CCI loads Blazer Brass 124-grain with a full metal jacket bullet at a listed 1,090 fps and 327 ft-lbs. Power factor is 135, about 10 points over the 125 minor floor for USPSA and IDPA. From a 25-yard zero the bullet sits 1.5 inches low at 50 yards and 10.9 inches low at 100, and it is down to about 1,014 fps at 50. Estimated recoil energy in a 1.9-pound compact pistol is 4.3 ft-lbs.

Among the 124-grain ball loads on this site, Blazer Brass sits toward the soft end. Armscor 124 lists the same 1,090 fps, so the two are identical in recoil and nearly identical in drop. PMC Bronze is 20 fps faster with about 3 percent more recoil energy in the same pistol. Fiocchi Shooting Dynamics and Maxxtech both run 1,150 fps with about 10 percent more recoil, and BPS at 1,210 fps about 19 percent more. Ammo Inc's Total Metal Coating load is the only one softer, at 1,017 fps and about 11 percent less. Drop at 50 yards varies by half an inch across the group, so none of them needs a different hold.

Buy Blazer Brass if you want a standard-pressure 124-grain practice load that tracks the recoil of a standard-pressure 124-grain carry load without running warm. It is also the sensible pick for a subcompact, where the 5.1 ft-lbs estimated for BPS is more than most people want over a long session. If your indoor range requires a bullet with no exposed lead at the base, Ammo Inc's TMC is the one load here built that way. For harder hits on steel or more margin over minor, BPS delivers 76 ft-lbs more at the muzzle and a power factor of 150.