Sam,
In truth their is such a small performance difference between various manufacturers ammo that with rare exception based on performance no ammo deserves to be labeled as special.
In the case of the Winchester Ranger line, several factors have lead Winchester to sell the ammunition only to LE Depts. requiring an official letterhead:
The first is that a great many of the loadings are in fact high pressure (+P+) loadings, to avoid the liability associated with these pressures and consumer pistols being damaged they sell it to LE agencies who are supposed to have modern firearms only in good condition, also the LE agency cannot sue the manufacturer for liability.
The second reason with the Ranger T is that it is the bullet designed by Alan Corzine formerly named the "Black Talon". After the long island railway shootings a great many politicians and news agencies labeled the subsonic talons as the "death" bullet.
Of course Winchester and we all knew better….
Winchester voluntarily withdrew consumer sales and offered the line in a new generic package as the Ranger SXT.
During the second generation of the Ranger SXT they developed a loading that was based on the consumer SXT bullet and labeled the Talon bullet the Ranger T.
Third,
One of the little known reasons is two fold, first the LE loadings use lower flash powder and in certain contract runs the bullets themselves are stamped for "easy" identification at the request of the issuing agency in the hope of easing bullet identification and ammo theft issues.
As to the question is the third/fourth generation Ranger Talon a superior product? Absolutely, it has become a truly remarkably well engineered bullet. It offer very good performance under a very wide range of circumstance and environment.
As always please use and rely on only the equipment you have personally tested for purpose and function.