Best Hollow Point Design

[SeanK]

What major manufacture do you guys think has the best hollow point design, and why. It seems that their are only 3 manufactures that domiant self defense handgun ammo. Also all three clam that their bullet design is the choice for law enfocement in this country, any truth in this? From what i've read i've list them from best to worst. I've already made a conclusion on bullet weight, so please stick to the bullet design...

Ist place: Remington Golden Saber
2nd place: Federal Premimum Hydro-Shock
3rd place: Winchester Silvertip

[live-free-r-die]

I think you may be listing the 3 best 5 years ago. Not that those are bad types of ammo.

#1 Speer Gold Dots tied with Ranger SXT

#2 New version of Hydra-Shoks (dont remember the name)

#3 What ever Cor-Bon uses (hornaday XTP?)

I think most PD's use Gold dots, SXT's, and Hydra-Shocks

Check this out:

http://ammolab.com/9mm_section1.htm

[RMTactical]

Speer Gold Dots are number one in my book. That is what the FBI uses. They use to use Hydra-shoks.

[Medpilot 2]

Originally posted by GoreLicks
Speer Gold Dots are number one in my book. That is what the FBI uses. They use to use Hydra-shoks.

That round reminds me of how the PCM Starfire rounds look when mushroomed.

I didn't know Hydra-shoks have a new round. The old ones were crap IMO. Did some phonebook testing myself and they came out to be the worst. 10 years ago, the black talons and starfires came out on top with my own testing.

[Captain]

Originally posted by live-free-r-die
I think you may be listing the 3 best 5 years ago. Not that those are bad types of ammo.

#1 Speer Gold Dots tied with Ranger SXT

#2 New version of Hydra-Shoks (dont remember the name)

#3 What ever Cor-Bon uses (hornaday XTP?)

I think most PD's use Gold dots, SXT's, and Hydra-Shocks

Check this out:

http://ammolab.com/9mm_section1.htm

CORBON uses Sierra bullets in most of their defensive ammo

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by Medpilot 2
That round reminds me of how the PCM Starfire rounds look when mushroomed.

I didn't know Hydra-shoks have a new round. The old ones were crap IMO. Did some phonebook testing myself and they came out to be the worst. 10 years ago, the black talons and starfires came out on top with my own testing.

I actually tested some old Hydra shoks I have, too. I have about 200 rnds that I was given by my dad, they were not too impressive when I tested them. Mushrooming was very inconsistent, probably better than most FMJ but not by much, lol.

[SeanK]

Well i'm glad i posted this, the manufacture that seems at the top is one i left out for some reason.

[Mwinter]

1. Winchester Ranger 'T'
2. Speer Gold Dot
3. Remington Golden Saber

The Winchester Ranger Partition Gold is a FANTASTIC load, a real leap if you ask me....but only if performance past barrier penetrations is a concern. If it were more widely available (many Win LE distributors don't stock it at all; possibly out of production--?) I would carry it.

[SeanK]

I looked up Ranger ammo and winchester states that this line is specfically for law enforcement only.

So far that means Speer Gold Dots are at the top, isnt it wild that when i started looking up prices this ammo was about half at what remington, winchester, and federal ammo is at. Around $15-20 for the other stuff i found speer gold dots for around $11.

Can anyone support that this is what the FBI uses, because if it is then i'll most likely go with it. I'm thinking of getting a CCW in couple of days to celebrate my birthday, i was really looking at the Smith & wesson 457, any comments on this pistol?

[RMTactical]

My dad works for the FBI (25 years!), they use Speer GD's.

[RMTactical]

Originally posted by SeanK
So far that means Speer Gold Dots are at the top, isnt it wild that when i started looking up prices this ammo was about half at what remington, winchester, and federal ammo is at. Around $15-20 for the other stuff i found speer gold dots for around $11.


Where did you find em for $11 a box?

