I agree 100%. I was stating the difference between the 2 xtp's, not the difference between xtp's and gold dots. I would choose the gold dots over the xtp's every time.

This season 4 mule deer, and 1 whitetail fell to 270g Gold Dot from my Accura. Three whitetail were killed by 300g xtp from this same Accura.

The two specie of deer pretty much react the same when hit by bullets.

If i had to choose between the Gold Dot and the xtp, i would choose the Gold Dot. This is not to say the xtp isn't a good game bullet for deer; it does a good job killing deer.

If i had an Elk tag, i would not hesitate to use the Gold Dot. Seems they should do the job on Elk. I have been using partitions for years in my center fire rifles for Elk. Partitions is what i would use for Elk in my Accura, if i had them.

As Omegasmoke mentioned the XTP (Mag) is Bonded and does hold up better in preformance compared to the regular XTP. I tried both years ago and the regular xtp was a bit unstable as back then I was using 150gr loads, it also fragmented pretty good and messed up the insides of a-lot of Deer that were shot through the lungs, as when the XTP hit the Ribs it fragmented all over. That's why I switched to the XTP Mags.
Since I made the switch to XTP Mags I have'nt had this problem, only once in a great while will I have the XTP Mag fragment, and only a small part of it. Most all of the shots with them were pass throughs and the only reason I knew they fragmented were when field dressing the Deer I noticed damage to the Liver and other parts when the shots were through the Lungs.
I have never tried the Barnes as I have never had a reason to as the XTP Mags shot excellant out of my MLers and what they did to Deer was enough for me to not switch to anything else.
(BP)

Ron, are you completely sure the Gold Dot did'nt fragment when you dropped them Deer in there tracks that were Lung Shot? Were the shots on them pass throughs? Did you inspect the vital's to see if other than the Lungs were destroyed? I usually find that on Lung shot Deer if they do drop in there tracks that the bullet did fragment and parts of it hit the Spine either in the back or neck area, or on the spine above the shoulder area.
As like you, usually a lung shot Deer will run off if it only being a short ways. Some kind of trauma other than the lungs usually drop them in there tracks.:deer:
(BP)

Its hard to show many Gold Dots as the usually go out the far side, this one came out of a nice buck in 07 that I had an angle from behind on it went through two ribs heart lungs and off shoulder and was sticking in the skin. The deer dropped on the spot as is normal with the double lug just over the heart right in the main arteries. I can not say much about blood trails as all the deer I have use them on dropped in a few feet.

Breechplug

These are torture test 'Gold Dots' I tried to destoy them as well as test them. Shooting them into saturated Palouse clay soil and sand is much more destructive than an animal. Here are the results....



These are a collection of XTP's shot into the same medium. Some blew up and some do not.





One thing Lee did not mention is that one point he shot a Gold Dot in a steel plate.... I was some what disappointed that he said it flattened - but it did not come apart.

For Whitetail or even Mule deer to 175 yards it would be awful hard to beat the .452/250 Gold Dot at a normal price for a bullet. If you are willing to pay the $1 a bullet them you might find a better - some would argue both ways. 200 yards or Elk - go with the .452/300 grain Gold Dot - .233 BC.

Not that this has anything to do with anything and if you can believe hunting show TV - a guy shot a big at 75 yards with a scoped 454 Casual pistol - I wish I could say the shot dropped him - but he did manage to go about 75 yards before piling up.

Thank's for the report Mike, you saved me some time. Like I mentioned above I have never tried the Barnes Gold Dots as I had no reason to, but after your results with them I'll get some and if they fly good out of my ACCURA I'll put them to the test for next Hunting Season. Also I mentioned some but not many of the 240gr XTP Mags did fragment, but most held togeather.
What Barnes(Gold dot?) would you recommended that would compare in weight that would be equal to the .45cal .452 diameter 240gr XTP Mags that I use now?
Im always willing to try new and better things.
(BP)

Breechplug

Breech, these are not 'Barnes' bullets - these are Speer Gold Dots - soon to be know as Speer 'Deep Curl' Hunting bullets...

http://www.speer-bullets.com/whats_new/default.aspx

http://www.speer-bullets.com/product.../gold_dot.aspx

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

:confused0024: Oh well it wont be the first time I had to admit I did'nt know what the hell I was talking about!LOL! Speer Gold Dots, got ya! I'll check out the feeds and see what I can come up with.
Thank's Mike.
(BP)

i shot plenty of the 300gr xtp mags into a controlled sand bucket. shooting bullets and recovering in the groun after they've skipped and rolled all over the place isnt the right way to test a bullet. i can say that the 300gr xtp mag forms a perfect little mushroom in my texts