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+--- Thread: Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD (/showthread.php?tid=20147)
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Double Naught Spy - 12-15-2019
I got HuntTXhogs (Ben) out again for one last hunt together before the holidays. We spent over 11 hours start to finish (12 for him) and despite a lot of hunting, and checking a bunch of places, managed only one hog so we made the most of it.
Ben was shooting a .243 and since he had not killed anything with it, it seemed most prudent that he get to shoot the boilerroom. I took the opportunity to try a shot I would never otherwise intentionally take, but did so to see how the bullet would perform. I attempted a mid body spinal shot with the Grendel Speer Gold Dot 120. I barely clipped the vertebral column, taking a notch out of the body (centrum) of one of the lumbar vertebrae and did not cause it to structurally fail. It may be cracked and/or the spine may have been sufficiently damaged to cause a loss of use of the hind legs, or not. The abdominal walls showed huge holes from my bullet. The intestines inside were damaged, but I did not examine that damage.
Ben's .243 shot unexpectedly hit the humerus on the way in, shattering it, then blasting through 2 ribs with a large hole, damaged major blood vessels, lungs, did more rid damage leaving the thoracic cavity and the remaining bits of bullet were recovered under the skin.
[video=youtube_share;xOt_mtTKINw]https://youtu.be/xOt_mtTKINw [/video]
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - CJW - 12-15-2019
Thanks HTH & DNS, very interesting.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Carlson - 12-16-2019
Thanks for sharing, very useful!
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - HuntTXhogs - 12-16-2019
Brian pig us on hogs !
The cows had other ideas, we almost had an opportunity at multiples but then again maybe we wouldn’t have spent so much time on the necropsy for 8 vs 1....
I gotta say , Brian and I team shoot hogs regularly - this gal was the most deadest fastest of them all.
We will try Grendel and 243 again after the holidays!
HTXH
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Double Naught Spy - 12-17-2019
The Speer Gold Dot bullets continue to penetrate well...
[video=youtube_share;Gj0eIWortkA]https://youtu.be/Gj0eIWortkA [/video]
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - A5BLASTER - 12-17-2019
Double Naught Spy Wrote:The Speer Gold Dot bullets continue to penetrate well...
[video=youtube_share;Gj0eIWortkA]https://youtu.be/Gj0eIWortkA [/video]
Great vid as always DNS. I have some worked out for my CZ grendel. Will let you know this weekend how the fair against the heavy rams and pigs at the 500 yard steel plate range.
Going to work a load of these for my 12.5 grendel for night hog hunting this summer.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - CJW - 12-17-2019
DNS,
I’ve watched you kill 100’s of pigs with a 90 TNT........if you had to shoot one or the other,
which would you choose? The 90 or the 120 Speer. The 90’s just seem to really do more damage.
CJW
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Grendeltexashunter - 12-18-2019
i'm not sold on the 120 gr gold dot for the 6.5. Grendel.
doesn't seem to mushroom as well as other calibers in gold dot
the kill percentage seems lower than other rounds in Grendel as well.
not the only time I seen videos of multiple hits on hogs that run away from the 120gr gold dot.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - A5BLASTER - 12-18-2019
Grendeltexashunter Wrote:i'm not sold on the 120 gr gold dot for the 6.5. Grendel.
doesn't seem to mushroom as well as other calibers in gold dot
the kill percentage seems lower than other rounds in Grendel as well.
not the only time I seen videos of multiple hits on hogs that run away from the 120gr gold dot.
Who else is videoing themself hog hunting with the 6.5mm gold dots?
DNS is the only one that comes up when I Google it.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - HuntTXhogs - 12-18-2019
I agree with GrendelTexasHunter , compared to 308 and up the 6.5 version is different - DNS’ trials are bringing me back around (as I had lost a bit of faith during my trials) to the terminal performance of the tech but if you ask me the design of the 6.5mm gold dots relates to its given performance (a longer and slender’er design).
