Hornady's 158-grain XTP is the heavy, standard-pressure choice among the .38 Special hollow points here: 800 fps and 225 ft-lbs at the muzzle. XTP is Hornady's jacketed hollow point, built for defensive use. The bullet weight gives it a power factor of 126, over both the 105 IDPA stock-revolver floor and the 120 USPSA revolver-minor floor, and it is the only hollow point in this set that makes 120. From a 25-yard zero it drops 3.0 inches at 50 yards and 20.0 inches at 100, where it still carries 198 ft-lbs. No +P rating is needed, and the brass case is reloadable.

It is the slowest hollow point in the group and the hardest kicking. CCI Blazer +P 125 and Remington UMC +P 125 leave the muzzle 145 fps faster at 945 fps with 23 more ft-lbs, yet the XTP makes about 22 percent more recoil energy than either in the same revolver, because bullet weight counts for more than speed in the recoil estimate. Federal Hydra-Shok Deep +P 130 is 100 fps faster at 900 fps and 9 ft-lbs ahead at the muzzle; the XTP still produces about 22 percent more recoil. Among the standard-pressure loads, Hornady American Gunner 125 matches the XTP's 225 ft-lbs at 900 fps with about 24 percent less recoil, and Speer Gold Dot 125 makes 208 ft-lbs with about 29 percent less. The heavy bullet pays back downrange: at 100 yards the XTP's 198 ft-lbs equals the UMC's and beats the Hydra-Shok Deep's 191, the American Gunner's 185 and the standard Gold Dot's 171, though it drops 5.4 inches more than the UMC at that distance.

Buy it if your revolver is not rated for +P and you want the heaviest defensive bullet in the caliber, or if you shoot a heavy-framed revolver where the extra recoil is no bother and you want energy at 100 yards that matches the +P loads. Recoil-sensitive shooters should look at Hornady Critical Defense 110 FTX, which makes about 29 percent less recoil energy in the same revolver at 1,010 fps and drops only 13.0 inches at 100 yards. For a practice load of the same weight, Speer Lawman +P 158 TMJ runs 900 fps with about 21 percent more recoil, so it is a hotter stand-in, not a softer one.