I am an unabashed K frame groupie. I like em all. My first experience with one was in the Army when they issued me a M10 pencil barrel RB to pack as an aviator. Later as a cop, I continued the affair with a M10 HB and in 1970 I got one of the first 64 pencil barrels with a RB. Still got it. So naturally I have a clutch of 64/65 series with various barrel weights, lengths, and butt shapes. I even have a 65 that I had a 3" LS barrel installed on, really neat looking and has some actual use advantages, but not so much advantage that I would do it again. The 3" 65 (or 64 for that matter) is an ideal packing weapon. Like most folks I know, I use hot .38 special loads instead of magnums for most everything. I suppose that the botique .357 loads will give one some more oomph in the 3" barrel, but not that much more that it would be significant in real life. It is my HO that using a hot .38 load in either 2,3, or 4" barrels will do just as much for practical purposes as the magnum loads generally available, and give me better recovery times to boot. Proper bullet placement is primary, followed by penetration, with everything else, including bullet expansion, a distant third. I tend to stick with hard cast or jacketed SWC, with or without a HP(with the HPs being somewhat softer lead), moving at 900-1,000 FPS. They will do the job every time. Remember the first .357 magnum load was a 158 gr lead SWC, to which a cup was added later to reduce leading. And that slug did wonders on just about everything, albeit at about 1300-1400 FPS. It still works well at the lower velocities.