March 2006

Four 9mm Heavy Hollowpoints: We Would Buy Speer’s Gold Dot

When we tested 9mm Luger cartridges from Remington, Winchester, Federal, and Speer, the Gold Dots offered the best combination of accuracy, expansion, and suitable penetration.

Our test gun for this match-up of 9mm 147-grain bullets was a Smith & Wesson Model 39-2, which we bolted into a Ransom Rest mounted to a 1-inch-thick piece of plywood, which in turn was bolted to a concrete table. Our favorite was Speer’s 147-grain Gold Dot GDHP No. 23619, followed by Federal’s 147-grain Hydra-Shok JHP No. P9HS2.

The 9mm cartridge has been around for over 100 years. NATO has chosen it as its standard pistol round, and the U.S. military has been using it for many years in its standard-issue Beretta M9s. Although we at Gun Tests tend to favor the .45 ACP cartridge, the 9mm round has its advantages. It can be chambered in smaller, lighter, and more concealable pistols, such as the recently tested Kahr PM9, than the .45 round can. It is also more affordable and has substantially lower recoil than many other pistol cartridges. Although the 9mm Luger is only 2mm longer than the .380 ACP, also known as the 9mm Kurtz and…
 
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