RW, since you are talking handloads for defensive rounds in your lightweight snub, you might try this out. Buy yourself a box of Hornady 148 grain hollow base wadcutters and load with a fast powder such as Bullseye or 700-X and when loading the bullet, load it upside down to where the hollow base becames a massive hollow point. Don't expect much accuracy beyond 10 yards or so, but in my experience it would shoot decently accurate to that range. And since those are swaged bullets, that is soft lead and should facilitate expansion at lower velocities, especially with that massive hollow base becoming a hollow point. And if you don't like the way they shoot after trying it out, load them normally and you will still have bullets that will do serious damage when hitting the target.