Black Hills loads its 240-grain jacketed hollow point to the middle of the .44 Magnum range: 1,260 fps and 846 ft-lbs at the muzzle. It is a conventional hunting hollow point. With a power factor of 302 it clears the 165 USPSA major floor by a wide margin, as every load compared here does. Zeroed at 25 yards, it drops 1.0 inch at 50 yards and 8.2 inches at 100, where it still carries 597 ft-lbs.

Federal Power-Shok 240 is its closest match. The Black Hills is 30 fps faster with 40 ft-lbs more and about 4 percent more recoil energy in the same revolver, and the two land less than half an inch apart at 100 yards. Hornady Custom 240 XTP runs 90 fps faster, prints 1.3 inches higher at 100 yards and produces about 13 percent more recoil energy than the Black Hills. The milder HSM Pro Pistol 240 and Armscor 240 are 114 and 163 fps slower, and the Black Hills produces about 18 and 27 percent more recoil energy than those two. Magtech's 240 SJSP, at a power factor of 388, generates about 55 percent more recoil energy than the Black Hills.

This is a middle-of-the-road choice: enough speed to keep holdover modest out to 50 yards, with recoil a practiced shooter can manage through a full range session. Shooters who want the lightest-recoiling 240 should look at Armscor 240 instead. For full power in a hard-cast bullet, Hornady Backcountry Defense 240 carries 1,398 ft-lbs, 552 ft-lbs more than the Black Hills.