Speer has been stingy with their Gold Dot line for some time. I've been waiting for over a year for any 62 or 75 grain .224 Gold Dot component bullets for my 5.56mm reloads. Repeated requests to Speer on when any will be available has been fruitless. They just say their shipping millions of bullets. When I ask to whom, they say suppliers. When I ask which suppliers, they just say many suppliers, without identifying who they are.

But zilch have been on the open American market. Frustrating.

 

Speer has been stingy fooks with their Gold Dot line for some time. I've been waiting for over a year for any 62 or 75 grain .224 Gold Dot component bullets for my 5.56mm reloads. Repeated requests to Speer on when any will be available has been fruitless. They just say their shipping millions of bullets. When I ask to whom, they say suppliers. When I ask which suppliers, they just say many suppliers, without identifying who they are.

But zilch have been on the open American market. Frustrating.

Problem is the GD is the only "modern JHP bullet" that is available to the boutiques. I suspect the GD bullet is more expensive to make than the other modern rounds such as the non bonded HST. I think Federal is slowly phasing out the GD in favor of their cheaper stuff. But in any event Underwood is already ahead of the game with their all copper rounds!

 

I'm surprised Speer is still selling 147gr Gold Dots to Underwood, this is not a high speed Gold Dot...

9mm 147gr GD handloaded to 1155fps using VihtaVuori 3N38 powder and Federal primers;

Underwood loads this GD in 9mm to 1175fps and over 1200fps in .357Sig, way too fast for this bullet.

Compare this to the old tech Winchester notched 147gr JHP @1150fps;

Noticeable performance difference at these elevated MVs.

 

Looks like Underwood loads the 147 gr 9mm to it's upper limit.

 

Couple of days ago I sent an email to Kevin Underwood and asked the same question; also regarding the XTP. The email bounced so I'm starting over. I've tested his 9mm 124 and 147 gr Noslers in ordnance gel with 4 LD and also the FBI protocol. Velocities are as advertised, but this Nosler at Underwood velocities has substantial fragmentation. Largest remaining mass was just over 12" for the 147 and around 9" for the 124. The days of getting Gold Dots and XTP at as-advertised nuclear velocities could be behind us.

 

The days of getting Gold Dots and XTP at as-advertised nuclear velocities may be behind us.

Yes that's the reason I put this post up giving a heads up before these last two are gone. I was late noticing the decline of GD ammo at Underwood and when I did these two GD rounds were all that was left. I have no interest in the 147 gr 9mm but will be making another purchase of the 125 gr GD 357 Sig. ammo. UA also loads these same 9 mm 115 gr and 124 gr Nosler bullets in two of their 357 Sig rounds! Not even going to go there.

 

I have a crap ton of 357 sig GD in speer and some in the Underwood and now I don't want to shoot any of it. I love shooting 357 sig.

This is good info. Thanks.

 

Which is why its best to avoid boutique ammo guys imo. Though i think far too much fuss is made over trying to squeeze another 50-100fps out of any given cartridge.

 

[emoji44] I don't know Fred. I think Underwood make some really good quality ammo, especially in the 357sig. They are one of the few, that makes it like it was originally intended to be.

 

I have a couple boxes of .45super GD. I been saving them for a bad day.

 

I think GD are great. The XTP also. But, the future is Lehigh. They can be push at any velocity and perform well.

 

I have some Lehigh in 9mm I use and carry. Will they over penetrate in 357sig?

 

Recently picked up some of the 357 Mag 125gr Gold Dots (1700 fps), granted it wasn't directly through Underwood, but who knows. I'd imagine it's getting harder to get ahold of Gold Dots. Check ammoseek.com, you can search specifically for Underwood.

 

That's a smokin' MV, how's the accuracy and recoil?

From a 2006 Arizona Christmas Day range shoot, notice the shade angle, before there was an Underwood, is this pic of a handloaded 125gr Gold Dot @1636fps. The bullet is between #2 and #3 one gallon milk bottles filled with water, camera info; aperture 7.1, 1/500 second ISO 80. Not max AA #9 powder, for reduced flame cutting of the upper strap, this can be an issue using high quantity ball powder loads, lightweight bullets with very fast MVs...

The #1 bottle is not in the pic and before 686P/6" recoil...a separate debate.

This is a proper grip when shooting a magnum revolver, resulting with fast follow-up shots w/o finger readjustment, notice elbows in and the shooter is in position to pull the trigger for a follow-up shot.

 

The simplicity and reliability of the XP and XD bullets alone are strong selling points for them. FMJ reliability and HP performance a good combination.

 

After scanning the Underwood Ammo site I was able to spot only two rounds that were loaded with a Gold Dot bullet. The 125 gr 357 Sig and a 147 gr 9 mm +P+ are the last two rounds left on the UA site that feature a Gold Dot bullet. All other UA JHP bullets appeared to be Nosler.

I'm not sure about the future availability of GD rounds from Underwood or any other boutique ammo supplier but these last two rounds are available while they last. Just saying.

At the increased velocities of Underwood ammo the Gold dot is not always the best choice although Underwood advertises it as "Bonded" which it is sort of because the jacket is plated to the core. but for hunting rather than defensive ammo, where if the bullet expands too much it will penetrate less, a Hornady XTP is a better choice than the gold dot. I don't know about the Nosler but Underwood tests their ammo and they apparntly think the Nosler JHP's seem to work well.

