Golden Saber 9mm test

L

Lurky BoDean

New member
After posting yesterday about what bullet, I finally decided to go buy a box locally to test before possibly taking the plunge and purchasing online.

I opted on the:

Remington Golden Saber 124gr (NOT +P)

I returned home, and I made to jugs into wet packs, and I then added a jug full of water in the back to make an overall off 18" (12" of tight wet pack). Then, I placed 4 layers of denim up front to make it similar to an actual test. I shot 2 rounds from 7yds to test the POI, and it was dead on. I then proceeded to testing the penetration.

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The 2 entrance holes
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The expanded round with material it carried through
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The test gun (Glock 19 Gen 4)

The bullet penetrated all the way to the back of the second wet pack. It tried pushing through the back, but the plastic kept it within. On a rough measurement of penetration, the round went 12 1/2" before screeching to a hault. The round showed a little bit of separation, but what do you expect from a NON bonded bullet.

The average expansion of the round was .615".

I know this was ONLY one shot, and I can't always expect the same results everytime (penetrate more or less, expand more or less, and/or not expanded at all).

This was just a small and brief test, and I hope y'all enjoyed.
God bless,
LB
 
Thanks cryption!

You take gallon milk jugs or sweet tea jugs, and you just begin stuffing them with ripped up newspaper. Have something to pack newspaper down with (ie. Dow rod), and then, add water periodically to make the newspaper pack. Repeat that. It's easier if you have someone to help. I had my cousin help me haha
 
Bonded vs non-bonded 124gr JHP Golden Saber...

I purchased a 25rd box of what I(and the off-brand ammunition supply website called) "bonded" 124gr JHP +P Remington Golden Saber.
When the small package came, it was NOT the "bonded" format but was 124gr +P.
I've heard from most industry & LE sources that "bonded" pistol rounds are better but a tech for Hornady.com states in a company video that bonded rounds are constructed with soft metals that might not function properly against common barriers(auto glass, wood, fiber, etc)
I'd like to shoot a few boxes or carry the new Critical Duty 9mm +P JHP but it's not widely available in the USA. :(

CF
 
Thanks for the info and pics!

I use the 124 gr Golden Saber in my Sig Pro 2022 and my Glock 26. Glad to see the info. Thanks again.

I am also hopeful you didn't use the back of your truck for this test. :)

-K
 
Guys, do y'all really think I done the test in the back of my truck? Of course I did!

Haha nah, I done it on my greenfield, and I brought them back to the house for pictures.

Thanks for all the kind words guys.
 
That is beautiful expansion. You know, 9mm ball ammo may not be considered very effective but the high end 9 ammo certainly is. No one should feel undergunned shooting this stuff.
 
c0unt, I wasn't necessarily trying to hit the "X" because I drew it a little off. I was mainly trying to ring within the box. The test was done from 21 feet (yes, FBI tests are done from 10ft). I'm not the most accurate shooter by no means. I've only shot/owned a pistol for like 2 months.

Creek, I'm a big fan of this ammo already. It's proved to be very accurate for myself; however, I want to run a full box through my gun soon, so I'll be purchasing another box and maybe another test or 2 as well.
 
My wife's Gen 3 Glock 26 runs the stuff just fine. I'm sure your 19 will do the same.

I've tested Golden Saber in a similar manner before and gotten good results. Other tests from Remmington have shown 11.9" of penetration for that round. So, it should be a great round. I would feel just as comfortable with that as I do my 147gr Winchester Ranger Bonded.

Clyde, bonded bullets actually perform better against barriers usually. The big advantage is that the jacket doesn't come off. You maintain more weight and a more consistent performance from bullet to bullet.

Speer Gold Dot is one of the most trusted LE rounds in America. It is a 15 year old design that still performs well. The FBI uses the PDX1 bonded bullet from Winchester.

Hornady has a financial stake in making bonded bullets seem questionable. They missed the boat on that trend and are trying to make up for it with a different technology. You can check their numbers against numbers provided by ATK Distribution, Winchester, and Remmington. Their Critical Duty really doesn't offer any significant advantage. The "modern" designs that most of us know, and use, are proven. They are all designed to meet FBI standards, except Hornady Critical Defense. It really is a matter of splitting hairs.
 
I like to try some of the newer ammo every so-often. I tend to use Golden Saber as a baseline comparision for quality self-defense ammo. A little FYI... Golden Sabers were designed by the same guy who designed the media-scary Black Talon round. It's actually considered to be an improvement by some people, especially the bonded variant of it. All and all, I am never dissappointed with the performance of Golden Sabers. There are a few cartridges I prefer in certain pistols, mainly for accuracy, but the Golden Sabers just always work well in every gun. Plus, you can't usually beat the price of them for premium ammunition.
 
FYI, the Golden Saber in .357 Sig is about the best round in .357 Sig for the money, from what I can see from Tnoutdoors 9 and his Youtube tests.
 
Thanks for doing the test. Amen on the price! So far every single test I've seen with the 124 grain Golden Sabers (+P and Non +P) has yielded good results.

I have seen some results from the 147's where they didn't expand as reliably and tended to over penetrate when that happened. I'm really starting to think that 124 grain is the sweet spot for 9mm ammo. It's heavy enought to penetrate reasonably well and fast enough to ensure reliable expansion.

I've been carrying both the standard and +P Golden Sabers in my Glock 26 since I got it and they've always run perfectly in the gun. Tests like yours serve to reinforce my confidence that I made the right choice for carry ammo.

Mark
 
I mostly carry and shoot 1911s in .45 ACP. Awile ago I mentioned to an on-line friend that I had picked up a 9mm 1911 I was looking forward to trying out. He's a police officer, and he volunteered to send me some of his department's outdated 9mm ammo.

Turned out to be Golden Saber, which made me very happy to see because that's what I carry in .45 ACP.
 
I carry Golden Saber or Gold Dots in .45 acp, depending upon pistol. I've never carried the GS in 9mm, though. I'm not sure why. I carry Gold Dots in 9mm.

I appreciate the info on the 9mm GS. I'll have to do some research on them. It's nice to have an alternative defense round in case ammo of choice is temporarily difficult to find.
 
Traded some guy 400 rounds of 7.62X51 FNM for 500 rounds of 9mm +P 125 grain bonded rounds, I think I got the better deal. Never tested them for penetration, but these bullets plain SHOOT. I shot a 5 shot group at 65 yards that all landed in the 10 and X ring of a bullseye target (I did aim a little high) and group size measured less than 3 inches.
 
Sounds like Lurkey just got hooked

There is a reason why Remington Golden 'Zapp-Rays' get more than their fair share of LE ammo contracts.

Lurkey just discovered in one afternoon what took tens of thousands of dollars in official Government studies months to figure out. Lurkey used his own equipment and with no expense account! What is this world coming to? :)
 
I like the bonded version real well,But in my testing of the non-bonded,
I had complete jacket seperation about 80% of the time.
 
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