In one test, the author got 54 inches of penetration in ballistic gelatin out of the Fiocchi ammo, the bullet stopping only once it hit a bulletproof vest placed behind the gel blocks.

I hauled out all the water jugs that would fit on the table. Fourteen one-gallon jugs (I only had the two gelatin blocks) lined up side-by-side. That's as many as the table allows. Seven feet of water, with 28 plastic walls. The bullet went through those and the 2x4 I had propped up at the back to keep the jugs from falling off the table.

My next test was at a law enforcement class where I'd have access to a dozen or so blocks of gel. There, I stacked them four in a face, three blocks deep. As each block is 18 inches long, that gave me 54 inches of gelatin.

On a hunch I draped an old bullet proof vest panel over the back. I needed it. Three of the four bullets were against the vest, having exited the back of the gelatin blocks. The fourth? Who knows. It managed to penetrate the whole stack, miss the vest and keep going.

In case anyone wasn't paying attention, this is not the ammo you want to be carrying for defense. At 54 inches plus of gelatin penetration, you can count on pretty much 100 percent of the shots you hit bad guys with to exit their far side.

NYPD found that out the hard way when it issued full-metal-jacket 9mm ammunition with bullets leaving the muzzle at almost 300 fps lower velocities. In the crowded confines of New York, they were starting to experience frequent bullet exits on felons and had bystanders struck by some exiting bullets.

I could see issuing or using this ammo for defense in some specialized situations. A state trooper or highway patrolman, for instance, working around cars all the time, might want this load in the second spare magazine on his or her belt.

As my friend Mas Ayoob has pointed out, if things have gone on long enough that you need the third magazine, the other guy or guys are probably behind cover. For a trooper, "cover" means automobiles. You can expect this load to do better than any other handgun round when it comes to sheet metal and auto glass.

Except for that need to penetrate cover, I can't see using this for defense. But as practice ammo it is first-rate. It is accurate, it hits to the same point of aim as the other, hollowpoint loads I tested alongside it, and the recoil is comparable. If anything it is even a bit hotter than some of the JHPs I tested.

If you have the desire, the empties are eminently reloadable. Just keep in mind that the .357 Sig has a short case neck, and neck tension is very important. If you don't have enough neck tension you could get bullet setbacks on recoil and feeding. At the pressure of the .357 Sig, even a small increase due to bullet setback would be bad.

Those of you who are in love with the .357 Sig cartridge or use it because it is your issue round, you should seriously consider this as a practice load. And maybe, just maybe, for that second spare magazine on your belt.