As SD guns in black bear country, I carry a S&W 329 for backpacking and a Ruger Alaskan for car/ATV camping....all 2.5" barrels. Hornady 300 gr for some reason doesn't suffer to badly from velocity loss with the short barrels, so I am happy to be getting around 1069 fps velocity/761 ft-lbs energy with that load.

I also have a 7.5" Ruger SRH. I'm not a hunter, and while the SRH is lots of fun at the range, it is to big and heavy to be of any practical use hiking and camping. Hornady lists the 300 gr at 1150 fps velocity/881 ft-lbs from a 7.5" barrel.

For practice, I shoot Remington 180 gr which is usually more reasonably priced, and has less recoil than the Hornady's.

You will find this interesting (JJ Hack posts)! http://forums.accuratereloading.com/...10798#43810798