 

A 147 gr 9 mm round would not be my first choice for the woods or street use. I was just doing a "public service" for those on GT who would be interested in these last two. Underwood is being tight lipped about the future availability of their products. So it's anybody's guess but I suspect there will be no more UA GDs.

 

I think that when you get up into realm of hyper velocity and +P+, I would rather have bonded or crimped bullets. Not an expert in metallurgy by far so I’m not sure how copper bullets hold up at these speeds, but I want them to stay intact.

 

I am not aware of any performance issues with the Underwood all copper HP rounds and certainly not with their XD and XP style rounds.

 

Such is the beauty of the Lehigh (now owned by Wilson Combat) bullets, no matter what their velocity, there us nothing to come apart or not work right, unless they fall under a certain velocity (which I am not aware of but they have to stop working somewhere in the velocity curve!). I do know that the faster you drive them, the better they work, so with the Lehigh Xtreme Defender bullets, velocity is king. I see in many tests the Xtreme Penetrators are out penetrated by hardcast and FMJ rounds, which seems odd that they are usually lighter weight, too. For example, the XP bullet in 10mm is 140 gr. which means that it's penetration is quite limited compared to hardcast. I would think a 180 XP would do better than a 140 gr. but since I have no influence with them, I don't know what their logic is behind the 140 gr bullet. Were I in bear territory, I would definitely load the hardcast bullets!
I have no idea what the hang up is with Speer Gold Dots, my second favorite, and most loaded bullet. No one seems to have them in stock in any caliber and that is screwing up my current 10mm loading plans! I really, really want a few hundred of the 165 GD's but they are simply not in stock! Bummer for me!
Cheers,
crkckr

 

Such is the beauty of the Lehigh (now owned by Wilson Combat) bullets, no matter what their velocity, there us nothing to come apart or not work right, unless they fall under a certain velocity (which I am not aware of but they have to stop working somewhere in the velocity curve!). I do know that the faster you drive them, the better they work, so with the Lehigh Xtreme Defender bullets, velocity is king. I see in many tests the Xtreme Penetrators are out penetrated by hardcast and FMJ rounds, which seems odd that they are usually lighter weight, too. For example, the XP bullet in 10mm is 140 gr. which means that it's penetration is quite limited compared to hardcast. I would think a 180 XP would do better than a 140 gr. but since I have no influence with them, I don't know what their logic is behind the 140 gr bullet. Were I in bear territory, I would definitely load the hardcast bullets!
I have no idea what the hang up is with Speer Gold Dots, my second favorite, and most loaded bullet. No one seems to have them in stock in any caliber and that is screwing up my current 10mm loading plans! I really, really want a few hundred of the 165 GD's but they are simply not in stock! Bummer for me!
Cheers,
crkckr

Yet another advantage of the XD style bullets, mainly in the higher velocity calibers, is their ability to produce hydrostatic shock with their at or near rifle velocities. Example the Underwood 68 gr XD in 357 Sig has been tested to get a 2275 fps velocity out of 5 inch barrels which produces near 800 ft. lbs. of energy. Having to put 4 layers of denim in front of a gel block for this barrier blind round is laughable!

As far as the Gold Dots go you can take comfort in knowing that stores have it in stock in the......politically correct 30 Super! You can't find any .40 165 gr GDs on the shelves but the 10 people in the country that have 30 Supers can buy GDs for it.

 

After a quick check I see that UA still has a good inventory of these two GD rounds. This is surprising considering the popularity of the 9mm 147 gr round. At least I thought it was popular.

 

One of the two GD "bullets" still available on the Underwood site is showing good in this test. However this 125gr 357 Sig Gold Dot bullet tested is a standard factory Speer round not the hot Underwood loaded round.. Never the less this standard Speer GD round is giving an impressive performance compared to the other calibers tested including the 10 mm!

 

What an excellent video.

 

I liked it. The 357 Sig Gold Dot is a fine round! If he was using the Speer GD # 54234 in that G31 he was getting around 1400 fps.

 

I like Nosler rifle bullets a lot better than their handgun bullets. I sure don't think they compare to GD's, XTP's, HST's or golden sabers.

 

As I noted earlier in this thread, sent an email to Kevin Underwood that bounced. I then submitted an inquiry directly through their website. Nearly 10 days later and no response, so that is all I need to know. Not expecting to see Gold Dots and XTP's from Underwood moving forward. Guessing that supply chain issues and/or Underwood's contract with those suppliers was not renewed. It was a great 10+ year run!

 

XTPs aren't my game but I will miss the GD rounds.

With this issue and the Lehigh buyout it will be interesting to see what Kevin's next move will be.

 

It appears that Underwood is replacing their Nosler sporting handgun and XTP bullets with the Nosler Assured Stopping Power (ASP) projectiles and the Gold Dot's with the Berry's Hybrid hollow points.

I don't know this for sure, but it seems like it, looking at their website.

I don't have any experience with the new Nosler bullet. I have a box of them in .38 super, but haven't tested it yet.

I did some informal testing of the Berry's when they first came out and was less than impressed with them. I just got a box of them in 9mm and .45ACP that I plan to test soon. Hopefully they perform better now.

 

The ASP Nosler round has skives in it that the old design didn't have. This would seem to be an improvement for the Nosler and IMHO outclasses the limited expansion XTP. However no bonded round is going to equal the Gold Dot so that is a definite loss.

 

Underwood loaded the older non plated 357 Sig GD rounds a bit hotter in 2012. Note the 50 count box.