[OKSooner]

Some of this depends on barrel length. For snubbies, (less than 3"), Speer 135 grain "short barrel" loads are made in both .38 and .357 caliber. They use a powder with a faster burn rate to work better in the short barrel.

Other than that, my personal favorite .357 load is the Winchester 110 grain HP. It seems to not get a lot of attention as a self-defense round, but I had a former police armorer tell me it has over a 90% one-shot stop percentage. For shootability in a .357 round it's the bee's knees. I daresay if I could only have access to one round in .357 that would have to be it.

There are also those who strongly recommend learning to use a speed-loader or speed strips if you're packing a revolver.

[Victor]

Mine is a 4 inch barrel; thanks for the advice. I do have 110 gr HP loads.

[Shooter 2.5]

Good advice and I second the advice on the speedloader. Not so much on the Speed strips.