Back when I had my Charter Arms Bulldog, I loaded warm 240 hard cast SWC's when I carried that gun backpacking in bear and moose country. For self defense of the two legged variety, I would probably load a dead soft swaged lead 240 grain SWCHP to about 900 / 950 fps. Sort of like the old FBI load, on steroids. The Gold Dots have a pretty good reputation as well.

Larry