Federal's Gold Medal 185-grain FMJ-SWC is a match load, not a practice load. The bullet is a jacketed semi-wadcutter, a flat-shouldered bullet that cuts a clean full-diameter hole in paper so a scorer can call a line shot. It leaves at 770 fps with 244 ft-lbs, a power factor of 143 that clears the USPSA minor floor of 125 and falls short of major. It sheds speed quickly: 704 fps at 50 yards and 645 at 100, with 3.5 inches of drop at 50 and 24.1 at 100 from a 25-yard zero. That is more drop than 230-grain ball, and irrelevant for a load built for the 25 and 50-yard lines.

Every comparison here hits harder. Winchester 185 FMJ, the other light bullet, runs 140 fps faster at 910 fps, and this load produces about 24 percent less recoil energy than it in the same pistol. Against 230-grain ball the gap widens: about 43 percent less recoil energy than Winchester 230 and PMC Bronze 230, about 46 percent less than Fiocchi Training Dynamics 230, and about 49 percent less than Ammo Inc Signature Series 230 TMC, which leaves at 890 fps with 405 ft-lbs, 161 ft-lbs more than this load. The 230s span 830 to 890 fps; this load sits 60 to 120 fps below all of them.

Buy it for NRA bullseye and other precision-pistol matches, and for a recoil-sensitive shooter who wants the softest jacketed .45 in this set. Do not buy it for USPSA major: at 143 it is 22 points under the floor, where Winchester 230 makes 192. Do not buy it as practice for a carry load either. Speer Gold Dot 185 JHP leaves at 1,050 fps, 280 fps faster, and this load produces about 40 percent less recoil energy than it in the same pistol.