[younggenious]

For the past couple years I've always used Speed GoldDots 155gr. as my defensive ammo. If they werent in stock, I always asked for the Remington Gold Sabers 2nd. I know the FBI (and some other agencies, including some police forces) use the GoldDot. I know of a few large town SWAT teams that use Remington Golden Sabers.

I've certainly heard a lot of good things about the Wingester Rangers and I know a lot of people use the Federal Hydrashocks and I think there is also a Federal Hydroshock. I am interested in checking out the new hydrashocks though. Didn't even know new ones were out. Medpolots phone book tests with the hydrashocks with poor performance seems unusual. Maybe they are just overrated, I don't know.

SeanK, just because they say for Law Enforcement use doesn't mean that a non-LEO can't use them. I know for sure that Speer Gold Dots also so for Law Enforment Use. Remember, if you are defending yourself, you are enforcing the law ;)

[SeanK]

Well I don't know if I would want to carry a load that would be hard to get, if Winchester wants to sell this line and market only to law enforcement then I’ll respect their decision. Their website makes it clear that retailers should only sell this line to law enforcement. I'm sure it’s legal for civilians to own and get, but that’s not what the company wants. Speer gold dots are not marketed as law enforcement only line any ware. They freely admit that the line is the choice of law enforcement, and civilians alike, and its marketed as so.

I found them for $11 for 9mm only at:

http://www.natchezss.com/ammo.cfm?contentID=productList&brand=CC&category=&mfggroup=&ammoMfg=&ammoSize=&ammoDram=&ammoFeature=&ammoRecID=2&subgroup=474&searchItem=&startRow=26&CFID=396370&CFTOKEN=73514775

[1911austin]

Originally posted by SeanK
Well I don't know if I would want to carry a load that would be hard to get, if Winchester wants to sell this line and market only to law enforcement then I’ll respect their decision. Their website makes it clear that retailers should only sell this line to law enforcement. I'm sure it’s legal for civilians to own and get, but that’s not what the company wants. Speer gold dots are not marketed as law enforcement only line any ware. They freely admit that the line is the choice of law enforcement, and civilians alike, and its marketed as so.

I found them for $11 for 9mm only at:

http://www.natchezss.com/ammo.cfm?contentID=productList&brand=CC&category=&mfggroup=&ammoMfg=&ammoSize=&ammoDram=&ammoFeature=&ammoRecID=2&subgroup=474&searchItem=&startRow=26&CFID=396370&CFTOKEN=73514775

I agree in not trying to find Winchester Ranger stuff if they do not want to sell it to me. However, I will not buy any ammo from Winchester because of this policy. I personally choose to carry Gold Dots.

[msg-84]

This one documents testing conducted by the San Diego County Sheriff's Office. ATK (the company that owns Federal and Speer) and Winchester each had reps on hand to demonstrate their products, with the various LE agencies verifying the results.

Federal HST, Federal Tactical, Speer Gold Dot, and Winchester T-series rounds were shot through the FBI test protocol.

(you will need a pdf reader such as Adobe acrobat to view the file).

http://le.atk.com/pdf/San.pdf

Here is a similar test conducted by the Portland Police Bureau. At this event reps from Federal and Winchester conducted a shot-to-shot comparison of Federal HST vs. Winchester SXT ammo.

http://le.atk.com/pdf/PortlandReport.pdf

In the first test, Federal HST and Speer Gold Dots both performed better than Winchester, with a slight advantage going to Federal HST. The difference in performance between Federal and Speer is so slight as to hardly matter. But the difference at the cash register would make Speer Gold Dots the clear winner for me.

[matt7184]

I think the Barnes XPB/X-bullet/corbon DPX is a great bullet, expands big, penetrates nicely (glass and steel as well).

Reviews for it at stoppingpower.net forums, made me a believer, going to order them from corbon in the future. (Wish Double Tap loaded this bullet ;f )

[Ised8u]

Originally posted by SeanK
I looked up Ranger ammo and winchester states that this line is specfically for law enforcement only.



jwkpatrick@yahoo.com has an excellent assortment of Ranger SXT's at a very good price.
Drop him a line..very professional and prompt service!