer Gold Dot 124+P, with zero failures in the last 147 rounds after a couple of initial FTEs. The Golden Sabers were the most accurate of these three. In fact the Golden Sabers were the most accurate rounds I've ever fired from this gun. The Gold Dots and Hornadys did have acceptable levels of accuracy, so they were certainly carry-worthy. My final decision was to choose the most reliable round over the most accurate.

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What, me worry?

I carried a 3913 as a duty weapon for a couple years around the turn of
the century (2000/2003) in concealed mode, belt slide holster under jacket or sport coat.. while we had some latitude in choice of handguns for plain clothes duty, our departmental mandatory 9mm issue load at that time was Win 127+p+ ... The 3913 handled the 127+p+ with no problem,
pretty much the same felt recoil as my Glock 19.. So bottom line, the
3913 can safely handle most any 9mm ammo.. never heard anybody in our department (6000 members) voice any concerns to the contrary..

Having said all that, Speer Gold dot is one of my preferred 9mm
loads; from 115 gr up to 147 gr, shot all of them and all good..
My suggestion for this member and his used model 3913 would be
the standard GD 124 gr.. the performance difference between the standard 124 and the 124+p is minimal and agree the standard will not beat up an aged 3913 as much.. I was lucky to pick up 500 rounds of the standard
recently.. they are plenty hot enough for good expansion/penetration from
3913 3.5 barrel.. if not available, standard 115 GD are easier to find..
To this day, regret giving up that 3913nl...