Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 9mm: hornady xtp-hp vs Speer gold dots

I am a little late on this, but I have some data points. Earlier this year I fired factory standard pressure 124 Speer Gold Dots and 124 Hornady Custom XTPs from the same P365XL (and a Ruger PC Carbine) into 1-gallon water jugs lined up. The Gold Dot round went into the third jug with the P365XL and only went into the second jug from the PC Carbine with too much expansion and too little penetration for my taste. (I did that test twice to see if the result was the same and it was.) With the XTP, the rounds went into the 4th water jug with the P365XL and a P365. With the Ruger PC Carbine, the XTP left its jacket in the rear wall of the third jug and the lead core went into the fourth water jug. I have pictures of the recovered rounds. I didn't think to measure the XTP rounds. Duh! You can see that they are more deformed and probably expanded less. I carry the Gold Dots in my pistols due to the extent of testing done by Federal, but I wouldn't hesitate to carry the XTPs if I ran out of Gold Dots. I would prefer the XTPs in the carbine after further testing to ensure reliability.

Here are some pictures:
Speer 124 Gold Dot: Left-P365XL, Right-Ruger PC Carbine (2 rounds):



Hornady Custom 124 XTP:Left-Ruger PC Carbine, Middle-Sig P365XL, Right-Sig P365



P.S. The Ruger was finicky with the Gold Dots and with the XTP I used for the test, so I sent the carbine off and Ruger replaced the bolt and some other parts. I have not function tested the gun with either since it returned.