Photo by Michael Anschuetz
November 11, 2020
By Joel J. Hutchcroft
Optimized for compact and subcompact pistols, Speer’s new 9mm Gold Dot CarryGun ammo features the recently developed Gold Dot G2 bullet. The Gold Dot G2 has the bonded UNICOR design of the original Gold Dot but with new skives and a shallow nose cavity filled with elastomer rather than the original hollowpoint. The elastomer prevents barrier materials from filling the nose cavity and provides more consistent performance through tough barriers like wood and steel. The skives promote reliable expansion and effective energy transfer while maintaining straight-line penetration. According to the company, the new bullet style has achieved the highest FBI protocol evaluation scores of any ammunition ever tested.
The Gold Dot G2 was developed to perform in full-sized handguns, and Speer engineers modified and redesigned it specifically for use in shorter-barreled compact pistols. That’s what the new CarryGun line is all about. The engineers came up with lighter-weight G2 bullets that reach optimal velocity out of short-barreled pistols, thereby producing consistent expansion and exceptional barrier penetration.
For example, the 9mm CarryGun load carries a 135-grain G2 bullet instead of the 147-grain G2 bullet found in 9mm Gold Dot G2 duty ammunition. The .40 S&W CarryGun ammo fires a 165-grain bullet as opposed to the 180-grain offering in the G2 duty load. And the .45 ACP +P CarryGun bullet weighs 200 grains instead of the 230-grain G2 duty bullet.
I’ve been shooting the 9mm CarryGun ammo, and as you can see from the results listed in the accompanying chart, it is accurate and produces consistent velocities, extreme spreads, and standard deviations. It is loaded with what Speer calls “advanced powders” for ballistic consistency in nickel-plated cases for reliable feeding and with sealed CCI primers for dependable ignition. I fired 60 rounds of CarryGun through two compact pistols and didn’t have a single malfunction.
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MSRP: $28.99; speer-ammo.com
Speer 9mm Gold Dot CarryGun Ammo Accuracy & Velocity NOTES: Accuracy is the average of five, five-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest. Velocity is the average of five rounds measured 12 feet from the guns’ muzzles.
