Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: 1st 2=.40 IQ Aguila 95g 1500 fps I've never seen those tested.  Would they penetrate so much as a heavy sweater? Only pastel sweaters.  Green, dark blue, and black are especially resistant to these bullets. -Troy

Quoted: Quoted: 180grain Winchester Ranger T....because the Leos use them. They have to be good. Just because the LEOs use them, does not mean that they are good.  I am a LEO and several of the guys I work with, along with me, have been trying to get our department to switch loads.  I am not impressed with the Ranger XT.  The only reason that I carry them in my personal .40 cal guns is because I get plenty free.  (I know this is a poor excuse.)  I have convinced my dad to change his .45 defense load to Hydrashoks.  I wish our department would change, but change is a bad word. There are some stats compiled, that I have seen in the past, on the performance of different bullets in officer-involved shootings.  I can't find it now, but I will post it if I can locate it.

There is a difference between the Ranger SXT bullets you're (apparently) referring to (the ones with the black bullets) and the new Ranger T (copper bullets).  The Ranger T is a significantly better performer than either the Ranger SXT or the HydraShok, both of which are older 3rdGen designs.  The Ranger T, Federal Tactical, and Speer Gold Dot bullets are newer, 4th Gen designs with bonded cores, and perform much better and far more reliably than the older designs.  This was predicted by scientific lab testing and confirmed (and continue to be confirmed) by LEO performance on the street.

The folks who are recommending these loads have access to medical/surgical records, X-Rays, autopsy reports, and so on IN ADDITION to the reports from the involved officers.  You aren't going to find anyone else with such complete data, and most reports are written based on significantly less data (and a few with blatently made-up data, such as Marshall & Sanow).

Your initial assertion (don't trust something just because some cops may carry it) is absolutely correct, because many departments have made awful ammunition selections, but in this case, Ranger T is about as good as it gets.

-Troy