Black Hills loads this 148-grain hollow-base wadcutter, a flat-faced lead target bullet that cuts a clean round hole in paper, to 700 fps and 161 ft-lbs at the muzzle. Power factor is 104, which falls under the IDPA stock-revolver floor of 105 and well under the 120 USPSA revolver-minor floor, so it is not a match load for either game. From a 25-yard zero it drops 4.4 inches at 50 yards and 30.4 inches at 100, having slowed to 630 fps by the 50-yard line. It is a 25-yard bullet, and the drop past that is expected. Recoil energy is the lowest of any lead load in this group.

Winchester Super-X 148-grain WC is the near twin: 10 fps faster, 5 ft-lbs more, about 2 percent more recoil energy in the same revolver, and within 0.1 inch of drop at 50 yards. The 158-grain round-nose loads are a step up in everything. Remington UMC 158-grain LRN and Magtech 158-grain LRN leave at 755 fps with 200 ft-lbs and produce about 28 percent more recoil energy than the Black Hills. HSM Cowboy Action 158-grain runs 840 fps and 248 ft-lbs for about 52 percent more recoil. Sellier & Bellot 158-grain LRN, at 997 fps and 349 ft-lbs, produces roughly twice the recoil energy of this wadcutter.

Buy this for bullseye and paper-target work at 25 yards, where the clean hole and the soft recoil are the whole point, and for teaching new revolver shooters trigger control without a flinch. If you need to make a power factor floor, Winchester Super-X WC reaches the IDPA 105 exactly, and HSM Cowboy Action at 133 clears both floors with margin. If you want practice that feels like a defensive load, or a jacketed bullet for ranges that restrict lead, Speer Lawman +P 158-grain TMJ produces about 70 percent more recoil energy in the same revolver and needs a revolver rated for +P.