Comfort in carrying is important as if it is not comfortable you'll leave it home and not have it when you need it, or take it off at home and not have it when you need it.

However, comfort in shooting it is also a primary concern as if it's not comfortable to shoot, you won't shoot it enough to become proficient with it and maintain that proficiency over time.

It's a rare week that I don't put at least a couple hundred rounds down range with a handgun, with at least 25 rounds of that being from my concealed carry handgun.

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In general:

1. Even a 36-40 oz pistol or revolver is not hard to conceal carry all day long.

This is however dependent on using a good couple thickness leather carry belt and a well designed IWB holster. In my experience, leather is more comfortable against your skin than Kydex.

2. Even in .357 Magnum, a 36-40 oz revolver is comfortable to shoot.

Lightweight alloy frame J-frame category revolvers are popular to carry but painful to shoot. Consequently, they double down on the problem that the vast majority of people who shoot them don't shoot them anything close to well.

When you consider .38 Special short barrel ballistics (which are at best no better than the best .380 ACP loads, and often worse than most .380 ACP loads), the combination of minimal practice and poor terminal ballistics turns the alloy snub nose revolver into a very ineffective self defense weapon.

A steel J-frame or J-Magnum will weigh about 7 oz more than a comparable alloy frame revolver, but that extra 7 ounces improves the comfort when shooting a .38 +P load and it makes a .357 Magnum load at least minimally tolerable.

The Ruger SP 101 is about 4-5 oz heavier and further improves the comfort of shooting it, and it will hold up to stiff loads better than a J-Magnum frame revolver.

The K-frame is where the .357 Magnum starts to be practical in a short barrel revolver in terms of shooting, and 2.5" ballistics start letting you get a 125 gr bullet up into the 1250-1300 fps range.

A .38 +P load in a 2.5" revolver will deliver velocities in the 1050 fps range with the same 125 gr bullet and it's actually pleasant to shoot.

3. All other things being equal, a snub nose revolver will be more comfortable to carry than a semi-auto of similar weight and dimensions.

Semi-autos tend to be uniformly thick in the slide and grip and contain more actual internal volume than revolvers that only have maximum thickness at the cylinder, with otherwise slim barrels and frames with thinner grips that is usually the case with a semi-auto in the common 6"Lx4"Hx1"W format.

4. Revolvers tend to be less comfortable to shoot than a semi-auto pistol that is of similar weight and overall dimensions.

This is an artifact of both grip shape and the mechanics of semi-auto operation. Locked breech semi-autos in particular are very good at spreading the same amount of recoil energy over along period of time and producing less perceived recoil.

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Over the last 30 years I've conceal carried a number handguns including:

5" steel frame 1911 in .45 ACP
Browning Hi Power in 9mm Luger
3" alloy frame 1911 in .45 ACP
CZ Compact (9mm Luger)
4.25" LW Commander in 9mm Luger
S&W 6906 (9mm Luger)
Walther PPK/S in .380 ACP
Kimber Micro (.380 ACP)

1 7/8" S&W Model 36 in .38 Special.
1/8" S&W Model 60 in both .38 +P and .357 Mag.
3" S&W Model 60 in both .38 +P and .357 Mag.
3" Ruger SP101 in both .38 +P and .357 Mag.
3" S&W Model 13 in .357 Mag
2 1/2" S&W Model 66 in .357 Mag
2 1/2" S&W 686+ in .357 Mag

The pistols in Red were great to shoot, but they were not comfortable in all day carry.

The revolvers in Orange were comfortable to carry all day, and were comfortable to shoot in .38 +P, but were not comfortable to shoot in .357 Magnum.

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My carry preferences are:

The 4.25" LW commander in 9mm Luger.

This is in large part because it fits me well, I shoot it extremely well due to years of practical pistol competition with the 1911, and the 1911's superb trigger and short trigger reset along with the mild recoiling 9mm Luger allow for very fast and accurate double taps, controlled pairs and failure to stop drills.

Either the 2.5" S&W 686+ or Model 66

There isn't any significant difference between these two in how they shoot. I shoot both of them well and they are both very manageable in .357 Magnum, although .38+p still allows for more rapid follow up shots due to reduced recoil, at the cost of about 200 fps in bullet velocity.

The 686+ does offer an extra round, but that's not a significant consideration and it's partially offset by 4 oz more weight. It is however more durable than the 66 with .357 Magnum loads and over the long term that's a consideration if you only own one of them.

These two revolvers are more concealable in summer clothing than the LW Commander, however, I also carry the Kimber Micro in a pocket holster as back up or as the primary when really light summer wear is required. It replaced the PPK/S in that role. It's not quite as accurate, but it is very reliable and easier to pocket carry due to lighter weight.