The Deer I shot this year was with factory loaded Speer Gold Dot. The bullet did contact a lot of bone and did a fine job on the Deer, but It shed its jacket. Is this common I was under the impression that it was a bonded bullet. On the Deer I shot it was not a big deal because she piled up right there, but I was still wondering why it would separate. Any ideas would be great. Thanks.

I don't know about the .44 GD's but I fired a 230gr. 45 gdhp out of a 45 colt into a water box to test expansion. I thought the jacket separated - I guess technically it did - but at closer look it just peeled the jacket, with lead firmly attached, completely off leaving just a lead cylinder with a plated base. The jacket did not separate from the lead, the lead separated from the lead. This was a hot handload and probably just a tad to fast for what the bullet was designed for.

There was not even a trace of lead on the jacket. There was an exit hole where the lead core exited and the jacket was about an inch away from the exit hole. I was using a .44 Rem Mag with the factory loading, 270 gr @ 1250 fps out of a Ruger SBH. Speer emailed me back stating that they sent the pictures of the bullet jacket to one of the engineers, I still have not heard back from them about the pictures.