So I’ve been reading as much as I can on the topic of lead fouling & JSPs in AR-15s and it seems it can be an issue. Has anyone running the Gold Dot’s had any issues with lead fouling? Looking at pics it seems less lead is exposed than some other designs…
Do you mean on the feedramps? Bore fouling wouldn’t be an issue.
Correct, feed ramp fouling. My current HD load is 55gr GMX 5.56, but my gut tells me the regime will go after all copper ammunition after M855, for the children and all, so I want an alternative load that is reliable for if/when this happens.
They’re not going after copper ammo. They’d sooner go after lead under some environmental bull shit claim.
Not sure if anyone can afford to shoot enough 64 gr Gold dot to come up with a feed ramp leading assessment, but I seriously doubt it’s an issue.
Nothing out of the regime would surprise me, the fact “Berryllium copper” as listed as “Armor Piercing” has be worried because I know GMX is a copper alloy… But regarding the Gold Dots, I read an old DocGKR thread where he stated he’d seen some LE AR’s start to malfunction after several hundred JSP rounds through the course of a day, but didn’t name names specifically but did list 64gr. as a weight, so I’m guessing that means either Gold Dot or Ranger.
Need to remember that the AP ban is on handgun bullets that can penetrate a kevlar vest. Berryllium copper is listed because that is what the tubular “cookie cutter” bullets were made out of. I tend to agree that a lead ban as a environmental pollutant is more likely next.
EPA already tried to regulate lead ammo and got slapped down, albeit it doesn’t mean they won’t try again.
I’ve shot cases of black hills 55gr soft point with only oiling and boresnaking the gun, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Ive also dumped hundreds of rounds of silver bear 55gr SP down the pipe with no issues and the amount of exposed lead is massive compared to the gold dot. The gold dot looks more like an OTM with a little lead peaking out of the top. You can barely call it an SP compared to what other SPs look like.
I’ve shot cases of the 55 and 64gr GDSP. No issue.
Also, this thread is about soft point leading. Other content should go to its respective threads. Off-topic content has been removed.
Not gold dot specific, but I once shot a whole case of cheap wolf soft points at a Defoor gunfighter class, no leading issues
I did have to use penetrating oil to get the gas tube out during a barrel swap a year later, but, hey, who cares
We shoot Winchester Q3313 at work. I think it has one of the largest exposed lead tips of the rounds out there. Been using it for 3 years and I haven’t seen any issues in the rifles. It is only quarterly quals so no one gets tons of trigger time. We go though around 40,000 rounds of it a year. David
From an old thread:
I fired 100 rounds of this in one sitting in November and the rifle was remarkably clean in the feed ramp area. Where is Gold Dot 64gr currently available?
It appears this has been discontinued by Speer.
To my understanding, it has been replaced by an identically performing 62gr loading in that same line.
Maybe polymer tipped like the new federal civvie (hunting) version of the TBBC? They kinda did that with the G2 Gold Dot 9mm ammo, so perhaps it is being replaced due to new requirement for a contract?
From what DocGKR recently posted on another forum, “About a year ago, Speer announced that the 64 gr Gold Dot was being replaced with the identically performing 62 gr version which had previously been used on contracts for USG LE agencies requiring a 62 gr loading.”
That honor probably goes to Hornady’s 5.56mm TAP Barrier bullet . . .
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