Variance in the hollow point mouth of Remington Golden Sabers?

[Nephrology]

So I was going through an older mag of carry ammo, checking to see which ones had and hadn't been chambered yet (this is before I marked them so I was going based on abrasions to the bullet/casing) and I noticed that a lot of my 147gr Golden Sabers had varying widths of the JHP mouth, for lack of a better term. Some were significantly wider than others. I would take pictures but unfortunately I have to get out the door and my camera's batter needs charging.

Has anyone else noticed this? They were both from the same box of 147gr Golden Sabers. Is it possible that the bullet design for the 124gr vs 147gr is different and I got some loaded with mixed bullets? Do they open up with chambering, or close with chambering?

[DocGKR]

We have seen significant variances over the years with Remington ammo. One time we opened a box of .40 180 gr ammo at the CHP Academy and found two totally different bullet types, some truncated cone JHP's and others rounded ogive JHP's, loaded in the same box of ammo...

[DocH]

I've seen this with the 147gr. Golden Sabers. Not mixed in the same box,but in different boxes. The first ones I ever bought had a slightly larger cavity with sharper edges on the petals.

[Nephrology]

We have seen significant variances over the years with Remington ammo. One time we opened a box of .40 180 gr ammo at the CHP Academy and found two totally different bullet types, some truncated cone JHP's and others rounded ogive JHP's, loaded in the same box of ammo...

That is, um, uninispiring, to say the least...


Attached are the pictures, I can provide higher res if need be. In addition to the quarter for sizing, each of the larger darker green squares is 10mmx10mm.

I am by no means a professional photographer but I think this illustrates what I am referring to. the right bullet, to my eye, has a much wider mouth wheras the left is more tapered. Both are from the same batch. Actually, now that I think about it, I have a second, unopened box of the same load... maybe I'll do an inspection.







This sort of thing doesn't make me run for the hills like some other ammo does (i.e. double tap and their two-faced marketing, Cor-Bon and their inability to crimp the 9mm DPX they sent me... twice...) but given the dearth of quality choices out there, the next time I place an order for 9mm JHPs my invoice probably won't say Remington in it... I'll probably move to either Federal or Winchester Ranger-Ts for my 147gr loads.

Gold-Dot +Ps are what I carry most of the time anyway, so hell, maybe I'll just stick with that...

[Magic_Salad0892]

Don't forget Hornady.

[Nephrology]

Don't forget Hornady.

Not interested in stuff that isn't tested against intermediate barriers, and whose owner scoffs at the idea of doing so.

[Shawn Dodson]

I encountered issues with Remington quality control years ago when I chose to use its Golden Saber ammunition for personal defense. I was attracted to the soft tissue "cutting" mechanism of the jacket design, somewhat similar to Winchester's then Ranger Talon ammo, but, as a former LEO, I wasn't willing to purchase Winchester Ranger Talon from "unauthorized" (questionable) sources because I couldn't be sure of its pedigree and quality.

My concerns about the quality of factory loaded Remington Golden Saber ammo arose when I chronographed several 9mm 147gr rounds and discovered a velocity variation of 125 fps. This was unacceptable to me, especially with 9mm 147gr.

After that, I decided to handload my own personal defense ammo, using the 9mm 147gr Golden Saber bullet as a component (and new Remington brass for defense cartridges). I chronographed a few more of the factory cartridges, threw out the extreme high and low velocities, and developed a handload that matched factory average velocity when fired from my Glock 19. (I used Vihtavouri 3n37 propellant as it produced virtually zero muzzle flash in low/no light condition.) The handload was my "general-purpose" handload that I used for both training and defense. I purchased the component bullets in bulk quantity, which wasn't much more in cost that 9mm 147gr FMJ. I handloaded thousands of cartridges using the Remington 147gr Golden Saber bullet.

I've since changed defense ammo to Speer factory loaded 9mm 124gr +P Gold Dot, which I can purchase in bulk at reasonable cost. The Speer ammo is high quality I can trust. As a result I developed a handload for training, using 9mm 124gr FMJ component bullets (which, in many cases is less expensive to purchase in bulk than 115gr FMJ bullets), that matches velocity of the factory ammo.

Since my experience I've always been leery of the quality of Remington factory loaded defense handgun ammo.

[PA PATRIOT]

A while back I was issued Remington 115gr H/P's (9MM1) for duty and police range plinking ammunition and I can tell you that was the worst 9mm I ever shot out of my Glock G-17. Velocity swings were the norm and it was some dirty shooting/high flash crap. I hate to say it but I was grateful when the duty/plinking load switch back to Federal BP-9 because I hated the Remington that much.