Check ballistics on a 2in 357, might not be what you thought. I have carried the S&W Model 38 for years, now I would not recommend a steady diet of +P's. You should be alright for SD purpose.
Lots of old wives tales in this thread. My model 66 snubbie clocks 1250 fps with a 158 grain XTP bullet with one of my handloads verified with two different chronographs on different occasions. And that's a STARTING charge right out of the book! It's a hand full tho...
Just want to add a bit of published data to the mix.
In speer reloading manual #14
+P 138 gr GDHP SB out of 2 inch barrel of S&W M15 2"
Powder
unique (starting load=SL - max) 728 - 834fps
powder pistol (SL - max) 797 - 845fps
Viht 3N37 (SL - max) 760 - 823fps
357mag 138 gr GDHP SB out of 2.5 inch barrel out of S&W 19
Powder
unique (starting load=SL - max) 971 - 1109fps
powder pistol (SL - max) 1046 - 1137fps
Viht 3N37 (SL - max) 874 - 1012 fps
Too bad they did not test 357 loads in a 2 inch barrel or vice versa
This beckons the question.... how many fps does .5 inches add?
The Gold Dot Short Barrel loads in .357 are not full power magnum loads. Look up the standard 125 grain loads and you will see way too much velocity difference to explain 10 grains of bullet weight. The gold dot SB bullets have a much larger HP than the standard gold dot bullets and won't handle the velocity, they'll just disintegrate so they are down loaded.
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