Heavy Calibers

[Win]

I have a Taurus Tracker (?) .44 Mag in the 2 inch barrel ( snubby ) version, and the recoil is formidable. Light that thing off in an indoor range and you can feel the pressure waves bouncing off the walls. I'm sure it's stopping power at short range is considerable. The muzzle blast might be lethal. Even on my end of the barrel, it makes me nervous. I don't think they offer the snubby any more. Probably a good decision.

I'm not sure .44 Mag in any barrel length and apartments are a good combination. You can shoot .44 Special from it, and AFAIK from any .44 Mag gun, and it is a nice gun with that load.

I sometimes carry the .38 special only version of the LCR. I find it unpleasant to shoot even with .38 special.

 

[John_Conrad]

the 357 has always been my favorite hand gun as mentioned above i would practice with a lot of 38 spl and then finish with a dozen 357 for recoil practice with those.

 

[bunnspecial]

I'm assuming with the OP living in NYC, concealed carry is not really a consideration.

With that in mind, to me there's no compelling reason to buy a 5 shot, small frame revolver. The recoil is worse(although an SP101 isn't as bad as a J frame) and you lose one shot. I'd tend toward a "service" sized gun with 6+ shots and a 4" or so barrel. The 4"-to me-is a nice combination of maneuverability and accuracy(although I like a 5" even better). Among Rugers, the GP-100 or the older Service/Security line would be at the top of my list. For S&Ws, I'd like a 19 or its stainless equivalent, or possibly a 586/686 or even an N frame(27/28).