Felt Recoil: Speer GD 147 vs. 124+P JHP?

Llando88

Llando88

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Question: What would the difference in felt recoil be between a Speer Gold Dot JHP in 147, vs. the same in 124+P?

New to CC, and am down selecting a CC ammo for purchase soon for my M&P FS 9mm.

I practice with 124 gr RN FMJ at the range.

My plan is to order a few boxes of good quality SD ammo, shoot enough of it to make sure my gun cycles with 0 failures, then load a couple mags.

But, I confess, I've never shot a plus P round, nor a 147 gr bullet yet, hence the question. All of my shooting so far has been 115 or 124 gr target ammo.

Would I notice much increase in felt recoil with these rounds over 124 gr FMJ?

For reference, the 124 FMJ I've been shooting is by Freedom Munitions.

I would like to order one or the other weights for the SD rounds, and would appreciate any advice from those who know much more about this than I do.

I'm not married to the idea of Speer Gold Dots, they just keep appearing in lists of effective SD ammo. The context could also be Federal HST ammo; same kind of question would apply to P9HST3 124+P and P9HST2 147 gr.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks in advance, Rich
 
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More or less depending on you. There are 124+p and 124 non +p published velocity difference is approx 70 fps not enough to make a significant difference in felt recoil, nor enough to guarantee a one shot stop. Get a box of each, make sure they function, hit to point of aim. Buy a case of which ever you like better both are issued to LE depts. Be Safe,
 
Not enough difference to worry about.

I suspect you need to shoot more:

Whatever you decide to use for sd , shoot a lot of it.

You'll be better off using whatever you shoot most and best as a sd load than fussing with 'gee whiz' ammo.
 
If you practice with the 124 gr FMJ I would try the same weight round first in the +P, it may print to the same place with the sights. If there is any difference between the 124 and 147 gr loads in recoil, I would imagine the former would have more of a "snap" but in a full size 9 mm it will not be that great, as others stated.
 
vipermd said:
More or less depending on you. There are 124+p and 124 non +p published velocity difference is approx 70 fps not enough to make a significant difference in felt recoil, nor enough to guarantee a one shot stop. Get a box of each, make sure they function, hit to point of aim. Buy a case of which ever you like better both are issued to LE depts. Be Safe,
Click to expand...


Thanks, useful input.

Had not occurred to me to try both types of GD 124. Same for Federal HST. Got it.

Brand I buy kind of depends on ammo availability, meaning if I can locate a reliable online seller of Speer at reasonable price, I'd buy Speer. But I'd like to find one brand / weight, verify it works, then stick to it.

Since I'm not made of money, I can't afford to goto to the range and shoot 150 rounds of SD ammo on a regular basis. So I'd ideally like to shoot target ammo similar to felt recoil as my SD load.
 
When & if you ever need to use your gun in a self defense situation you will not notice recoil one bit (I'm speaking from experience). Use the load that works best for you, practice as realistically as possible, as often as possible & hope you never need to employ this skill.
 
I would think that their may be more of a difference in point of poa/poi, than their would be for recoil. That seems to be what grain size differences end up being for me.
 
I never could tell; tried +P+ and even once stacked a mag with normal pressure and +P+ and let a friend (who is also a shooter/CCW person) and he had no idea which were which. When pressed to guess, he guessed wrong.
 
Very subjective, but to me the 147 Gold Dot has a softer recoil (not as sharp an impulse). Try both and see what you prefer.
 
In general......

In GENERAL:

In the same gun a light, fast bullet will roughly equal a heavier, slower bullet. It's a physics trade off. Like people said, 'perceived' recoil can be really subjective and has variables like how fast is each powder that is used. This can cause sharper or slower impulse. The +P loading adds a little more blast/recoil. But not much.
 
Thanks all for the input.

Ahead of my future 'trial run' of SD ammo, I extracted some specs from my options (all from manufacturer web sites 6/20/14)

(All are 9mm, Muzzle velocity feet per second / energy ft pds)

Freedom Munitions 115 gr RN FMJ: 1150 / 340

Freedom Munitions 124 gr RN FMJ: 1120 / 345

Speer Gold Dot 124 gr: 1150 / 364

Speer Gold Dot 124+P: 1220 / 410

Speer Gold Dot 147: 985 / 317
 
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You might be able to perceive some differences in recoil, but out of a 9mm, all are going to be controllable.
 
The 9mm has negligible recoil. I find both loads to be quite mild, and recoil, to me, is equivalent. Conventional wisdom would say that a heavier bullet will have more felt recoil, but the higher pressure of the 124 grain +P perhaps makes up the difference.

I find little difference, and it almost seems to me that the 147 grain is a tad milder, but you will likely get different opinions. People have strong opinions on guns of choice and ammo of choice.

As to which is best for defense, you will get all sorts of arguments. Again, everyone seems to have their own pet load. I prefer to let someone else do the scientific and actual testing, and the FBI tests ammo as good as anyone.

The 147 grain bonded hollow point was just selected by the FBI late last year after a brand new round of ammo testing, so that 147 grain load has really come a long way since the days of the Olin Super Match (OSM) 147 grain load used by the US in Grenada in the HK sub-guns.
 
I like the the people that are telling you to shoot what comes in closest to your practice load. You shoot 124's? Awesome! I think that's great. 124 +p is right up your alley then.

As far as +p or non +p...go with more steam! Always. The 147 will strike higher on paper than the 124 given the same sight picture. I figure who cares about the bullet weight as long as it goes where I want it, both times. Go to the Speer law enforcement side and you can see a whole lot of bullets they make shot through various mediums. Kinda cool. Personally I like 124+p HST in my 9mm.

Recoil is a nonissue under stress/duress. Don't worry about it.
 
You have Recoil per the amount and type of powders used........

the power factor with FPS vs bullet weight............

but it all comes down to "Feel".

They all give you "Numbers" but that is just half the picture. Then again you need to find out which bullet shoots the BEST in your weapon....................

Some revolvers like big and slow or small and fast.
My last 9mm 3" test, liked the short 115 better than the std 124gr, but there was ony 4 ft/lbs difference between the two maximum loads.

It comes down to Accuracy or Energy most of the time.......
Good luck.
 
I tend to notice a difference in flash/blast between the 'hotter' +P/+P+ and the non +P rounds, but as far as felt recoil, they all feel the same to me.
 
Part of the subjective perception of recoil is the sound, too, so wear good ear pro when shooting. The first criterion is that your ammo work 100% in your pistol, and then that you place it accurately. The GD 124 +P has been highly successful in shootings at several agencies. A Lt. from one of them is a member of another forum I visit, and has been involved in their shooting investigations and I think 1 shooting of his own. They have been very pleased with the performance of the round.
 
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