Gold Dot ?

[Fedor]

It seems the Speer Gold Dot is a very popular choice for personal protection.
Do you guys think there is any difference between the short barrel loads and the regular stuff ?

[Bawanna]

I'm told and I have no proof of this that the powder is designed or regulated to burn more completely in a short barrel and lower the muzzle flash. I also heard that the bullet is constructed to expand more efficiently at a slightly lower velocity. Really no way to tell for sure. I've often wanted to pull a short barrel and standard cartridge apart and weigh and look at the powder to see.
Hard to tell on bullet construction they look the same but the jacket could be slightly thinner etc.

That being said I love Gold Dot but I only use the standard velocity regular stuff even in my PM45. I think even if it is slightly off on expansion etc it's still gonna ruin the bad guys day and definitely leave a mark.

[jocko]

I guess also what really constitutues a short barrel for this super duper miracle gold dot round??

[Goffman]

Judging by the .38 Special and .357 Magnum rounds, there is a difference between the "short barrel" and "regular" rounds. I assume that this difference carries over to the 9mm and other rounds for semi-automatics. However, personally, I don't think the premium price is worth it for the "short barrel" 9mm rounds. Even the normal pressure (not +P) 124-grain 9mm round leaves the truncated barrel of the Kahr PM9 in excess of 1000 feet per second, which is sufficient to ensure expansion. It's a different story altogether with a .38 Special round from a short-barrel revolver, for which expansion is a well established problem, hence the benefit of the "short barrel" .38 Special Gold Dot and "short barrel" .357 Magnum Gold Dot.

[CJB]

If it feeds flawlessly in your pistol - thats always criteria #1. After that..all the rest is about as important as how you arrange the gummy bears on a birthday cake.

[ripley16]

The Short Barrel I tested seemed to have a more powerful recoil than regular ammo. I like Gold Dot because I've always shot well with it... it suits my shooting style to a T, but I didn't like the Short Barrel, nor was I as accurate with it for some reason.

[Barth]

It seems the Speer Gold Dot is a very popular choice for personal protection.
Do you guys think there is any difference between the short barrel loads and the regular stuff ?

My understanding is that the ammo is the same sans the bullet.
Speer redesigned the short barrel bullet to expand reliably
at low velocities. If you look at the hollow point the "Short Barrel" ammo
looks like a wider, deeper, cavity. If you check their site they have an FBI
protocol test with the 38+P with expansion/penetration through various media
that's very impressive.

For my 2" snub nose and my 3" MK40 that's what I use.