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My own experience, back in the 1970s with some of Lee Jurras' Super Vel 90-grain JHPs in a Browning GP, was not very positive, nor was that of a couple of other folks I know of. At the time, it was about the most effective 9x19mm bullet available, either as a factory load or handloader's component, and was the bullet used in the .38 Super loads then carried by many US Secret Service folks carrying Colt Commanders and Government Models, including some of the guys on the Presidential Protection detail.

In my case, Spring of 1977: 4 rounds fired, at about 20 meters, going for headshots, and I got two for certain-I saw bits of scalp fly. The other guy got off two rounds from a sawed-off Universal M1 carbine, one of which passed between my left arm and my chest and burned the inside of the left arm just a bit. His other shot hit me just a bit south of my solar plexus, happily while I was wearing a Second Chance Z9 soft Kevlar vest, fairly new at that time. He droped his carbine and walked away. I considered a magazine dump into him, but was concerned that he might have pals along with him, and had but one full spare mag for the GP- and it had Finnish Lapua ball ammo in it. Thankfully, I didn't need it.

The first cop on the scene was our county sheriff, on whose advise I didn't bother filing a written report...and I got to keep the abandoned carbine out of the deal. About a year later, the guy with the bulletproof head died in a DUI accident [probably- it was a hit and run] on his Harley.

If he'd gotten past me, his next problem would have been my fiancée at the time, waiting for him with my Remington 870 with 8 rounds of Winchester short magnum #1 buckshot in it. She had the better idea.

I mostly carry 1911s in .45 nowadays, though the last serious shooting in which I was involved was a matter regarding a rabid dog about two years back, in which I used a Walther P.38- which has nice, large, very visible sights. The first one broke the dogs back/spine at the hindquarters, and the second one was a mercy shot, unfortunately NOT to the head, since that's the part the state board of health needs intact for post-mortem examination and testing.