Any .357 diameter bullet has an issue: it can be used in both .38 Special and .357 Magnum. If they stay together at magnum velocities, expansion at .38 Special velocities is a **** shoot. There are bullets made specifically for use at .38 velocities, but finding those can be interesting.

Try this-fill up a number (5 or 6) 1 gallon milk jugs (rinse them well after they're empty, otherwise the mold flying around is nasty!) with water and line them up touching each other on a level surface so you can shoot into them at about 15 feet. You should be able to recover the bullet to evaluate expansion. Estimate penetration by measuring how far the bullet went in water (6 inches per jug) and dividing by 1.55 to convert to tissue. The whole procedure is somewhat more complicated to get an accurate penetration distance, but this is a usable quick & dirty.

[IIRC, if the bullet cracks the back of the water jug its found in, the bullet gets credit for full penetration of the jug. If it penetrates the jug its found in and cracks the front of the next jug, add 3" to the full penetration of the jug found in.]