I have shot my brothers LCR in 357 and we mixed 38 and 357 at random ans spun the cyliner and handed to the other and the. Sot it. That is only like a 19 ounce gun and the recoil with 357 was noticeable but not crazy.

The main reason I want 3" barrel is for two reasons. One is signt radius, the other is to have less performance loss. I'm not sure you get much performance gain in 357 over 38+p from anything less than 3" barrel. If going down to. 2" or 2.25" barrel, may as well stick with a gun with "only" 38+p limit.