I was in a Gander Mountain store last weekend and the only Gold Dots they had was one box of 270 44 cal. Soft Points for $14.99 per 50. I picked them up figuring if nothing else I'd try to use up some Green .430 MMP sabots I have with them as my gun likes the green Hornady sabots with the 44 cal XTP 300's I hunt with.

In my Hawken, shooting 90 RS, how does everyone think they would perform on deer? Would I have to hit bone to open them up properly? Would 100 grains make much difference in expansion?

yeoman

Personally - I think you may have a realwinner... think of all the 30-30 bullets that have performed for a long time that were soft points...

Let us know how they shoot - but I think I already know

Mike -

Have you tried the SP on deer or just the HP? I couldn't find any data on recommended speed for proper expansion on the Speer site. Would most of the 30-30 soft points have been 180 grain bullets at higher velocities? I really don't want to "experiment" on the deer. I did see where "rdpettit" in a recent post had good results shooting 120 777 but that's much hotter than my charge of 90 RS.

yeoman

Not 180, probably most shoot 170 grain - I normally shoot 150 grain cause, you know me, I want the velocity

30-30 will shoot a 170 around 2000 fps..

A 444 Marlin will shoot a 250 grain .430 on the average of 2150 fps...

You know in the old days most rifle bullets, well a lot of them, thatyou would buy of the shelf in your local store were Soft Points...

You probably would be shooting that bullets @ close to 1800 fps - it will have no problem dropping a deer. I would shoot that all day - I would shoot it in preference to an XTP - it is bonded... the XTP's are not...

Looking at the Speer web site it is rated for "handgun hunting"






44 Cal Gold Dot SP 44 Mag







Part Number
Caliber

Weight Grain
Weight Gram
Construction


4461
44 Cal
270
17.5
Uni-Cor




Use
Bullet Coefficient
Sectional Density
Diameter Inches
Diameter mm
Box Count

10
0.193
0.21
0.429
10.897
50





Abbreviation Key:
BT - boat tail, FMJ - full metal jacket, FN - flat nose, GD - Gold Dot, HP - hollow point, SP - soft point,
TMJ - encased-core full jacket, RN - round nose, SWC - semi-wadcutter, WC - wadcutter






Usages:
1- Varmint, 2- Big Game, 3- Match, 4- Special Purpose, 5- Large/Dangerous Game
6- Personal Protection, 7- General Purpose, 8- Practice, 9- Target, 10- Handgun Hunting

If it will group for you it will git you a deer... I just have in the past not been able to get 44 cal bullets to consistenly group - I'll get a flyer at the most inopportune time - BUT when I was testing them I was shooting the old "plastic" Green Sabots... the new HPH sabots might be the answer - just have never gone back...

Doing some "Googling" I found a Speer article which said that many soft points require 1300 fps to begin expansion. I went to the Hornady ballistic calculator and used a MV of 1700 which yielded 1382 fps@ 100 yds.

Is 1700 fps at the muzzle a reasonable assumption for the 270 bullet and 90 RS?

Mike -

Our posts crossed. I see where you figure I'd be shooting around 1800 so this could work pretty well. Thanks.

Looks like a winner. Take a look at the customer reviews on the Midway USA web site.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductreview.exe/GetReviews?productid=591708

Semisane - thanks for the link. I look forwad to range testing these babies this weekend!

I really like the Speer gold dots, i use the 240 gr. JSP with gn. sabot 44 .429 dia. I have had 3 shots and 3 deer and all were pass thru's. My load is 70grs. of Pyro P. I don't know how they will perform at longer ranges. My longest shot so fer has been about 50 yds.

That is encouraging!