You can have a lot more power, and a lot more controlability in other, belt size autoloaders. For instance, in a J frame, 2.2" barreled 357, 125 gr jhp .357's are 1250 fps (at best). It's very easy for a 5" barreled, 8" long 9mm to get a 125 gr jhp to 1250 fps. The difference is that you can easily learn to get .20 second repeat hits with the 9mm, you will probably never get repeat hits with full charge mags, from a j frame 357, in less than .40 second. Why give an attacker ANY extra time in which to harm you? He might get off several "mere" .22's at you in that time, and any one of them can maim or kill you, or a loved one.
He doesn't HAVE to stop you instantly. He doesn't CARE about harming innnocents. You have to care, and you have to stop him instantly (or trust to LUCK). So you have to let him start first, and you have to be much better prepared than he is, or luck WILL be the main determinant of the outcome. The 357 snub is a bad choice. The Ruger will be a bit easier to manage in rapidfire, but heavier on your person. The Smith will have a better trigger pull, the ruger will stand up longer under lots of full charge practice ammo. The Ruger will probably cost a bit less.
I suggest that you look at a good 9mm instead. Like a couple of Star BM's, at less than $200 each, from Aim Surplus, J &G Sales, or SOG Int'l. That price is with a spare mag, retail, out the door, taxes paid. 7.2" long, 8 rd single stack mag, 28 ozs, nice sights, trigger pull, safety lever. It's a simplified, compact variant of the 1911, an SA auto, very durable and reliable.
Load your Star BM 9mm with CorBon's 100 gr PowRBall jhp's, for 1500 fps and 500 ft lbs of power, with very good reliability of feeding and expansion of the bullet. Practice with one, carry the other. Then you need not worry about wear or fouling getting to the carry pc. Of course, you need to put 200 rds of practice ammo thru it (and repeat every year) along with maybe 50 rds of your actual "carry" defensive ammo) but the other 2-5000 rds of annual practice firing should be done with the "practice-spare".
357 snubs, especially the smith, can't tolerate much in the way of full charge firing. 2000 rds, at most, for the smith, before major problems will surface. The ruger might go 5000 such rds. Still, as hard as a 357 snub is to control, you NEED to fire 5000 rds a year out of it, to achieve and maintain just a semblance of ability to use it well enough for defense. That much practice with a good SA 9mm will make you many times more defense-capable. it's just a lot easier to use the 9mm well.
9mm practice ammo is `10c a shot, 357 ammo is about 2x as expensive. You don't learn to control the 357 by practicing with 38 ammo,. and .38 ammo has considerably less stopping power than the 9mm Corbon load. Also, for under $200, you can find a used, 4", skinny-barreled variant of the Buckmark Browning .22lr, which has sights, safety, trigger, etc, close enough to that of the Star to make it a good "understudy" for you, on your way to mastering the Star 9mm. At a savings of 8c a shot, the Buckmark will pay for itself in a mere 2500 rds, and you can always sell it for $125. So it really pays for itself in 1000 rds. 1000 rds is just a nice day at the range, or 2 half days in a weekend.
