Up until a few months ago I have always concealed carried a Bersa Thunder .45. I always kept it loaded with the 230gr Gold Dots and never had any trouble finding them. I'm a little weird about my carry ammo. Every time I go to the range I like to shoot what I've been carrying and load up a fresh magazine for carry. With the .45 this was no problem. A few months ago I picked up a Glock 43 as a summer-time pocket-carry gun. I picked up a few boxes of the Gold dot 124gr +P and about 500 rounds of the Speer Lawman 124gr to use as plinking/training ammo. I have now shot all the way through those 500 rounds (3ish range trips) all while keeping an eye out for more Gold Dots. I can't find them anywhere. My local gun shops are sold out of them and I can't even find them online. I'm watching GunBot and all of my normal websites but they appear to be back-ordered anywhere.

Why have these things become so hard to find? I could get the .45's anywhere? Is 9mm really that much more popular? I can find the 115gr gold dots pretty easily. My question is do I change bullet weight, or pick a new company, or just hold out and wait? I like to be able to do a little practice with my carry ammo to make sure it cycles and so that I can keep fresh magazines of it. The 115gr gives me extra snappy and unpleasant recoil and the 147gr are nearly has hard to find as the 124gr. So.. Should I switch to the Federal HSTs or something or just deal with the unpleasant recoil of the 115gr for now?

What does everyone carry and trust in their shorter barreled 9mm pistols?

I believe they are switching to a new bullet with the hollow cavity filled with "rubber' stuff like the hornady stuff.  Hence the shortage of the old stuff.

Interesting, taking a page from Hornady Critical Duty, I guess. Are the new Speer bullets going to be called something different?

Yes, switch to HST.  You can find the 147gr, esp +P (negligible difference), easily right now and for less than .50/rd.   It's a better bullet but for a tiny disadvantage through windshields.

Your dilemma is one reason I shoot .40 S&W. I, too, like to shoot my carry ammo and 9mm is just too hard to find.

It is called G2 and the reviews I have seen are not favorable. I don't know if it is supposed to replace the original Gold Dot or not.

Out of a short barrel does it make more sense to go with 124gr +P or 147gr +P ? I'm going to buy a few different brands and choose whichever cycles most reliably / are most accurate. It looks like 147gr is easier to find everywhere.

These are excellent! Underwood 9mm Luger +P 124 Grain Bonded Jacket Hollow Point

Cool! They actually use Speer bonded bullets too. I'm definitely going to pick up a box of those.

147 in general has more dwell time in the barrel allowing more complete powder burn thus losing less velocity from short barrels and staying farther inside its expansion envelope which is already large with the HST.  The 147 +P velocity difference is often unnoticeable but it's not really louder or harsher from a short barrel either.


 

Click bait title.  

Could've said. I got no Gold Dot 124 +p

Haha, in hindsight I can see how it sounds misleading. My bad.

tnoutdoors9 tested the Speer G2.

This.  The 147 gr HST.  Yes they are hard to find but can be had.  The 147 gr +p HST are more readily available.

I was able to buy 2 boxes of the 147gr HST at one of my local gun shops over the weekend. It is not +P, but if it cycles well I'm fine with that. I'm going to wait for the rest of the stuff I ordered to show up and I'll go try them all out and report back.

I feel your pain, I recently switched to the 124 HST because I couldn't find my usual tried and true 124+P gold dot carry load.

Does anyone have an experience with these?

Technically, the non-+P is the gold standard.  There's really no advantage-- usually no discernible velocity increase nor terminal improvement to the +P.  

 

Agreed.  P9HST2 is the gold standard IMO.  Not knocking the 147 +p but there is a reason why P9HST2 is sold out just about everywhere and the 147 +p is available with no limit on how many boxes one can buy.

The Speer G2 was pretty much a complete failure. Just like Remington's Golden Saber Black Belt.

I seriously doubt there is much difference between the 115 and 124 gr Gold Dot loads.    I would just use the 115 gr load until you can find the 124 gr.

I use the CorBon 115 gr load in my G26.   1260 fps as chronoed by me.

Is there a major difference in the +P for 124 grain? I've always thought that +P helps make up some of the velocity lost due to the short barrel but that could just be all in my head.

For me the 124+p Gold Dot has been hard to find locally and online for the last year. I was able to locate a case 2 months ago from an LE supplier that is willing to sell to an individual officer. Case of 1000 for $450 shipped $22.50 for each 50rd box.

It's been a while since I've hunted for gel test info.  I believe in ~3" barrels you won't get a big velocity jump as much as blast and flash from powder burning outside the barrel, which is why 147gr is better.  For ~4" barrels you will get more velocity, added cycling reliability and I believe the +P is recommended by Dr. Roberts for expansion and barrier penetration purposes in both HST and Gold Dot.  For what it's worth, he prefers to carry midweight +P in a service length pistol last I checked (a couple years at least).

I wish PhotoBucket was cooperating with me. I had an opportunity to shoot some G2 side by side with GD124gr+P. From my Glock 17, the G2 expanded a little bigger but was more irregular in it's expanded shape. Both retained their full weight. The G2 also fully penetrated one additional 1 gal. water jug than the God Dot  (3 jugs versus 2) after passing through denim+leather+cardboard all bonded together with glue. Not scientific by any means but it is an empirical observation. I believe there is more to the G2 bullet design than just filling the HP cavity of the Gold Dot with some sort of polymer. I have read that barrel length makes a huge difference in the performance of the G2 ammunition. I have heard speculation that it was designed for full size barrel lengths but I don't really know anything about it.

I have not yet been convinced so will I continue to carry and shoot my supply of Gold Dot 124gr.+P. I also like Hornady Critical Duty offerings and the Federal 147gr. HST.

I am making no recommendations, just reporting what I have observed.