French Police Select Speer Ammunition

124 grain Gold Dot rounds to become the standard round.

by
posted on February 2, 2023
French police chose Speer

Speer Ammunition has been awarded a French Police 9 mm NATO duty handgun ammunition contract to supply the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies with Speer 124-grain Gold Dot loads. Financial terms of the agreement—which could last for up to four years—were not released, although the company anticipates volume of its shipments to approach 20 million rounds.

“We are extremely pleased with this prestigious contract award,” said Speer President Jason Vanderbrink. “It validates the high level of trust the international law enforcement agencies have with our extremely reliable and innovative products.”

The Gold Dot ammunition will be fielded by the French National Police, the National Gendarmerie, Customs Police and the Penitentiary Administration. Combined, the agencies have more than a quarter million individuals.

It's not the first time French officials selected that Gold Dot load, either. In 2018 the French National Police—with roughly 150,000 officers alone—chose the 9 mm NATO 124-grain loads.

“The use of Gold Dot technology in this contract ammunition ensures the highest performance threshold and absolute confidence in performance,” said Speer Vice President of Law Enforcement, Government and International Sales David Leis. “We are proud to produce ammunition that meets and exceeds our customer’s strict requirements.”

Australia went with part of the company’s line in 2020, and the performance coming out of the Speer plant hasn’t escaped the notice of stateside law enforcement, either. In 2018 NYPD went with a +P version of the load, the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection followed two years later and many more.    

Speer Gold Dot’s bullet features a pressure-formed lead core bonded to an extremely uniform jacket to virtually eliminate separation on impact for more retained weight and consistent penetration depths. The hollow-point design expands consistently through a full range of barriers and has earned the trust of consumers and law enforcement world-wide.

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