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when they failed (in that S&W 586) they put a circular hole in the target (from the bullet) with a halo of little slices around the primary hole where the plating went through the paper.
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I still have the targets. I always bring them home for more extensive evaluation and I can tell you for sure that there are no halos. The holes from the load in question are cleaner than all the others. The plated bullets are flat nose. All the other loads I tested that day were Montana Gold JHPs. Flat nose seems to always make cleaner holes than hollow points.
I don't have a chrony (and if I did I doubt they'd let me set it up at the range) but I don't think I'm getting anywhere near 1200 fps. The estimate for the load data is closer to 1000. My concern is more about exceeding the "mid-range for jacketed bullets" rule. Although looking through a loadbook for .40 S&W, I'm finding loads that go as high as 8.5 gr of A #5 for 165gr Speer Gold Dots so I guess I'm not as close to max as I thought. The Accurate powder data doesn't list 165gr bullets but they put 155 gr bullets at 7.5gr max and Nosler 170gr JHPs at 7.2 max.
I always have Power Pistol on hand. It's my primary powder for 9mm. My results with PP have been mediocre in .40 caliber so far except with 155gr Hornady XTPs. I got a 1.27" group at 25' supported which I would never settle for with the Witness match, but so far it's the best I've gotten out of the XD since I got it from my bro-in-law in February. I know it's unfair to compare a tactical pistol to a target pistol but I want to squeeze out whatever I can.