"I have read and heard that it does not have enough velocity out of a 3 inch or under
revolver to expand"
I load jsp over 296 in .357 as my hunting load. A local "expert" gave me the same "some guy said" story, and I loaded my model 65 3" with my hunting loads and told him to shoot the water jug. Convinced him...after his vision recovered from the flash enough to find the bullet.
Now what you do need to avoid is buying .357 JSP bullets and loading them in .38 SPL, which is probably where the tale started. Speer makes bullets especially for .38 Spl Short Barrel.