I recently tested .45 FMJ rounds from five different manufacturers. They included +P ammo from BB and DP. I tested the rounds through a 2 x 6 into a stack of glossy magazines. While hardly scientific, it does provide a good basis for comparison. I fully expected the boutique stuff to penetrate the farthest, especially since they were also flat points. I was totally surprised to see that this Federal ammo out-penetrated everything else. I finally figured out why. The jacket on this ammo is very thick. The other bullets, although they had higher velocity (950-1,000FPS instead of 890FPS) broke apart and fragmented. This ammo did not deform. Well done Federal. It is all I will be using for woods carry.

I've fired Federal before and everything was fine. This time, I had no problems as far as function went. (And that's the most important thing.) But I was surprised how dirty the gun was afterward. I hadn't fired it in a while, so I cleaned and lubed it before I went to the range. I had multiple patches from the slide and barrel come off solid black. I still have several hundred rounds left and I plan to use them but I'll set more time aside for cleaning. If this is what Federal means by "clean burning powders," I hate to contemplate what they would consider dirty.