It seems the Hornady 155 XTP is a favorite, I was interested in the Berry's plated bullets since they are inexpensive and I will just be using them for practice.  If I recall the XTPs are around 99/500, and the Berry's are around 60/500.  I don't mind spending the extra money if the bullet is more accurate or more closely mimics the behavior of the TAP ammo, but within 25ft I'm not sure if I would see much difference.

For a plated bullet I have had accurate results with Rainier 165  HP.  For jacketed bullets I like Nosler 135gr or 150 gr.  For 180 gr jacketed I like Montana Gold.

One of my loads for .40 is a Berry's 180 grain in front of 4.2 grains of Titegroup for approx. 900 fps.  It's a good, decently accurate target load for me.

I shoot jacketed bullet exclusively in .40 S&W. I like the 135's because they offer zero recoil to speak of. The 150 class seem to be the most accurate in my handguns, Hornady's 155 included. They offer a nice balance of superb accuracy, high velocities, reliability and manageable recoil.

I have never tried the plated bullets. I always compare the price of my reloaded ammo to commercial of the same quality and convince myself I'm getting a steal as is.

I use 180 gr. Frontier bullets that I get locally. These bullets have an extra thick plating compared to most other plated bullets. A near max charge of 6.8 grs. of Power Pistol gives me an accurate full power load.

I'm definitely interested in the 135 gr bullets, not sure what is available for defense ammo commercially, but with a small pistol (Walther PPS) lighter might be better.  I've heard people say its not a good idea to use reload for defensive ammo for reliability reasons, and that if you ever had to use it you may face some scrutiny from authorities regarding your load.

Forget the plated and go with real Jacketed bullets for less $$ than plated.  I never understood the attraction to plated bullets when lead is half the price and jacketed is equal or less.

http://www.precisiondelta.com/product.php

http://www.rozedist.com/

I disagree.  I've shot 10s of thousands of jacketed and 10s of thousands of plated bullets in my 40s&w, 45acp, and 10mm handguns and thousands of 357mag in my leverguns.  Jacketed bullets like Precision Delta are good but I've found Zeros (Rose Dist) to be a bit better.  To be honest, I've moved mostly from jacketed bullets to either Berry's or X-Treme plated bullets from TJ Conevera's inc.





I expecially like both their Berry's FP and HP versions in 165grn ($98/1K) and 180grn ($105/1K).  I've shot a ton of the 180grn (1,000fps) in my 40s&w and a half ton of the 165grn (1,503fps) in my 10mm.  





Their 158grn .38/.357HPs currently are my favorite levergun bullets and I push them well above 1,800fps with no issues and great accuracy even out to 300yds!




 
 

Nobody has ever come up with a case history whereby an honest citizen rightly defending himself from attack was prosecuted or sued for using homemade ammunition.

I load Nosler or Sierra 135 grain bullets seated at 1.135"
8.2 grains of Power Pistol = 1200 fps.
Maximum velocity using this powder is claimed to be as high as 1340 fps. I see no need to run them that hot.

This load does not recoil much, is pleasant to shoot and pretty accurate. BTW - The same bullets are used by a couple of companies at the exact same velocity (1200 fps) in "reduced recoil" loads.

That's a pretty good price, Rose has free shipping, add the $11.50 flat rate that TJ charges and were are back to only a few buck for 1K.