Originally Posted by
HTR
As I get older, I shy away from the term "better" when comparing such things. The 90 GD held a surprising amount of its weight, given its relatively inexpensive construction. ATK seems to have produced a truly "bonded" bullet. In the presentation I gave to CTTSO / TSWG, I showed that the lead held to the copper even when it was extruded out along the petals....impressive.
These 90 GD bullets were recovered from hog carcasses. Most of them penetrated through two carcasses, when fired out to 200 yards. The velocities were from 2450 to 2860 left to right.
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The Gold dot holds weight a little better than the Accubond. It was designed primarily for a very short barrel, but I've fired plenty of them in 16 and 20 inch barrels and they still expand reliably and hold lots of that weight. You can see above, that when I fired them near 2900 FPS, they lost more weight and uniformity in the expansion. The three bullets have different properties, so one of them may work better than the other two, for others.
The TSX is the toughest bullet, holding most of its weight, but the compromise is that its LOVT (low opening speed) is going to be higher and may not expand quite as reliably on softer target substrate. Its a very easy bullet to load, and its produced some of my most accurate loads in 6.8. Its seems to kill both deer and hogs very effectively.
The 90 GD holds most of its weight, despite being a "industrial / blue collar" looking bullet. Its got no fancy ballistic tip, and its short and stubby. The flat meplat gives it a good sized cavity which is filled with lead. I must admit I was surprised to see that the expansion was quite similar to that of the TSX, so the design of the cavity and the skiving seem to make it deform like a pinwheel with great regularity. It left a wound very similar to that of the 85 TSX / 95 TTSX, and to that of the Accubond as well. It is an excellent all-around bullet, which seems to cover lots of bases and do lots of things well.
