Armscor's 147-grain FMJ leaves the muzzle at 850 fps with 235 ft-lbs. Power factor is exactly 125, the minor floor, with no margin; a chronograph reading a few fps low puts it under. It is subsonic by 275 fps, so there is no sonic crack behind a suppressor. From a 25-yard zero it drops 2.6 inches at 50 yards and 17.6 inches at 100, holding 822 fps at 50. Estimated recoil energy in a 1.9-pound compact pistol is 4.0 ft-lbs, the lowest of the six loads here.

The other 147s are loaded faster. Speer Lawman TMJ runs 985 fps, Magtech Flat Subsonic 990, and PMC Bronze 975: 125 to 140 fps ahead of the Armscor, 74 to 85 ft-lbs more at the muzzle, power factors of 143 to 146, and about 25 to 28 percent more estimated recoil energy in the same pistol. Fiocchi 158-grain FMJ runs the same 850 fps but with 11 more grains, which lifts its power factor to 134 and its recoil energy about 15 percent above the Armscor. Federal American Eagle 124-grain is the one supersonic load here at 1,150 fps, 300 fps faster, with about 18 percent more recoil energy. Drop at 50 yards runs 1.3 to 2.6 inches across the six, which does not change a hold at pistol distances.

Buy this as the softest subsonic load here, for suppressed range work or for a 147-grain practice load with the least recoil. Do not count on it for a match that chronographs at the 125 floor; Fiocchi 158-grain gives nine points of margin, PMC Bronze 147 gives 18, and Speer Lawman 147 gives 20. For a 147-grain hollow point rather than ball, Federal Premium HST 147-grain runs 1,000 fps with about 31 percent more recoil energy than the Armscor.