Glad you did your research about the chamber, there were many other brands that did not fully support the case although this has proven to not be much of an issue if you are using quality brass that you have inspected. I did not clarify either, the buldge did not take place in factory loaded ammo, only in reloaded cases that were either poor quality, out of spec., or loaded to the max. As far as the round, the 180 gr. sounds good to me, I am a .45 person myself and feel at the close range a handgun would be used, the bigger/heavier the better. A threat on the ground is much better than a threat still standing with a hole in them. How do you like the Steyr so far, I have never looked at one but am curious?