Speer Gold Dot vs. Xterme plated bullet ?

[Mus408]

Will be loading up some target load .44 Specials for Charter Arms Bulldog revolver.
My carry load is the 200 gr. GD and want some target loads using same bullet weight.
Would the Xtreme plated 200 gr. bullet give same speed or better with my same 7.5 Unique powder load I use with the Speer Gold Dot?
I see 820-848 FPS with the 7.5 Gold Dot load out the 3 inch barrel.

 

[Ka6otm]

I haven't done it, but I would guess it would be a bit faster than the GD due to less friction. Maybe another 40fps~50fps.

 

[SweetWilliam]

The Speer Gold Dots are all so plated bullets

 

[Clovishound]

Xtreme says to use max lead or mid jacketed load data. I would not load them close to max jacketed.

 

[NikA]

FWIW, Lyman's max for a 205gr lead bullet in .44S is 8.2gr Unique. I would guess that the GDs get seated deeper and take up more case volume due to the HP. Going only from Xtreme's suggestion and lead load data, 7.5gr should be fine.

 

[Clovishound]

Yes, I have seen some powder/bullet combos where lead and jacketed overlap, or even have higher max powder loads for lead.

Mine was just a general reminder, as some folks want to treat plated as jacketed. They aren't.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I would like to see a comparison of 200 grain Gold Dots, Plated bullets, Jacketed bullets and Cast Lead bullets fired out of the same gun, with the same load. Betcha there isn't much difference.

 

[Mus408]

Well I can do a GD vs. Xtreme Plated bullet test!
Since my Speer GD loads were not max loadings I used same 7.5 Unique load with the Xtreme bullets which is at the low end for 200 gr. cast lead bullets. These are for my Charter Arms Bulldog which is really light in weight.

 

[Mus408]

Got out today and got some Chrony numbers of the 200 gr. Xtreme plated bullets using same load as with the 200 gr. Gold Dots.
Now the temp. today was 42F during test and I forgot to bring the Gold Dot bullets. Anyway the speeds were in the 796-819 FPS range on 15 rounds tested. One thing I did notice on the last round in cylinder unfired was the bullet jumping crimp by .025 or less than a 1/32 of an inch.

Looking at that round I notice a good indention or groove around the area of the taper crimp where case edge digs in. Didn't see any plating separation on the small area exposed past the crimp line.
Maybe run the remaining rounds thru the crimp station again and adjust a slight bit tighter.

So would weather temps being a good 30+ degrees colder account for slight lost of speed?

 

[Tom-R2]

I would load them up and check POA/POI and if they are the same you should be just fine. I doubt if you would notice any difference in recoil by using the same weight. Sometimes I think folks put too much thinking into trying to make things the same. You're apparently trying to make up range rounds that are close enough to what you carry to give you practice with something that replicates it only cheaper. I think you will find it is close enough.