The GOOD DEALs and INTERESTING find thread!

[themonk]

Follow up on the ND55664 ammo. I received my shipment yesterday. It appears to be a gold dot bullet on a fusion 64gr soft point loading, like it was a mix-up. Powder looks the same. I have a ton of fusion so I pulled a few bullets to take a look. Unfortunately, I just shot the rest of my gold dot.

On Fusion bullets the lead tip sits proud. On these and my memory of gold dot, they just sit flush to help with deformation. I have included pics below. Someone far more knowledgeable than me please chime in. I will get chrono numbers later this week out of a 16" and a 12.5".

Fusion 64gr soft point & ND55664 side by side


ND55664


Fusion


Fusion bullet weight


ND55664 bullet weight


ND55664 left / Fusion right


Fusion Top / ND55664

[themonk]

Interesting. A guy on reddit emailed Federal about ND55664 and this was the response:

"The only info we have been given on this product is it is contract ammo that did not meet the contracts specs. That could be from small visual defects or missing Permabond.

Thank You

Federal Ammunition

Tech Services"

[Diamondback]

Interesting. A guy on reddit emailed Federal about ND55664 and this was the response:

"The only info we have been given on this product is it is contract ammo that did not meet the contracts specs. That could be from small visual defects or missing Permabond.

Thank You

Federal Ammunition

Tech Services"

"We have been given" implies that they have someone they can ask for information... this is why I reached out to an LE Division customer service rep since it was their portfolio not consumer stuff.

[themonk]

Looks like its out of stock now. Glad I picked up 500. With I picked up more.

[Disciple]

On Fusion bullets the lead tip sits proud. On these and my memory of gold dot, they just sit flush to help with deformation.

Interesting, as it has been stated by DocGKR "Gold Dot and Fusion use the EXACT same bullet." I wonder when this changed.

[themonk]

Interesting, as it has been stated by DocGKR "Gold Dot and Fusion use the EXACT same bullet." I wonder when this changed.

I agree and one of the reasons I stocked up on Fusion, but that was years ago. My Fusion bullets don't have a boat tail as you can see in the pictures above. It looks like from some of the newer pictures of Gold Dots that they are using that same boat tail bullet as the ND55664. I could be completely wrong.

[Stickman]

You certainly see exposed tips deform much more often than you do their "encased" brethren. Still, I wouldn't mind a stock pile of either.

[vicious_cb]

The ND stuff does NOT look like a Fusion/Gold Dot bullet, looks more like a TBBC which would make sense since TBBC is only sold under Federal exclusively while Fusion/Gold Dot rolls out of the Speer line and is rebranded to Federal.

Not sure how a unbonded TBBC would work since the bonding process of the TBBC vs Fusion/Gold Dot is baked vs plated but from what Ive seen from cross sections an unbonded TBBC looks very similar to a Mk318 SOST. Not 100% sure so Im going to ask the interwebs for their opinion:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...55664-overruns

[1168]

The ND stuff does NOT look like a Fusion/Gold Dot bullet, looks more like a TBBC which would make sense since TBBC is only sold under Federal exclusively while Fusion/Gold Dot rolls out of the Speer line and is rebranded to Federal.

Not sure how a unbonded TBBC would work since the bonding process of the TBBC vs Fusion/Gold Dot is baked vs plated but from what Ive seen from cross sections an unbonded TBBC looks very similar to a Mk318 SOST. Not 100% sure so Im going to ask the interwebs for their opinion:

https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread...55664-overruns

Unbonded TBBC is a reasonable description of Mk318, I think.

[Todd.K]

The ND stuff does NOT look like a Fusion/Gold Dot bullet, looks more like a TBBC…

Not sure how a unbonded TBBC would work since the bonding process of the TBBC vs Fusion/Gold Dot is baked vs plated…

The description at Midway said it is bonded, did I miss where something said it isn’t? Unless you are taking the “missing Permabond“ above a different way. Permabond is an industrial adhesive manufacturer, so I am thinking it’s case sealant.