armybass, The criteria for judging has always been the frame size and/or material. In theory the longer barrel WILL reduce battering due to greater weight ameliorating recoil to a small extent. Mostly it is a moot point since all of the steel framed Smiths have held up well to +P loads.....even back when they were stouter-the current +P really IS close to standard pressure of a generation ago as noted in another post.