45 ACP - 185 gr FMJ - Speer LAWMAN - 1000 Rounds

Video Transcript:

ATK is the world's largest ammo manufacturer and the parent company for brands like CCI, Federal, Speer, and Blazer. Speer is the self defense arm of ATK and is responsible for products like the well-known Gold Dot brand. Lawman ammo from Speer is actually not self defense ammo, but it's under the Speer umbrella, because it's specifically designed as training ammo for self defense.

Speer Lawman is loaded to mimic the recoil impulse and point of impact of defensive ammo, but uses less expensive full metal jacket bullet. This helps keep costs down for people who want to practice with a load that's similar to their preferred self defense ammo. Speer Lawman in 45 ACP is available with either a 230 grain or 185 grain bullet.

Today, we're taking a look at the lighter 185 grain. The lead core bullet is encased in what Speer calls a total metal jacket. This jacket completely encases the bullet leaving no exposed lead on the base unlike a more traditional full metal jacket. This makes Lawman better suited for indoor ranges where you want to keep lead vapors to a minimum. The bullet is seeded in a reloadable brass case with a non-corrosive primer.

The recoil impulse of the lighter 185 grain bullet was a little different from the more typical 230 grain loads that we've tested. But, I wouldn't say it's dramatically softer or more hard. If you use a 185 grain load for self defense, then it's definitely worth shooting a few boxes of this Lawman load, so you can get used to the slight change in recoil.

Despite using the less common lightweight bullet, this ammo worked great in all six of our test guns, and we didn't have any feeding or ignition issues. Accuracy was also good with our 10 shot group hitting right around our point of aim. The accuracy test was performed from the bench at 15 yards using a Springfield Armory XDM. Lawman provides a great training alternative to expensive, premium defensive ammo brands and is even competitive with some of the lower cost, budget range and training ammo.