A5Blaster - I tried catching up to a pig with my 120 grain gold dot handloads and don’t think I was ever successful on video.
DNS certainly expends a lot of time and resources and gets excellent results from the video recording side to share back.
His contributions certainly may be the only visual evidence out there right now and his contributions here are most helpful to go along with what we have experienced with the bullet (albeit more limited repetitions).
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - A5BLASTER - 12-18-2019
HuntTXhogs Wrote:I agree with GrendelTexasHunter , compared to 308 and up the 6.5 version is different - DNS’ trials are bringing me back around (as I had lost a bit of faith during my trials) to the terminal performance of the tech but if you ask me the design of the 6.5mm gold dots relates to its given performance (a longer and slender’er design).
A5Blaster - I tried catching up to a pig with my 120 grain gold dot handloads and don’t think I was ever successful on video.
DNS certainly expends a lot of time and resources and gets excellent results from the video recording side to share back.
His contributions certainly may be the only visual evidence out there right now and his contributions here are most helpful to go along with what we have experienced with the bullet (albeit more limited repetitions).
Yea I was just wondering who else is doing vids and hunting with this bullet.
I picked up a metric ton of them because it looks like the fusion ammo is going bye bye from federal.
Guess I will just have too work's up and give them a try, I mean I already got them lol.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - CJW - 12-18-2019
DNS hasn’t been hunting with the 120’s but a couple of weeks.......perhaps we are being too quick with our judgements of the bullet. I have 5 boxes of the 120’s and haven’t shot the first one yet. It’s a strange looking bullet to me. Strange shape and strange coating.
The TNT’s shoot so nicely for me...
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Arkhangel5 - 12-18-2019
I have been watching DNS' use of this bullet to see what his results are vs mine.
I have shot 2 hogs with the Speer 120 so far and both have been runners with no recovery.
The first was over 100lbs and the 2nd maybe 50-60lbs, both shot in the shoulder at ~40yds. The first was probably dead due to vultures in vicinity where shot(heavy brush), the second no sign of.
I am sending them @~2230fps out of a 12in Gr. Thinking to change my shot placement with this bullet.
Not saying this bullet is bad, just that I haven't had the same results I get with Nosler 120BT, where even when they run off, I usually find them close by.
SY
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - CJW - 12-18-2019
Interesting comment Angel.....
The TNT’s might just kill quicker. Still early in test.
DNS usually doesn’t have many runners.....
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Double Naught Spy - 12-18-2019
Arkhangel5 Wrote:I have been watching DNS' use of this bullet to see what his results are vs mine.
I have shot 2 hogs with the Speer 120 so far and both have been runners with no recovery.
The first was over 100lbs and the 2nd maybe 50-60lbs, both shot in the shoulder at ~40yds. The first was probably dead due to vultures in vicinity where shot(heavy brush), the second no sign of.
I am sending them @~2230fps out of a 12in Gr. Thinking to change my shot placement with this bullet.
Not saying this bullet is bad, just that I haven't had the same results I get with Nosler 120BT, where even when they run off, I usually find them close by.
SY
Several observations. First is that you have an exceptionally small sample size. That you lost two hogs, one of which you failed to recover because of brush visibility, really isn't a testament to the bullet. That your hogs ran simply means you failed to do significant direct or indirect CNS damage, plain and simple. If you don't do significant CNS damage, you should expect the hogs to run and they can run as far as 100 yards with a heart shot or a double lung shot, in some cases, farther if the lung shot is peripheral. Often, they run less than that, but they can certainly go that far. When hogs run, they will often try to hide. I have recovered several hogs that have gone into briar thickets and one that tried to go under a large fallen tree truck that was resting atop another downed tree such that there was a gap to get under. Twice, I have had to use loppers in order to extricate hogs that have secreted themselves under brush such that I could not simply drag them out of it.
