Winchester markets its Power-Point line for whitetail and big game, and at 64 grains this load carries a heavier bullet than the 55- and 60-grain soft points it competes with. The Power-Point is Winchester's soft point, a lead-core bullet with lead exposed at the nose. It has a G1 BC of .251 and leaves the muzzle at 3,500 fps. At 300 yards it still carries 792 ft-lbs of energy.

Compared with Federal's 55-grain Power-Shok JSP, the Winchester starts 150 fps slower, yet from a 100-yard zero the two drop about the same out to 400 yards. The heavier bullet does better in wind. At 400 yards, a steady 10 mph wind blowing across the range pushes the Winchester about 19 inches sideways and the Federal about 23. The trade is recoil: the Winchester kicks about 28 percent harder in the same rifle. Compared with Aguila's 60-grain soft point, which Aguila markets for deer, the Winchester starts 260 fps faster and kicks about 25 percent harder in the same rifle.

Buy the Winchester if you want a heavier bullet that holds more energy and drifts less in wind than a 55-grain soft point, and you can live with more kick. Pick the Federal Power-Shok if recoil matters more to you than wind. Pick Barnes's 50-grain VOR-TX TSX if you want a copper bullet with no lead core and much lighter recoil. Pick Aguila's 60-grain if you want a bullet heavier than 55 grains with recoil closer to a 55-grain load. For varmints, Federal's Varmint & Predator 55-grain V-Max is a polymer-tipped bullet that Federal markets for predators and varmints, and it kicks about 22 percent less than the Winchester.