JR, Not only are you fine, you have the most effective combat round available in a handgun. You'll get all kinds of oppinions and I'm gonna give you mine. Shoot it as much as you can afford to and think about becoming a handloader. It is not as difficult as most people imagine, to do it right and handgun ammunition is easier than rifle and a good place to start. There are many fine and knowledgeable handloaders here and your not likely to ever get incorrect advice and if you do someone will post to correct it. You cannot buy factory ammo that will come close to the potential of hunting loads that you can develop yourself.
None of you need to get nervous! Factory 125 gr. JHP's are the Kings of combat! You can however duplicate them easily if you reload. I really encourage any of you guys to take this up. I don't know a lot of serious handgunners that don't unless it's people that are in a profession where their duty and practice ammo is provided. As far as handgun hunters the list narrows even further. On top of that, it is a great and very rewarding hobby that will vastly increase your knowledge of ballistics.
What I'm suggesting to JR is to shoot often to become acclimated to recoil, and it is highly overated in .357! Especially in a gun the size of a GP-100.
I agree that a 6" barrel length might be long, but that's the one you have, and around the home or even in the car if you have a concealed carry license, there are few better, so keep shooting and when you get to the point where you also wonder what all the fuss is about regarding recoil in the .357, it's probably time to think about the next one. You also need to practice double action firing and don't worry about accuracy or what anyone else thinks. Start at 7 yards and move back to 15 as your ability increases, but, at a couple of yards at a time.That will be far enough. When you can hit the head of a silhouette 6 times in double action fairly quickly your quite a ways ahead of the pack. This is just a practice for developing DA trigger skill, because the center of mass (chest) is where you want to become proficient in actual defensive shooting practice. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to shoot an attacker, but train like you will and with all of the information on the internet and of course TV and the movies, it's not out of the realm of possibility that you could be confronted by someone wearing body armor and practicing headshots will make a lot of since at that point.
I do have a little experience on this topic and if I were asked for an oppinion regarding a self defense revolver in .357, it's a no brainer. A 3" Ruger GP-100 or Smith K Frame. Maybe Smith will wake up and give us a 3" L Frame if they're gonna discontinue the K. If you want to get a used one from a dealer with police trade-ins, it's a good option as soon as you can afford it, and if you trust the dealer. Otherwise get an experienced wheelgunner to with you and examine it first. Forget about adjustable sights on a combat revolver. they will snag your clothing and are unecessary. A fixed sight 3" revolver will shoot to the point of aim at combat distance. If you go smaller, don't get a lighter weight gun than is absolutely necessary. Sp-101 5 shot rugers or K frame sized snubs are as small as I would be comfortable with as a recomendation and if you get a 15 oz. .357 and shoot it with .357 ammo, you're in for a shock! I've seen guys struggle with them with .38 Sp. +P and if you don't shoot it, it's not going to do you any good unless you've also got a four leaf clover in your pocket!
The most knowledgeable oppinions I have ever read on the topic of using the .357 for game say use it and I have. You are not undergunned for Deer, provided you know what the maximum distance of your shots should be and you select the correct bullet. The accepted test limit usually involves the distance you can place all six of your shots into a 6" circle, offhand (the heart/lung area of a Whitetail Deer). If you use a scope no doubt you'll want to tighten that up to about 4". Usually the distance recommended for the.357 is 75 yards max. But, again it depends on the load. There is good, safe load data for 158 gr. bullets that will achieve 1600 FPS in strong revolvers like the GP or the L Frame. That will give you 900 Ft/Lbs of energy at the muzzle and put you in the vicinity of factory loads in .41 and .44 magnum. I'm not going to kid you the .41 and .44 are more effective, but the only way to get more appreciable power with them in a factory load would be with the 180 JHP in .44 mag that a lot of folks believe has a jacket that's too light for Deer. The best factory loads in .41 and .44 mag for Deer are loads intended for the purpose. Personally, I use the .41, but I also handload. I also like to pack a revolver on rifle hunts. You may have to perform what I call a Coupe de gracie, cause I don't speak French and probably can't correctly spell Coup de gras! (corrections welcome)
As soon as you can, order some Wolf gunsprings and install the lighter weight trigger springs. You can install the hammer springs also, but you don't want a hammer spring lighter than the factory weight. or it will increase the locktime of trigger pull to cartridge ignition. The lighter trigger spring on the GP-100 will help you with accuracy when shooting single action and doing this makes getting a .357 for full time defense a little higher priority. My recommendation for the Wolfspring packs would be to go with the lightest trigger spring and the heaviest hammer spring. It's a good way to go for a field and range revolver, but best to wait until you get a full time carry gun before you change the hammer spring.
Hope this helps JR!
) Sorry, I was thinking about the .45 Colt. I had read a review of the Ruger SuperBlackhawk in .45 Colt and drooled all over the room. 
That gun with the Corbon +P loads look like a match made in heaven.
). This thread has taught me a lot, thanks. My next gun is going to be another .357 now. I'm starting to feel that if a .357 is not enough, I probably need a rifle. 