Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Click on the links below for pictures of a 300 gr. Speer Gold Dot bullet that I recovered today from a whitetail doe shot at a distance of 75 yards using a T/C Omega, 115gr loose 777, and a HPH-24 sabot.

Sabotloader put me on these bullets, and judging form the performance of this one today I am extremely pleased. I hunt deer in an extremely thick, cutover, Mississippi river bottom. The deer I shot last year with the Hornady SST bullets ran forever and didn't bleed. Exit wounds on those I recovered were not impressive. I am looking for a bullet that quickly expands, causes a lot of internal damage, and exits the other side.

This bulletwas recovered from a large doe shot at 75 yards. She was facing me in a food plot but walking toward the thick stuff. I was up in a high tree stand shooting downward toward her. She lowered her head to browse and presented me with a shoulder/neck shot which I took. The bullet entered at the base of her neck near the spine, tranversed the chest cavity, broke the last rib near the diaphram, and was caught by the hide on the off side. Massive internal damage to the lungs. The poor doe didn't know what hit her and fell in her tracks.

The size of the expanded petels is about that of a quarter. The bullet peeled back to just behind the crimps and stopped. This is a bonded bullet and there appears to be no seperation of the jacket and core. There is a substantial shank of the bullet left in the rear. I haven't weighed it yet but I will report back later on that.

Overall impressions: Excellent expansion with massive internal damage. The bullet didn't exit, but did tranverse most of the body of the deer and was caught by the hide on the off side. I am anxious to take a broadside shot to see what kind of exit wound it leaves. There appears to be no loss of mass and the shank of the bullet stayed intact to drive the mushroomed frontal portion. The bonding of jacket and lead performed exactly as advertised.

Check out that "gold dot" in the middle of the frontal portion of the bullet. Now I know where the bullets get their name.

This is one excellent muzzleloader bullet. Thanks to Sabotloader and others who recommend this to me.

http://webpages.charter.net/tlovell/DSCN1952.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/tlovell/DSCN1955.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/tlovell/DSCN1956.jpg

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Both Sabotloader & I have been promoting the Gold Dotsfor a while. This is the soft point I'm guessing. Would like to see photos like this using the HP's... HINT-HINT!:D

Thanks for the pixs. That expansion is awesome.:)

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Triple Se7en

I think this was the HP

mouthcaller

Outstanding - That massive internal damage is just what has happened for me - everything turns to jelly

I would contact Speer and send those pics in to them - I bet they would droul all over themselves.

Nice job - I am still looking for the perfect buck - we are in rifle season here, but I am using my ML - ML season (does only) is in December.

Congrats....

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

very impressive photos... from the looks of it, I am sure they did massive expansion. It would be interesting to learn what that bullet expaneded to in diameter.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Those are incredible images. Congratulations. Nice to see that you don't need to spend a buck a bullet to get results like that. Let us know if those are soft or hollow points.

Tom

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Very good expansion. Congrats.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Triple Seven: This is the 300 gr. Gold Dot .Uni-Cor 452 HP bullet made for the 454 Casull. I looked up the muzzle velocity of a 454 Casull, and it is about 1750 fps with the 300 gr bullet - almost exactly what one would expect from a muzzleloader with about 100 gr of powder. I was using 115 gr. of 777, which is the load I worked up in my pre-season shooting sessions. More powder than that and I start loosing accuracy in my Omega Z5.

Cayugad: The frontal portion of the bullet expanded to approximately the size of a quarter. Below is a pic next to a quarter for visual reference.

http://webpages.charter.net/tlovell/DSCN1953.jpg


Sabotloader: In previous discussions you expressed a ligitimate concern that the 300 grGold Dotwouldn't expand sufficiently for whitetail. Based on this bullet I am confident that it will. I went with the 300 gr. over the 250 because I wanted an exit would for bloodtrailing in this jungle that I hunt in. The 250 gr. .452 Gold Dot is intended for the slower 45 Colt, therefore the deeper hollow point. The path this bullet followed along the long axis of this doe didn't produce an exit wound, but the deer dropped in its tracks - hard to argue with that. I am anxious to see what happens with a typical broadside shot on a larger buck, and I'll report back the results.

Thanks again for turning me on to this outstanding, and reasonably priced, bullet.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

gopherfan

Looking at the Speer site - they do not make a 300 grain soft point Gold Dot. They do make a 325 grain and a 400 grain soft point in .452

http://www.speer-bullets.com/ballistics/bullets.aspx

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

mouthcaller

One certainly can not argue with sucess and the pictures to prove it. I am totally impressed and more importantly you have even helped my confidence level in that bullet. I have never been able to recover one to look at...

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

That really is some impressive expansion. I have some Gold Dot bullets around here somewhere. As I remember, they shot well out to about 75 yards and after that the accuracy went bad real fast. I will have to try them again. Thanks for the great field report. It is just such reports as this that helps all of us pick the right projectile for what we hunt.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

If I remember correctly, we both purchased the 270gr SP's in .429 a while back with very limited success on paper at under 100 yards. Since then, I have gone to the .451diameter 180 & 230gr. HPs that rock with Harvester plastic sabots.

