It is all just electro-plating, Speer has been doing that with their Gold Dot bullets for a long time. I hunt with my .357 and the Gold Dots I recover retain more weight than the XTP, sometimes the XTP's jackets come off, not the Gold Dot jackets. I always load the 158 grain but am curious about the 170 grain Gold Dot, has anyone hunted with that yet? Geo.