You may not be getting great performance with this bullet, but I don't know. Compared to my velocities, you are shooting from a 155 yard deficit in velocity, meaning your 40 yard shot is impacting at about the same velocity my shot would impact at 195 yards (~2160 fps). I haven't shot anything that far yet with these bullets to see how they are doing at that low of an impact velocity. Maybe they will open up fully at that velocity. Maybe they are only partially opening? Maybe opening later?
I understand you aren't getting the same 'results' as with the Nosler 120BT, but comparison based on whether or not you can find them isn't really valid. Whether or not you can find a hog that runs is more about the hunter's performance than the bullet's performance, right? After all, the hog in heavy brush was somewhere nearby, you just could not find it. On several occasions, I have managed to lose hogs in heavy brush that dropped where I shot them. It wasn't until the next day that I or the rancher found them. Heavy brush can be a bugger.
I am not defending the Speer Gold Dot. I have nothing invested in it one way or the other. And if you have a bullet that works well for you already, I would stick with it. In my view so far, the Gold Dots seem to be great penetrators, but this comes at the expense of not expanding as much or coming apart with Hornady SST rounds at similar velocity. SSTs with a MV>2500 fps tend to penetrate well, but are usually also heavily expanded and/or fragmenting, making a very large wound channel. The do a lot of damage (usually) compared to what the Gold Dots are doing, but the Gold Dots are not polluting the meat with a lot of fragments.
Even if the Gold Dots are opening up, where they are opening up relative to your preferred round may be significant. It may be at this impact velocity that the Gold Dots are opening up much deeper than your rounds and hence not doing as much internal damage as a result. IDK.
Lastly, despite CJW's optimistic claim, I have my fair share of runners. I actually consider it a partial failure if my stationary or slow moving hog runs when I shoot it. That means I didn't do my job well (except in those cases where I intentionally try shots where CNS damage isn't likely to occur in order to see exactly how a bullet may perform). If I lose a runner that I search for, that means I didn't do my job well, twice, and to be perfectly honest, I am not a very good tracker. :-(
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - A5BLASTER - 12-18-2019
Double Naught Spy Wrote:Several observations. First is that you have an exceptionally small sample size. That you lost two hogs, one of which you failed to recover because of brush visibility, really isn't a testament to the bullet. That your hogs ran simply means you failed to do significant direct or indirect CNS damage, plain and simple. If you don't do significant CNS damage, you should expect the hogs to run and they can run as far as 100 yards with a heart shot or a double lung shot, in some cases, farther if the lung shot is peripheral. Often, they run less than that, but they can certainly go that far. When hogs run, they will often try to hide. I have recovered several hogs that have gone into briar thickets and one that tried to go under a large fallen tree truck that was resting atop another downed tree such that there was a gap to get under. Twice, I have had to use loppers in order to extricate hogs that have secreted themselves under brush such that I could not simply drag them out of it.
You may not be getting great performance with this bullet, but I don't know. Compared to my velocities, you are shooting from a 155 yard deficit in velocity, meaning your 40 yard shot is impacting at about the same velocity my shot would impact at 195 yards (~2160 fps). I haven't shot anything that far yet with these bullets to see how they are doing at that low of an impact velocity. Maybe they will open up fully at that velocity. Maybe they are only partially opening? Maybe opening later?
I understand you aren't getting the same 'results' as with the Nosler 120BT, but comparison based on whether or not you can find them isn't really valid. Whether or not you can find a hog that runs is more about the hunter's performance than the bullet's performance, right? After all, the hog in heavy brush was somewhere nearby, you just could not find it. On several occasions, I have managed to lose hogs in heavy brush that dropped where I shot them. It wasn't until the next day that I or the rancher found them. Heavy brush can be a bugger.