But since I went back to all-lead Buffalo S.S.Bs, those coppers are collecting dust. If you want my 230 gr Gold Dots David, send me your fulladdress by email or PM. I'll accomodate you for free.... may have a couple of other bullet brandsto send your way also.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

how did you manage to clean up the bullet so well without breaking off any pettles?? the bullets ive recovered from deer were covered in blood and had hair, flesh and chunks of bone imbedded in the lead and between the pettles. everytime ive tried to clean the bullets up to show the pettles would break off. you did one heck of job cleaning up that bullet I cant see any signs of flesh or blood at all on the bullet and all your pettles are intact please pass on your secret on how to get the bullet so darn clean without damaging it.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

HighDesertWolfinadvertently just mentioned more high marks about this bullet...ie... how well it held together. I wonder if weighed, how much of that 300 grains remains? I would imagine Gummout or Brake Cleaner spray would clean-up that bullet pretty good.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Wolf

For one thing this bullet is tough.Ican't easily bend the petels with my fingers and would have to get some pliers to pull those suckers out. I simply used one of the sharp thingson my leatherman and picked out the tissue. I cleaned it in the field where we field dress deer at our club and we have a old "pitcher pump" down there. I just keptwashing it ina stream of water and picking out the flesh until it got clean.

I assure you it came from the deer I shot yesterday morning around 6:15 AM.

I'll weigh it Monday.

mouthcaller

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

LOL!! :D was I that obvious about doubting wether that bullet came out of a deer or not? I didnt mean to be too obvious but thanks for explaining how you got it so clean. I personally dont have any firsthand experience with gold dots but I assume the structure isnt to much off from hornady XTP's or winchester silvertip hollow points which lose their pettles easily from even slight pressure.

to give you an idea of what im talking about heres a picture of a 185 grain 45 cal silvertip hollow point I extracted from a deer it was intact prior to cleaning but while cleaning the brittle pettles broke off and the rest of the jacket came off the bullet.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Sabotloader-

Thanks for the information and the previous recommendation for this projectile (last summer). I have a ton of XTPs to burn through before I can justify buying more bullets but at $15 for 50 you can't go wrong...especially when you see someone post images such as these. Only 4 days until our opener in MI!!!

Tom

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

HighDesertWolf

I really am not sure of the construction of either the Hornady XTP's or the Winchester Silvertip HP's. I am assuming the lead is poured into the copper cup and the tips are formed. I have never cut one open to look - I do know that you can strip the copper from the lead on occassion. (separate the lead and the copper)

With the Gold Dot that can not happen, it is constructed more along the lines of a Nosler Partition. There are two sections of lead the lower section is contained and bonded in section of copper and the upper portion is bonded to the petals. You can see that in the pictures that mouthcaller has presented. The bullet is designed to open on impact with the animal the petals and the lead opening and causing a great deal of physical damage along with a huge hdrostatic shock wave in the tissue that it passes through.The second portion of lead incased in copper causes the bullet to keep driving through the tissue. I do not consider the petal fragile at all - they are pretty tough. When mouthcaller weighs that bullet I really do not expect a great difference in weight from when it was new to what it is now.

With a Gold Dot - the jacket should not separate from the lead at all, that is what the bonding does - holds it all together. These bullets were designed after Speer's "Bear Claw" big game rifle bullets.

gopherfan

I really think they are an excellent bullet and a really tough bullet for the price... It is hard for me to make the switch from Noslers to the Gold Dots, but as the price of Noslers continues to climb it will make it a lot easier.

It did some target shooting today and was able to recover several bullets from a saturated wet clay water bar. I can confirm what you are seeing in mouthcallers pictures - mine are not as symetrical as mouthcallers - but then shooting a clay dirt bank is not like shooting an animal. I'll try to get them cleaned up tomorrow and post some pics + the weight - I do not hink they lost much at all.

Hope you have a great season... it just never gets here quick enough nor does it last long enough....

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

I looked into gold dot bullets I found out the jackets are actually electroplated copper in other words they are plated lead bullets just with a heavy copper plating, similar too federals new fusion bullets. which is actually better then your typical bonded core bullets. from what I hear jacket seperation with a gold dot bullet is near impossible. I think im gonna get a box and some harvester sabots and give them a try.

RE: Recovered Gold Dot from today's hunt
 

Wolf,

You are beginning to see the light now. Look moreclosely at the pictures I posted. If you maximixe the image (click on the box in the lower right of the image) in full-scren mode you can see that the petels contain the copper jacket material with all the lead adhered to them. From your picture of a silvertip all I see is lead. Big differece. This gold dot bullet looked exactly like this after busting through the neck/shoulder area, running through the upper chest cavity, and getting caught by the hide near the diaphram. Again, I can't easily bend these petels with my fingers. The edges are too sharp and I would likely cut myself if I tried.

Below is a discription of the construction of these bullets from the Speer website:

Gold Dot® Hollow Point Handgun Bullets
Police officers know the best handgun bullet because they use it in their service ammo. It's Speer Gold Dot®. Handloaders can get the same premium Gold Dot bullets in component form. We're committed to reloading; unlike some other ammo manufacturers, we make our premium handgun bullets available to those who prefer to load their own.
We created the first bonded-core handgun bullet. Our method is so innovative that we hold patents* on the process. Using our proven Uni-Cor® technology, we bond the copper jacket to the lead core one molecule at a time. We've virtually wiped out the cause of most bullet failures — core-jacket separation. In the process, we've assured high retained weights and excellent penetration.
What about expansion? We have you covered. Most bullet makers add the hollow point cavity at the very last operation. This is not very smart if you want premium performance. We, however, form the cavity in two distinct steps. Very smart.
The first cavity operation establishes the limit of maximum expansion--a bullet isn't very effective if it rolls back so far that it falls apart--and precuts both the jacket and the core for symmetrical expansion. The final cavity operation establishes the rate of expansion. The flexibility of this two-step proces lets us tune each bullet to its intended velocity range. Bullets for low-velocity cartridges have a deep cavity; those for high-velocity have a shallow cavity. Very smart, indeed.