A Minor power factor carried scoring penalties and so there was an incentive to make the Major qualification. As the power factor calculation is proportional to bullet momentum and as the very large proportion of recoil is proportional to bullet momentum, it is immediately clear that the 9×23mm Winchester had essentially the same power factor and recoil as .45 ACP. The true benefit of the 9×23mm Winchester came from two things. Firstly, more rounds could be fitted into the magazine and that, in general, allowed fewer magazine changes to be made in the course of a contest task spread over multiple targets. Secondly, the higher operating pressure of the 9×23mm Winchester meant that a compensated pistol, where holes or slots in the barrel project high pressure gas upwards before the bullet leaves the barrel, had a greater ability to reduce the upward flip of the muzzle under recoil. That meant that users of the 9×23mm Winchester were able to return to target in less time than with a compensated .45 ACP pistol of otherwise identical design. Since speed was a major element in the scoring system within IPSC competitions there was an obvious advantage to the 9×23mm Winchester over the .45 ACP. This double competition benefit of the 9×23mm Winchester was the motivation behind Ricco's design and Winchester's production of its almost identical twin. Because Ricco had used Winchester to produce his prototype cases and they had then used the design themselves, Ricco was able to sue Winchester and after some 7 years he won his case. The 7-year delay to production caused by the court case effectively killed the cartridge because the IPSC had changed the power factor boundary from 175 to 165 before Winchester started production. The reason for this was that many pistols based on the 9×19mm Parabellum, 9×21mm, and .38 Super Auto were being used beyond their safe pressure limits for the same reasons that made the 9×23mm Winchester desirable. Many were blowing up, causing the IPSC to reduce the power factor boundary to one that could be reached with those cartridges in safety. When the 9×23mm Winchester came to market with its much increased pressure ceiling, produced by thickening the web section of the cartridge case, it was no longer needed. As it is perceived as a purely competition cartridge it has made almost no penetration into the self-defense world. The performance of the 9×23mm Winchester is similar to and sometimes exceeds the .357 SIG because it runs at higher pressures. (These figures can match or exceed the factory ballistics of a .357 SIG in a 4-inch test barrel at 1350~1475 fps.)