Speer’s Gold Dot Short Barrel ammo generates better velocities out of compact guns, and the bullets are adjusted for caliber and weight for maximum performance.

Anyone who has carried a handgun for any length of time realizes that compactness and light weight are valuable assets. However, both come with a price. The lighter a handgun is, the more recoil hammers you, although practice can overcome that initial disadvantage. The more compact the gun is, however, the shorter the barrel, which means you've lost potential velocity. No amount of practice will get that velocity back. Lost velocity usually means decreased expansion, less penetration or both.

Enter Speer's Gold Dot Short Barrel loads. The idea is to blend powders and boost performance in short barrels without making the load unsuitable for standard-length barrels. The end goal is to meet or exceed the standards laid down by the FBI ballistic gel protocols.

The load I tested is the .40 S&W 180-grain Short Barrel. The original idea for the .40 was to produce as close to .45 ACP performance in a 9mm-size handgun as possible. That means a 180-grain bullet, as even-heavier bullets fall off the edge of the .40 S&W case's performance envelope. However, the 180 is, in my opinion, too heavy a bullet for optimal performance in the .40, which makes it a perfect test for the Short Barrel concept.

The Gold Dot bullets are formed by plating a core, then swaging, punching, stabbing and caressing the plated lump until it is a precisely shaped projectile. Then Speer uses low-flash powders in nickel-plated cases to ensure you have the least-flash, most-reliable ammunition possible.

Speer lists it as going 950 fps out of a 31⁄2-inch barrel, which is certainly enthusiastic, and given the variations of barrels themselves, spot-on. Out of the 41⁄4-inch barrel of my Yost High Power, the Short Barrel load generated 1,013 fps. Not bad, considering that many other 180-grain factory loads top out in the mid 900s or less in that particular pistol.

Out of a four-inch Glock 23, the Short Barrel load produced 949 fps, and from a three-inch barreled Springfield EMP I got 907 fps. It's not the 950 fps Speer promises for a 31⁄2-inch gun, but 900 fps out of a compact pistol like the EMP is cracking good performance and nothing to sneer at. By comparison, the standard Speer Gold Dot load for a 180-grain bullet is listed as 1,025 out of a four-inch barrel.

The accuracy of the pistols tested with this load reflects more their compact size than any supposed shortcomings of the Gold Dot load. Shooting something as compact as an EMP for accuracy testing is not a relaxing plinking session. It's work. That I was able to shoot groups that subtended less than the apparent width of the front sight, while managing the recoil of defensive-level loads in .40 S&W, is a good sign.

The FBI protocols insist on a penetration depth of not less than one foot. Twelve inches. This despite going through incidental barriers such as light and heavy clothing. Once a load proves it penetrates to the minimum, then the projectiles are measured for expansion and retained weight.

One thing you can count on from Gold Dot bullets is that they will expand and retain weight. The special bonding process of jacket to core means no core separation, and the soft alloy of the core ensures expansion.