i would never listen to what the FBI says is the best ammo. Remember when they were telling everyone that 147gr 9mm's were the way to go? Now downloaded .40's.
What's a "hoot" is the breadth of your lack of knowledge about the "mid-range" (165-grain) .40 S&W, the projectile weight which has been
the superior performer in that chambering since Peter Pi (who, given his pursuit of the hot-rodded 135-grain JHPs, clearly didn't know what he had wrought) back in mid-1991, at a time when the cartridge had been in commercial production barely a year.
Everyone was trying to get into the ".40 S&W game" with the 180-grain in which the caliber was introduced by Winchester and S&W at the January 1990 SHOT Show. Other manufacturers and OEMs had been going nuts trying to get a 180-grain bullet…
any 180-grain bullet… to perform with reasonable accuracy so they could get on dealer shelves with product.
The problem was that the .40 S&W's 1:16½-inch twist specified by Kevin Foley at Smith & Wesson, and the 180-grain projectile @ 950 fps (originally 980 fps) developed by Olin, was a bad marriage, and if you recall, Winchester quickly introduced a pair of 155-grainers (one in STHP) in an attempt to deflect the consumer dissatisfaction with their original product.
CorBon, who'd been looking to produce a near Mach II 10mm with a lightweight projectile, jumped into the .40 S&W race with a 135-grain, a 150-grain, the obligatory 180-grain… and almost as an afterthought, a 165-grainer, probably simply because Sierra offered a .400 bullet in that weight.
From the jump, it performed heads and shoulders above all the other .40 S&Ws, even at the elevated velocities that Pete likes to push his product. It was accurate, it was consistent, and most importantly, non-CorBon samples in that weight weren't showing any of the signs of increased pressures that have plagued the chambering from the start.
Calling the FBI's .40 S&W issue round "downloaded" is silly (not to mention unsupportable), and to disdain it in the manner you have, is ignorant.
The FBI makes enough blunders without creating another out of wholecloth!