Federal's Personal Defense HST 200-grain is the heaviest bullet in this group of 10mm hollow points. At 1,130 fps and 567 ft-lbs it makes a power factor of 226, 61 over the 165 major floor. The HST is a jacketed hollow point built to expand and hold its weight together. It sheds speed faster than any load in this group: from a 25-yard zero it is 1.5 inches low at 50 yards, already down to 993 fps and 438 ft-lbs, and 11.2 inches low at 100 yards at 905 fps with 364 ft-lbs, a loss of 225 fps. Its recoil energy is the highest of the four.

The Hornady Custom 180-grain XTP is 145 fps faster at the muzzle with the same recoil figure within a fraction of a percent. At 100 yards the Hornady is 147 fps faster and lands 3.1 inches higher. The Winchester Defender 180-grain bonded JHP leaves 110 fps faster with about 5 percent less recoil. Only the PPU Defense 180-grain is slower, by 48 fps, giving up 99 ft-lbs at the muzzle for about 25 percent less recoil; by 100 yards the PPU is 44 fps faster and matches the HST's energy within 4 ft-lbs. Drop at 50 yards runs from 1.0 to 1.5 inches, not enough to change a hold.

Buy this if you want the heaviest bullet in a 10mm defensive load and your distances are short. Pick the Hornady Custom instead if you want the load to keep its energy past 50 yards. If recoil is the problem, Hornady's 135-grain MonoFlex produces about 41 percent less recoil energy in the same pistol. For practice, CCI Blazer 200-grain TMJ at 1,050 fps runs 80 fps slower with about 12 percent less recoil.