Keisler's has a nice deal on the 9mm 124 gr. Gold Dot in fifty packs, which would allow a good deal of practice with this round. How much better is the +p round than the standard 124 gr. Gold Dot and are these fifty packs the new imporved round or the older design? Also, is it true that the 115 +p performs poorly in comparison to all the others? Lastly, does anyone understand why the Speer GD rounds tested by ammolab penetrated beyond 18.5 inches, and does this illustrate a flaw in the bullet design?

Once again, thank you to all those who continue to educate me on these matters. It is appreciated.

p.s. my carry pistol is a Glock 26.

I can't answer all of your questions but I can share my experience and opinions.
First I must say the 124gr +P Gold Dot is my first and only choice for a carry round. I have water tested nearly all the top hollow point designs and read countless articles and books on this subject and have more confidince in the Gold Dot bullet. BTW I used to work for an armored company that issued Gold Dot ammo and also had a training video from the manufacture. It's performance in many different situations is impressive.

The +P will of course perform better because of the increased velocity, and when carried in a sub-compact I feel should be the only choice. As far as training with Gold Dot's I would only shoot enough of the ammo to prove reliable in my gun of choice then practice with less expensive ammo. You can practice a lot more when shooting a cheaper load. If you are worried about duplicating the recoil of your carry load then your have nothing to worry about. If you have to use a firearm is a stressflul situation (life or death) trust me, you will not notice the different. In fact I used to do most of my practice with a .22 that mimics the grip and controls of my primary weapon, I would fire 500rnds per week through the .22 and follow this up with an additional 100-200rnds through the primary gun. This may sound a little strange but I have won handgun competitions with this strategy. I feel the biggest obstacle to overcome is noise, not the recoil. When firing this much .22 ammo then moving to the larger caliber the skill, comfort and confidence stay within me, not with the different weapon.

The final decision is yours and you must be confident in YOUR decision. I hope I did not step on any toes here but again this is just some of my opinions. Good luck, stay prepared and stay safe.

For the G26, with that short barrel, you will probably do better with the 124gr. +P. In general, the lighter 9mm bullets are falling out of favor due to lack of penetration. For a full-size 9mm gun, like an HK USP40F or CZ 75B, the standard 124gr. Gold Dot appears to perform better than the +P. The Gold Dot has a sweet spot in terms of velocity, and if you push the bullet too fast, it's actually less effective. 1150 fps. seems to be the sweet spot.

Why dont you just get the non +P and use it for range practice thus saving wear and tear on your pistol.  Its still an OK defense round from a full size pistol and you can use the superior Winchester Ranger RA9T for defense.

Then again my solution is Ranger for carry and cheapo value packs for practice.  The only difference I see is the shape of the hole in the target.

Winchester Ranger is not an option for the vast majority of shooters.

Thats like saying NATO pressure 75 and 77 grain loads are out of the question.  If you look hard enough you will find some.  There are internet sources on the net right now that will sell to civilians.  These are officers who can buy it cheap as its the dept issue ammo.  I am not going to try to get any ammo for anyone but if you looked on the for sale forums on the top handgun sites like this youd find a person who would sell the complete line of Winchester Ranger pistol ammo.  Think of it as an Easter egg hunt lol.

Why go on an Easter egg hunt when you can get gold dot, which is pretty close to ranger in performance and a hell of a lot cheaper for the average person to buy? Sorry, but with the price of ranger, most people cannot afford to shoot enough of it to become truly proficient.

To each his own, if you scored a good deal on quantity with the Gold Dot, go for it. You'll be able to practice to the amount/frequency you want, keeping in mind that in a real life situation it's highly unlikely you'd need more than a magazine.

I prefer Ranger over Gold Dot, although I have full confidence in GDs. What it comes down to for me is which calibers of Ranger are harder to find. For example, in .45 it's harder to find in general, and then when you do it's only available in 230gr. So I go with 185gr Gold Dot.

But I've been able to find Ranger in 9mm 124gr. and .40 165gr. pretty easily.