Low end or full bore Gold Dots for SD ?

[Nevada Ed]

I was going over the Lucky Gunner data for a 3.5" 9mm for SD ammo
and noticed that there was a pretty big jump from a Standard loading, up to a +P loading.

The standard 115 Gold Dot was only listed at a light 1143fps
while I have the factory stuff in my C9 chrony at 1208fps.

For me the larger 124 Gold Dot is harded for me to get high fps
but in a little 3" it will match the 115's ME at 340, which is a good thing.

Luck Gunner has the standard 124 Gold Dot at only 1080fps which seem very low for a SD loading.
I felt a lot better when my C9 showed it could do 1140fps that matched
a lot of the internet postings.

My question is...........
has anyone found the low end, "Standard load" working out for them
over the higher fps +P factory loading, and what barrel length?

I might like to buy some standard ammo but with the prices of today,
I would like to see if this is a good idea, before hitting the stores,
for ammo to test in my 3", 3.5" & 5" 9mm pistols.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Racer X]

I'm interested too. I have a 3.1" KelTec, and my 6906 is 3.5"

 

[Dave Lively]

Are you finding better deals on standard pressure ammo?

The last time I bought Gold Dots, which was pre-pandemic. standard pressure and +P were exactly the same price. Unless you can get a lower price on standard pressure buy +P. If you can get a deal on standard pressure buy that instead. Either way you are getting good ammo.

Lucky gunner tested both the +P and standard pressure 124 grain Gold Dots. They used a M&P with a 3.5 inch barrel as a test gun in both cases.

The standard pressure ammo averaged 1067 fps and the +P averaged 1141 fps. I wouldn't call a 7% increase in velocity, translates into a 14% increase in energy, a big jump. More is better so I have always bought the +P variety since it didn't cost more than standard pressure. But if I had seen a good deal on standard pressure Gold Dots I would have bought them instead.

Ammo companies have gotten better about designing hollow points that balance expansion and penetration. When I first started shooting in the 80s you had to drive HPs fast to get them to expand. And when they did expand they often expanded so violently that they failed to penetrate enough. That is much less true today. You no longer have to drive bullets as fast as possible to get good expansion and bonded bullets like Gold Dots penetrate well too.

There is still no such thing as a magic bullet. Even the best loads that always work great in gel will sometimes fail to expand in real life.

 

[OKFC05]

I've been carrying the +P Gold dots since they came out, and have used them in (critter) shootings, with some interesting results, one of which was to stop an attack by hitting the wrist. The bullet did not penetrate through the wrist to the body, but broke the bones.
I buy the +P, am prepared to keep shooting if needed, and realize the exact place the bullet hits makes all the difference.