Hand loading 230 gr.Gold Dot jhp

iblong · June 27, 2012, 06:46 AM

Ive been loading the 230 gr.XTP"S for my 1911's for quite a while and they give me good accuracy and penitration.I load these with 6.4 gr.Unique and get no presure sign's and just shy of 900fps in my 5". I want to start loading some 230 gr.Gold dot sb. bullets For my ultra carry 3".Do any of you load this bullet and what load do you favor.I will of course reserch and work my load up.But a nudge in the right direction can save a lot of bullets.
Thank's,Bob.

griz · June 27, 2012, 07:07 AM

Since you are getting good results with Unique I would stick with that. You probably should back off a couple tenths to start with because that sounds like a max load, but I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up at the same charge.

iblong · June 27, 2012, 07:33 AM

Thank's it is what I consider a max load and I worked up to it slowly and have tested it in sveral pistols.The gold dot is quite a bit different in shape and seating depth and would probabally run higher pressue.

rg1 · June 27, 2012, 09:03 AM

I'd rely on Alliant's data for Unique and the 230 Gold Dot. The plated Gold Dot bullet is different than the jacketed XTP and you don't need the extra velocity to make it expand. Alliant says 6.0 grains of Unique at 1.200"oal. Haven't tested 45ACP Gold Dots but use the 9MM 124 GD.

iblong · June 27, 2012, 09:12 AM

I also use the 124 gr.Gold Dot for my 9mm loads and my expantion tests
are very favorable.Not quite as accurate as the xtp but prety good just the same and better expantion.

GWS · June 27, 2012, 03:52 PM

That's exactly what I use. 230gr. Gold Dots over 6 grains of Unique. Accurate and safe....in my Kimber Custom II. I might try some Silhouette sometime, for the fact that it's ball powder and powder measures do best with ball powders. But the accuracy I get with Unique will be hard to beat.

I'm loading progressively on a Pro 2000...Uniflow P.M.

zeke · June 27, 2012, 07:37 PM

sometimes you need to be careful that Speer's bonded bullets use less powder, due to greater friction coifficient and seting depth.

iblong · July 6, 2012, 11:13 AM

Well I made up some gold dots at 6.0 gr.Unique and they work just fine,no pressure signs at all and accuracy was quite good.
I could not crony them as some Ijut shot my crony this spring testing other loads and killed it dead.I tested the expantion and penitration in both wet pack and water jug's and the results were quite good,so I wont push them faster.In water jugs they penitrated to the back of the 5th jug putting a crack in the back of the 5th.In wet pack they went through 8" of compressed
wet paper with 4 water jugs backing it up and were stopped in the third jug.
in water alone they expanded to .75 in wet pack and water the ran.72.
I ran the test 3 times each and the results were the same.

eldorendo · July 6, 2012, 05:58 PM

Give 8.5-or-so grains of AA#5 a try !

June 27, 2012, 06:46 AM	#1
iblong Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2008 Location: MN Posts: 559	Hand loading 230 gr.Gold Dot jhp Ive been loading the 230 gr.XTP"S for my 1911's for quite a while and they give me good accuracy and penitration.I load these with 6.4 gr.Unique and get no presure sign's and just shy of 900fps in my 5". I want to start loading some 230 gr.Gold dot sb. bullets For my ultra carry 3".Do any of you load this bullet and what load do you favor.I will of course reserch and work my load up.But a nudge in the right direction can save a lot of bullets. Thank's,Bob.

June 27, 2012, 07:07 AM	#2
griz Senior Member Join Date: July 31, 2000 Location: Middle Peninsula, VA Posts: 1,588	Since you are getting good results with Unique I would stick with that. You probably should back off a couple tenths to start with because that sounds like a max load, but I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up at the same charge.

June 27, 2012, 07:33 AM	#3
iblong Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2008 Location: MN Posts: 559	Thank's it is what I consider a max load and I worked up to it slowly and have tested it in sveral pistols.The gold dot is quite a bit different in shape and seating depth and would probabally run higher pressue.

June 27, 2012, 09:03 AM	#4
rg1 Senior Member Join Date: November 6, 2001 Posts: 1,125	I'd rely on Alliant's data for Unique and the 230 Gold Dot. The plated Gold Dot bullet is different than the jacketed XTP and you don't need the extra velocity to make it expand. Alliant says 6.0 grains of Unique at 1.200"oal. Haven't tested 45ACP Gold Dots but use the 9MM 124 GD.

June 27, 2012, 09:12 AM	#5
iblong Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2008 Location: MN Posts: 559	I also use the 124 gr.Gold Dot for my 9mm loads and my expantion tests are very favorable.Not quite as accurate as the xtp but prety good just the same and better expantion.

June 27, 2012, 03:52 PM	#6
GWS Senior Member Join Date: September 8, 2010 Location: New Mexico Posts: 688	That's exactly what I use. 230gr. Gold Dots over 6 grains of Unique. Accurate and safe....in my Kimber Custom II. I might try some Silhouette sometime, for the fact that it's ball powder and powder measures do best with ball powders. But the accuracy I get with Unique will be hard to beat. I'm loading progressively on a Pro 2000...Uniflow P.M.

June 27, 2012, 07:37 PM	#7
zeke Senior Member Join Date: November 17, 1999 Location: NW Wi Posts: 1,671	sometimes you need to be careful that Speer's bonded bullets use less powder, due to greater friction coifficient and seting depth.

July 6, 2012, 11:13 AM	#8
iblong Senior Member Join Date: October 1, 2008 Location: MN Posts: 559	Well I made up some gold dots at 6.0 gr.Unique and they work just fine,no pressure signs at all and accuracy was quite good. I could not crony them as some Ijut shot my crony this spring testing other loads and killed it dead.I tested the expantion and penitration in both wet pack and water jug's and the results were quite good,so I wont push them faster.In water jugs they penitrated to the back of the 5th jug putting a crack in the back of the 5th.In wet pack they went through 8" of compressed wet paper with 4 water jugs backing it up and were stopped in the third jug. in water alone they expanded to .75 in wet pack and water the ran.72. I ran the test 3 times each and the results were the same.

July 6, 2012, 05:58 PM	#9
eldorendo Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2012 Posts: 239	Give 8.5-or-so grains of AA#5 a try !