I'm3rd
Absent Comrade
I recently ordered 2 boxes of 60 grain Gold Dot bullets to handload some higher than standard velocity rounds for my wife's model 30-1 .32 Long revolver that serves as her house & car gun. That low recoil round is as much as she can tolerate due to arthritic hands that were also damaged by botched surgery. I handloaded a few .32 Long cases using the upgraded loading data that was provided by Speer for modern steel guns. The 60 grain Gold Dots were originally intended for .32 acp, but now Speer also recommends them for handloading ammo for use in modern solid frame .32 Long revolvers such as the mod. 30 Smith.
OK, now for the problem. The 60 gr bullets in those rounds I handloaded will not expand at all even at the much higher than normal velocity that the Speer data produces. After being fired into a row of water filled 1 gallon milk jugs, except for the marks left by the rifling they looked just like they looked when I loaded them. I could actually reload them and fire them again if I wanted to. I also tried firing into 20" of rainwater standing in a plastic container and got the same result, no expansion at all. If the 60 gr bullets are designed to expand at .32 acp velocity, why don't they expand at the 1035 fps velocity that Speer claims it's data produces? Her Smith has a 3" barrel which may possibly cause a slight loss of velocity compared to a 4" test barrel, but I doubt it's enough to cause a good HP bullet to totally fail to expand. I have been a Speer fan in the past, but I'm beginning to wonder whether their claims in regard to the bullets in question are true or greatly exaggerated. 200 Gold Dots cost me $47 delivered from Midway. That means they cost almost a buck per 4 bullets, and that should be enough to get a bullet that does what it's maker says it does.
OK, now for the problem. The 60 gr bullets in those rounds I handloaded will not expand at all even at the much higher than normal velocity that the Speer data produces. After being fired into a row of water filled 1 gallon milk jugs, except for the marks left by the rifling they looked just like they looked when I loaded them. I could actually reload them and fire them again if I wanted to. I also tried firing into 20" of rainwater standing in a plastic container and got the same result, no expansion at all. If the 60 gr bullets are designed to expand at .32 acp velocity, why don't they expand at the 1035 fps velocity that Speer claims it's data produces? Her Smith has a 3" barrel which may possibly cause a slight loss of velocity compared to a 4" test barrel, but I doubt it's enough to cause a good HP bullet to totally fail to expand. I have been a Speer fan in the past, but I'm beginning to wonder whether their claims in regard to the bullets in question are true or greatly exaggerated. 200 Gold Dots cost me $47 delivered from Midway. That means they cost almost a buck per 4 bullets, and that should be enough to get a bullet that does what it's maker says it does.