As a security officer protecting a private estate in a large city's most affluent area, I carry Hydra-Shok 158 grainers. I want the quick expansion of this design coupled with penetration for thugs in cars and for the BIG dogs that some residents occasionally let get out of their yards. You could almost put a saddle on some of those Dobermans and Rottweilers, and I don't fancy being bitten by one! There are also gray fox, raccoons, and opossums in the woods behind the estate, and I want to be able to quickly kill a rabid one of these, if need be. So far, I've just enjoyed watching them, although one male fox was pushing his luck, telling me that it was HIS neighborhood, not mine. I think it was a territorial thing, not rabies. Just didn't go too near, and he seemed to sense that he'd better not overstep himself by too much.
I carried Speer Gold Dot for awhile, but the bullet jackets turned very dull in color (I think they're copper, not gilding metal) and I didn't like that. I believe that Gold Dot holds together very well in tissue.
As for the lead SWC, it has been loaded in .357, but not as a hollowpoint. It was the ORIGINAL .357 ammo. Chick Gaylord, in his, "Handgunner's Guide" noted that a cop in Rochester, NY shot a holdup man several times with that load, and the bullets just went whistling through without expanding or quickly dropping the guy. That cop went to a Colt SAA .45! (That would have been about 1960; I doubt that Rochester cops can carry single-action .45's today!)
Elmer Keith gave lead-tin formulas for moulding his HP bullets to get expansion without excessive leading, and the Lyman 358156 has a gascheck base to avoid fusing the base of the bullet and getting heavy leading. Skeeter Skelton loaded it to about 1200 FPS, and had much success with it on game to the size of deer.
Indoors, I load the .38 lead SWC-HP or 125-130 grain JHP .38 rounds.
Lone Star