Originally Posted by AlongCameJones

I shot a borrowed Ruger GP-100??.357 6" back in 1988. The only time I ever fired that caliber. There will be certain times I need to conceal that "hoglet leg" (if an N-frame 6" is a hog leg to me, then an L-frame 3" is a hoglet leg) in a big fanny pack too so opted for the shorter barrel. I think of a 3" revolver as a semi-snubby.

Here is a guy (scrawny little old Mr. Hikock45) firing an all-steel Smith L-frame 686 .357 in a 3" w/ barrel underlug. It doesn't look too savage to handle with both hands. In a shorter barrel the velocity will be lower and so will recoil. Hikock's even has cut down-checkered wood grip (talk about pain) while mine has the full rubber grip, for more recoil cushion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn2XX81_kPU

1988, that was the first year I ever owned a gun, a new Remington Nylon 66 .22 That was the first year I ever fired any guns. I also fried a rented .45 and that aforementioned Ruger .357 at a range. I was 24 then and first went into the military later that same year and got to fire military weapons for the first time ever too. I was interested in guns and hunting at age 13, but my mother wanted neither me nor my brother to have any part of that so my interest in guns didn't resurface until I was into my 20's. My parents, though, did own some guns of their own since I was 16. My grandfather had died in 1980 and my mother inherited his 3 guns. My father shortly afterward went out and bought a Smith .38 from a police department and a Beretta Minx .22 for my mother's purse. Somehow, the acquisition of my grandfather's 2 rifles and an old junk .32 revolver that a gunsmith said was unsafe to fire made my parents interesting in getting 2 quality handguns for security.