Hornady's Critical Duty +P drives a 220-grain FlexLock bullet at 975 fps with 464 ft-lbs. FlexLock pairs a polymer tip with an InterLock band that locks the jacket to the core, a design Hornady aims at duty use. Its power factor of 215 clears the 165 USPSA major floor by about 50 points. The heavy bullet holds its speed well, at 927 fps at 50 yards and 887 at 100, with 1.9 inches of drop at 50 and 13.4 at 100 from a 25-yard zero. This is a +P load: check that your pistol is rated for +P before you carry it.

The closest match is Federal HST 230: Critical Duty is 85 fps faster with 60 ft-lbs more and about 6 percent more recoil energy in the same pistol. Speer Gold Dot Carry Gun +P 200 beats it at the muzzle by 105 fps and 54 ft-lbs with about 2 percent less recoil energy, but the gap closes downrange; at 100 yards the two carry 384 and 383 ft-lbs. Speer Gold Dot 185 is 75 fps faster with 11 ft-lbs less at the muzzle, and this load produces about 25 percent more recoil energy than it. Hornady Custom 200 XTP gives up 104 ft-lbs and Hornady Critical Defense 185 gives up 131. Critical Duty has the most recoil energy of the six, about 38 percent more than the Custom XTP.

Buy it for a +P-rated .45 when you want a heavy bullet at more speed than a 230-grain load and can manage the most recoil in this group. For practice, PMC Bronze 230 FMJ produces about 16 percent less recoil energy in the same pistol. If your pistol has no +P rating, Federal HST 230 is the nearest standard-pressure match.