147gr Golden Sabers or Gold Dots?

[BRTCP88]

I'd heard some good things about Golden Saber ammo, and how the spiral cut was supposed to improve expansion at low velocity, so I ordered some in 147gr. I ordered them through my LGS web store. I got them and they were all tarnished and the crate they came in fell apart as I was taking it out so I'm going to see if I can return them.

Well, after I bought the Golder Sabers I ran into an article raving about 147gr Gold Dots. So I'm trying to decide if I should get another box of Golden Sabers or some Gold dots to replace the bad ammo I got online. Any opinions?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[JaySkiBum]

I use golden sabers in 147gr for my SD ammo and I've had no problems. IMO you can't go wrong either way.

[Mike1956]

I use both.

[glockman10mm]

Brass tarnishes. It's a fact of life. If it bothers you, use Brasso or Duraglit on them and shine them up. They will still work just as well anyway. Do you think they are going to look all spiffy covered in blood and tissue?

The only shiny bullets that scared the bad guys were the silver bullets in the Lone Rangers gun.

[Bark'n]

Brass tarnishes. It's a fact of life. If it bothers you, use Brasso or Duraglit on them and shine them up. They will still work just as well anyway. Do you think they are going to look all spiffy covered in blood and tissue?

The only shiny bullets that scared the bad guys were the silver bullets in the Lone Rangers gun.

I haven't found Duraglit since I was in boot!



This was the stuff we used. Made in England. Not part of the Brasso product line. I've never been able to find any since the Corps.

[jblives2ride]

I use Gold Dot, Hornady Critical Defense, and winchester PDX1 what ever shoots best in your gun and doesn't jamb will do the job...

[357and40]

I think most of the big name ammo is pretty reliable....

Remington Golden Sabers
Speer Gold Dots
Federal HST
Winchester Ranger (PDX1)
Hornady TAP/Critical Defense

to name the first few that came to mind.

I would sincerely avoid a no-name brand, but most of the big names are hard to go wrong with.

[Bark'n]

These are some wound ballistic study done by ATK which is the parent company of both Federal and Speer.

They test the 147 gr Federal HST's and the Speer Gold Dots.

Each segment of the tests in on the right side menu of the video player.

LE - Wound Ballistic Videos

[Aiko]

I don't use either but both are fine SD rounds.

[BRTCP88]

Brass tarnishes. It's a fact of life. If it bothers you, use Brasso or Duraglit on them and shine them up. They will still work just as well anyway. Do you think they are going to look all spiffy covered in blood and tissue?

The only shiny bullets that scared the bad guys were the silver bullets in the Lone Rangers gun.

Brand new bullets shouldn't be tarnished, should they? It just kinda makes me uneasy to shoot them. I just don't know what could have caused them to tarnish and if it could have effected anything else. Am I being paranoid?

[Eaglebeak]

Tarnished "new" rounds would make me a bit edgy as well since that would probably indicate someone selling off cheaply purchased "salvage" merchandise that had been damaged by a shipping accident, improper storage, or a natural disaster (flood, etc.). Since you're not sure of what it's been exposed to, I'd certainly try returning them to get "un-damaged" stuff. If you purchased them from some fly-by-night place, you might have better luck contacting the manufacturer to explain what you got and where you got it.

To answer your original question, Gold Dot generally has the best ballastics and overall performance over just about everything but very expensive, custom-built ammo like Buffalo Bore; but Golden Saber is an extremely close second. The difference between the two isn't worth arguing, and you can't go wrong with either one - providing, that is, neither one has set under a few feet of floodwater for a day or so.

[Bark'n]

Any brand new brass case can become tarnished just sitting on the shelves at your local gun shop. It all depends on the relative humidity and how the ammo is stored. Just because there may be some tarnish/discoloration on the cases does not mean they have been stored poorly.

What you don't want to see is any actual corrosion forming on the cases. But unless your gun shop hires a kid to do nothing but polish ammo with a can of Brasso, you're going to run into buying some new bullets which may be a little tarnished from time to time.

Ammo manufacturers don't ship their ammo in trucks which are hermetically sealed. They use common carriers and you'd be surprised how much the humidity can change in the back of an ordinary 40 foot Semi-trailer traveling from coast to coast, or inside some boxcar on a train.

[skysoldier29]

Either one will work just fine. I personally use 147 Ranger Ts in my 9mms. Not that the Ts are any better than the GD or GSs just what they had at the LGS when I went. Any premium 9mm defensive ammo from any of the big 5 (Speer, Federal, Remington, Winchester and Hornady) will work just fine assuming they work in your gun.

[Guest1]

And,as stupid as it is,I've seen people ask for a box of ammo,pull a round or two out, look at the bullet, and put it back in the box,with all the crud on their hands that they have accumulated throughout the day,and do that with several boxes.

Any brand new brass case can become tarnished just sitting on the shelves at your local gun shop. It all depends on the relative humidity and how the ammo is stored. Just because there may be some tarnish/discoloration on the cases does not mean they have been stored poorly.

What you don't want to see is any actual corrosion forming on the cases. But unless your gun shop hires a kid to do nothing but polish ammo with a can of Brasso, you're going to run into buying some new bullets which may be a little tarnished from time to time.

Ammo manufacturers don't ship their ammo in trucks which are hermetically sealed. They use common carriers and you'd be surprised how much the humidity can change in the back of an ordinary 40 foot Semi-trailer traveling from coast to coast, or inside some boxcar on a train.

[BRTCP88]

Tarnished "new" rounds would make me a bit edgy as well since that would probably indicate someone selling off cheaply purchased "salvage" merchandise that had been damaged by a shipping accident, improper storage, or a natural disaster (flood, etc.). Since you're not sure of what it's been exposed to, I'd certainly try returning them to get "un-damaged" stuff. If you purchased them from some fly-by-night place, you might have better luck contacting the manufacturer to explain what you got and where you got it.

To answer your original question, Gold Dot generally has the best ballastics and overall performance over just about everything but very expensive, custom-built ammo like Buffalo Bore; but Golden Saber is an extremely close second. The difference between the two isn't worth arguing, and you can't go wrong with either one - providing, that is, neither one has set under a few feet of floodwater for a day or so.

It's not a fly by night operation. It's the same place I bought my new P229, but it's not from the actual store. They have a website where they sell stuff that they have in a off site warehouse that they don't necessarily keep stocked at the actual store.