Speer makes short-barreled ammunition for most common combat cartridges. Short barrel ammunition is much more important for revolver cartridges, since they use much slower burning powder. Auto cartridges use fast burning powders which makes them very efficient even in short-barreled guns, making the need for specialized loads much less me necessary. Speer And Buffalo Bore are the only makers of short barrel .38 special and .357 Magnum that I'm aware of.
Personally I think .357 magnum is a very poor choice for self defense in a short-barreled revolver. The recoil noise and especially muzzle flash gets horrendous out of a short-barreled revolver. To compound the issue velocities are drastically reduced when you cut the barreling down to 2 inches. I'm of the opinion that anything less than 4 inches of barrel in any magnum revolver cartridge is basically a waste of time.
Modern .38 special +P is a much better choice out of a snubbie. You get very good terminal performance with MUCH less recoil, noise, and blinding muzzle flash. The Speer .38 special Short Barrel load meets all of the FBI criteria except for the car door test. That's pretty impressive performance for a sub-compact, pocket revolver. I stoke my Colt Cobra with the Speer load.
Agreed on all counts.
