A few years ago, I had to make a similar decision. I shopped around and tried the .357 mag, .41 mag and .44mag. I liked the .41 the best, but at the time there was no non-magnum load available for it. I wound up with a .357 because the .38 practice rounds were cheaper(not a good enough reason). To this day I regret not getting the .41 mag. The gun was not for shooting critters, so you would have to ask someone who has hunted with it to know how it would perform at distances past 25 yards.