I am not defending the Speer Gold Dot. I have nothing invested in it one way or the other. And if you have a bullet that works well for you already, I would stick with it. In my view so far, the Gold Dots seem to be great penetrators, but this comes at the expense of not expanding as much or coming apart with Hornady SST rounds at similar velocity. SSTs with a MV>2500 fps tend to penetrate well, but are usually also heavily expanded and/or fragmenting, making a very large wound channel. The do a lot of damage (usually) compared to what the Gold Dots are doing, but the Gold Dots are not polluting the meat with a lot of fragments.
Even if the Gold Dots are opening up, where they are opening up relative to your preferred round may be significant. It may be at this impact velocity that the Gold Dots are opening up much deeper than your rounds and hence not doing as much internal damage as a result. IDK.
Lastly, despite CJW's optimistic claim, I have my fair share of runners. I actually consider it a partial failure if my stationary or slow moving hog runs when I shoot it. That means I didn't do my job well (except in those cases where I intentionally try shots where CNS damage isn't likely to occur in order to see exactly how a bullet may perform). If I lose a runner that I search for, that means I didn't do my job well, twice, and to be perfectly honest, I am not a very good tracker. :-(
Here here well said.
And I agree. Doesn't matter what bullet it is. If you don't put it on the cns and disconnect the battery from the engine. Any game animal is going to run.
I basicly don't take vital shots anymore on anything. Unless I want to test how a bullet performs on that kind of hit, like I did with the 85 trex and my doe this year, are when I get into a group of running pigs.
If you must take a vital zone shot, it's best to place the shot as low in the vitals as possible and even better if you can take a downward angled shot. Say from a tree stand are hill top.
If taking vital shots you want the hit very low so the blood has to come out the body cavitiy, this in turn makes the animal die quicker and puts more blood on the ground for tracking.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Arkhangel5 - 12-18-2019
DNS, did not mean to come across so definitive, I don't blame the bullet. I was simply stating the end results of the 2 shots I have taken with so far.
All the points you made about bullet construction, speed and performance are all valid, may be that the Nosler BT is more suited to the shots I take.
In the area I am shooting these hogs at, 100yds is a very rare shot, the whole range is basically heavy brush with pathways running thru, so when a hog presents itself, it's usually shoot right now. And I also have to be mindful of the direction I am shooting as to not shoot up club facilities and equipment, or have any rounds leave the range.
The last hog I shot with a Gold Dot, ran straight at me out of the brush and then the last sec turned away from me and ran up the trail, I didn't even have time to think about shooting at it, I was so startled. It got to within kicking distance, that was exciting.
Going forward I think I will favor the neck/shoulder area if presented, I will continue to try the Gold Dot for now.
SY
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - Double Naught Spy - 12-19-2019
Arkhangel5 Wrote:DNS, did not mean to come across so definitive, I don't blame the bullet. I was simply stating the end results of the 2 shots I have taken with so far.
All the points you made about bullet construction, speed and performance are all valid, may be that the Nosler BT is more suited to the shots I take.
In the area I am shooting these hogs at, 100yds is a very rare shot, the whole range is basically heavy brush with pathways running thru, so when a hog presents itself, it's usually shoot right now. And I also have to be mindful of the direction I am shooting as to not shoot up club facilities and equipment, or have any rounds leave the range.
The last hog I shot with a Gold Dot, ran straight at me out of the brush and then the last sec turned away from me and ran up the trail, I didn't even have time to think about shooting at it, I was so startled. It got to within kicking distance, that was exciting.
Going forward I think I will favor the neck/shoulder area if presented, I will continue to try the Gold Dot for now.
SY
SY, no problem. There are lots of reasons for people having different experiences with the same products.
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - TX 6.5 Addict - 12-19-2019
CJW Wrote:DNS,
Your videos just keep getting better and better.
C
I agree, the best thermal hog hunting videos on YTube hands down.........Well Done Sir
Now Hunting with Speer Gold Dot 120 gr. Ammo from CRD - drykilned - 12-19-2019
DNS, which would you prefer for deer/hogs, 90TNT, 123SST, 100partition or 129ABLR, all 18" barrel 6.5 Grendel II