I generally leave the 45 ACP alone. I believe that a cartidge and pistol combination that has worked for this long (almost 100 years) must be doing something right. Years ago when RBCD rounds came out, they had some problems like MagSafe rounds. Yeah they can work, but then they start having problems like shooting a guy with a leather jacket on and it starts to fragment in the jacket and penetrates 2 inches. Yes, pretty big hole, but flesh will stretch. The average yuppie guy on the street would probably fall down, screaming for momma, but some street hoodlum, jacked up on meth or roid rage, might not even flinch. You have to reach the vital organs for blood loss and organ shut down.
Over the years, the 230 grainers and 200 grain JHP's have perfomed the best on the street. Is it a "Death Ray"? NO!!! No handgun round is. But when we start putting low penetration rounds into a gun that normally does not overpenetrate anyway, we tend to lose something. I'm not saying that some specialty rounds won't work. But it just seems that we're stepping outside the bounds of what is really neccessary for a pistol cartridge. Light and fast isn't always better. Big and slow isn't always better. Penetration always matters. But find what works, and go with that.
I understand the Jello and box shooters and what they are doing for testing and performance standards. I don't try to dispute what they do. I highly question a guy that shoots a water jug and makes a big splash and chooses his round on the "big splash". If I ever get attacked by a jug of water, I'll take that into consideration. But 4 men in my Family, my Dad, My Uncle, My Grandfather and a cousin all had to shoot men in the line of duty or in self defense during a robbery. ALL of them were shooting 230 grain FMJ. 3 were shot with 1911's (one was a Colt Commander), the fourth was a S & W 4506. 2 were on the street law enforcement, one was a robbery of a business, the fourth was an armed robbery by an individual in a bank parking lot. All four of the bad guys when hit, collapsed immediately and never moved again. All 4 were center chest hits. It's hard to argue with that. Use something that's proven, hit'em where it counts, and carry a reliable gun. Hard to argue with that!