I picked up some Gold Dot .223 55 gr. Speer's website specs this at 3220 FPS, although they didn't specify the barrel length for this measurement.

I do not have a chronograph so I don't know what the velocity is out of my 14.5" but I did see a video where it was measured out of a 16" barrel and averaged 2753. I must say though, this ammo seems really wimpy. Accuracy is reasonable but it failed to lock back after the last round about half of the time. Even PMC locks back more reliably than that and it has a factory spec of 2900 marked on the box. Oddly though, their website says 3200 fps.

Anyone else have a similar experience with this Speer load?

i have 100 rounds i bought by mistake, maybe i thought it was 64gr or something but it was bought when i ordered a bunch of different rounds to test.

i'll shoot some this week and report back. i have an 18" rifle length gas upper that is on the verge of being under gassed. we'll see how this stuff cycles.

No issues locking back with the 64g and 75g GD out of my 14.5 which tends to run under gassed...at least it does if I'm going by that speculative ejection chart. Tosses 556 rounds at around 4:30.

Haven't tried the 55g GD yet.

It is loaded on the slow side, but I haven't had one cause any type of failure.  Granted, I haven't run it through a carbine course.

I have shot a deer at 275 + yards, and it mushroomed beautifully, broke ribs and was embedded in the hide on the off side.

It sure would be nice if they offered the Gold Dots in 5.56 instead of 223.  I love the bullet design and would probably stock up on some if they loaded them a little hotter.  But I am one of those people that like to have my rounds loaded near max especially in a 223/5.56 round.  I know they will still do their jobs very well even at the slower speeds, but if they were loaded hotter I would imagine they would perform even better.  And if not, then at least they would perform well for longer distances and for shorter barrels.  55s in the 3200 range, etc.  

With as popular as the GD round has become you'd think they would surely offer both, especially since the majority use 5.56 guns anyways.  I will probably just end up reloading a bunch of them when I finally get into loading my own.  You can pick up the 62-64grn Gold Dots/Fusion pulled bullets to reload for a pretty good price (around $130 per 1k).  At those prices you can reload 1k cases of Gold Dots for around $250ish if you reuse brass.  Hard to argue with those prices if you have the extra time on your hands.

IIRC, at one time they were loaded to 556 specs.

I believe the bullet is capable of expanding down to around 1500-1600fps, so I guess they really didn't see the need for the higher pressures.

I keep a couple mags of the 55gr gold dot in my range bag.  It will work in all my 1:12 and 1:14 twist setups not just my 1:9 and higher twist guns. I like having a defense mag available that works in all my AR's.

This must be their thinking. They do talk about bullet performance at lower speeds at their website. No doubt I could tune my 14.5 rifle to shoot these  but I'm reluctant to do that as my current set up reliably cycles just about everything else pretty well. The reason I tried these is the current price point on the .223 GDs is pretty attractive for what is supposed to be a premium defense load. About .50/round and almost half of what the Fusions are going for. I may give the 64 gr a try. 

Out of curiosity, what trouble do you have with this ammo in your tighter twist guns?

I haven't had any issues with this ammo so far.  I normally use 75gr Hornady as my defense load, but picked these up because the 75's won't stabilize in my slow twist AR's.

Got it!  I thought that you were having trouble with the 55gr bullets in the tighter twist.  It's the other way around...got it.

Of the GD line, I've only tried the 55gr version and shot them exclusively in 7" twist barrels.  I've had good luck so far as far as accuracy and reliability, but my experience is limited to a few hundred rounds.  

I'm waiting on Palmetto to run a free shipping deal on the 55gr version, so I can stock up!

this.....and i recall reading that at higher velocity it opened too fast and didnt penetrate deep enough.

i think people get to caught up on velocity for fragmentation on fmj ammo. not all bullets need to be pushed that fast.