I am pasting a quote from another thread. This represents my own experience with Speer Gold Dot 357 mag 135gr Gold Dot short barrel ammo. Not to say that other brands and projectile weights might not do as well, but the following experience has led me to continue to carry this particular load when I carry one of my light weight 357
"I have the M&P 340, which weighs about two ounces more than the 340PD. I have shot it quite a bit. I currently carry 135 gr. Speer Gold Dot short barrel.357 magnum rounds in it. I have shot the 158 gr full house loads in it, and they are brutal. Mostly practice with 38 +p handloads (my own), loaded into .357 cases. The Speer loads are pricy, at well over a dollar a round, but you won't be shooting many of them, and they are about the best compromise between managble recoil and minimal muzzle flare that you are going to find. I had the opportunity to field test this combination when I first started carrying this revolver. A hunter had wounded a deer on my property (hunting there with my permission), and just as I had returned home, I was getting out of my vehicle, when the badly wounded deer came into view, quartering right in front of me. My guest yelled at me to finish it off if I could, as he was not in a position to fire because of farm buildings. I shot the deer with the little M&P 340, and the Speer 135 gr gold dot load. It stopped the deer, and when my friend dressed it out I was able to recover the spent rounds (2). They had penetrated about 15 inches, and had expanded perfectly, like something fired into ballistic gelatin. They had also both maintained almost all of their original 135 gr weight. I believe that they weighed in at less than a grain less than the original 135. This was phenomenal performance, and I have carried this firearm with great confidence since. By the way, I did not even notice the recoil when I shot that deer, and I'm sure that you would not notice recoil if you were using the firearm in a defensive situation. I have many carry options, as I am a collector, but if I were to only have one gun for carry, this would be an almost ideal mix of weight, caliber, power, accuracy and reliability. I have thought about getting the one that you mentioned, just to add to my collection, but you won't go wrong with either the M&P or the PD in the 340."
I now have a 340PD, and carry the same load in it. Just an afterthought, but as others have pointed out, shot placement is the most important factor, so extensive practice with whatever you carry is a must. As I noted above, I have developed a handloads that replicates the recoil and point of impact of my carry load, and using this in practice reduces costs dramaticly, especially with as costly a round as this.