Anyone have opinions on Rem. Golden Sabers for a defense round? I carry an XD-40. Feeding usually isn't a problem for me in my XD. Does this round stack up? Does the jacket come away from the lead core? I found a deal and want to buy some, but it's not worth changing out my GD's or CorBons if it's junk. Thanks for your help.
I carried Golden Sabres for awhile in my Xd .40, and never had a problem with them. From the tests I have seen, they perform well, and now you can even get them witha bonded bullet. For the money, they are a very good round IMHO.
I bought 2 25-round boxes of Golden Sabers - 165 gr. BJHP for my XD-40 for $9.99 each. That seemed like a good deal to me. Should I go back and buy more at that price?
I bought 2 25-round boxes of Golden Sabers - 165 gr. BJHP for my XD-40 for $9.99 each. That seemed like a good deal to me. Should I go back and buy more at that price?
I bought 2 25-round boxes of Golden Sabers - 165 gr. BJHP for my XD-40 for $9.99 each. That seemed like a good deal to me. Should I go back and buy more at that price?
I fired some into wet pack beside some Gold Dots. The Golden Sabers were 200gr +P and all of them seperated from the jacket.
All of the Gold Dot's stayed together. I'll take some pics and post. Now that I know how.
This is just what happend in my unscientific test, on that given day, in my little part of the world. In other words, I'm no expert, or balistics expert.
It's good round, feed reliable, consistent mfg quality, consistent performer, with slightly above-average ballistics. Speaking strictly of ft-lbs of energy and velocity, it's ecliped by several alternatives. However, concealed carry ammunition should never, IMO, be purchased based on one feature. It's the mix of characteristics that works best that ends up being best.
In my case, the goals are: 100% reliability; loves to cycle in my specific gun; decent to above-avg performance. The rest is my competence with shot placement and follow-on ability. I'm certainly willing to consider apparently higher-performance rounds, but they are quickly discarded if they cannot be made to work exceptionally well in my specific gun.
I fired some into wet pack beside some Gold Dots. The Golden Sabers were 200gr +P and all of them seperated from the jacket.
All of the Gold Dot's stayed together. I'll take some pics and post. Now that I know how.
This is just what happend in my unscientific test, on that given day, in my little part of the world. In other words, I'm no expert, or balistics expert.
The Saber is a awesome round BUT they must be the bonded ones or they will come apart. I have never had or seen a bonded Golden Saber come apart. Makes me kind of wonder why they make the non-bonded ones.Hmmmmmm:icon_neutral:
The Saber is a awesome round BUT they must be the bonded ones or they will come apart. I have never had or seen a bonded Golden Saber come apart. Makes me kind of wonder why they make the non-bonded ones.Hmmmmmm:icon_neutral:
Uh, because it doesn't really matter that much in the real world, maybe? Ever hear of someone surviving a gunshot wound because a few grains of (sharp, still moving pretty fast) jacket material came off the big frickin' heavy chunk of lead *after* it was inside their body? Given that all the separations I've seen were fully "flowered," they're not falling apart until they've already done some serious damage.
Every time I've shot them into soft backers, the jacket penetrated well into the cavity before it stopped (or, in most cases, didn't separate at all), and shooting them into mud with gravel kept them together pretty well, for some reason.
I too like the GS. I used them in my Ruger P97DC, which they no longer make : ( . I have had a different experience than some here though. I used the 185 gr. +p loads & I had quit a bit of muzzle flash. I'de say maybe 12 in. worth. They are accurate though, my friend & I went to the gun range he was using a decked out 1911 & I had the Ruger & at 10 yds., my pattern was pretty tight ( all rounds were in a 4 in. circle ). That was firing fast too as if to dump the whole mag into an opponent.
Now I realise there are several factors involved here as far as accuracy was concerned, but the Ruger was almost straight out of the box where as he had his 1911 for several months & had practice with it.
I had the opportunity to see the damage created by a 185 gr +P GS shortly after the perp attempted to murder one of my co-workers with it. It went through the windshield over his right shoulder and through the plexi-glass barrier on the cage. The hole created was very impressive. So impressive that I now carry it in my personal weapon. Sorry, no real life experience with the .40 GS. :hand10:
Discussions from those who tested the GS in gelatin indicate it expands after clothing and, in some cases, the jacket is loose, but doesn't seperate. As somebody mentioned, a seperating jkt isn't necessarily a bad thing in people. If I planned for shooting through car bodies and windshields, then I might pick the bonded version, since it was designed for that. Don't think the bonded version was created because the GS design needed improvement on non barricaded subjects.
Doesn't anybody remember the .357 mag. 125 jhp or sjhp that routinely had jkt seperations and fragmented on human targets? The same bullet whose effectiveness has not been exceeded (or perhaps equaled) with any of the LE this, or bonded that, in any other caliber.
i have carried them in the past and still have a box of .357 Sig around here somewhere....
Its the load that Sulliven County Sherriffs Dept issues now for G22's...
I use the 230gr GS for carry and they function perfectly fine in any gun I've tried them in so far. They're far from inferior and one of three defensive loads I'd carry without hestitation (provided all three fed reliably). In no particular order: Rem. Golden Saber, Fed. Hydrashock, Speer Gold Dot - all in 230 grain of course.
Jack
Hello. I use the Golden Saber in .45, .38 Super, and 9mm handloads as well as their factory rounds in .45 and 9mm. I've also used their 125-gr. .357 mid-power Golden Saber in my SP101.
I killed one deer using a .38 Super and a 147-gr. Golden Saber handload in which the bullet was moving just under 1200 ft/sec, certainly above the roughly 1000 ft/sec velocity envelope for which it was designed. The deer was struck broadside and penetration, jacket and all was complete. The animal was about 14" thick.
This picture is of the Golden Saber handload mentioned above after being fired into super-saturated newsprint that had soaked 24 hours and was drained 30 minutes before shooting.
When fired into water, the bullet and jacket did separate, but I don't see the round as being "ineffective" because of it.
This factory 230-gr. Golden Saber was fired into water from a 5" 1911 and did not suffer bullet/jacket separation. For me, about 1 in 5 do.
This one struck bone and expansion is not nearly so uniform and "nice" as when homogeneous test media is used. The bullet jacket was also recovered and was found in the last couple of inches of the wound track, near the expanded bullet.
"Anecdotal" after action reports I've received from folks using the Golden Saber have been positive in 9mm and .45. Both the standard pressure 124 and 147-gr. 9mm Golden Sabers seem to "do good" as do the 230-gr. GS's in .45 ACP. I'd think that the 185's would too, but I have no knowledge of how they react from either users in real world shootouts or from personally shooting critters with it.
Here are a 380 ACP 80-gr expanded DPX and 102-gr Golden Saber that were fired into super-saturated newsprint.
Best.
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