Originally Posted by SeamasterSig

A five-shot 38 caliber J-frame with extra ammo in speed strips or speed loaders is perfectly suitable for any realistic and likely (sub)urban self-defense scenario. If you have a premonition one day about walking into a protracted gun fight or mass shooting and possibly needing "more gun", that's not exactly self-defense. Off pavement, on the other hand, I prefer something a little more powerful than a J-frame snubby, but it could still serve in that role much of the time loaded with heavy hardcast semi-wadcutters and shot shells.