american eagle JSP's are exremely hot, i shot just a couple cylinders and learned quickly that an advertised velocity of 1500ish with a 158gr bullet is too fast for my snubbies and have delegated those for rifle use only, i assume they would make a decent hunting round. The Fiochi 142gr sounds nice, but still pushing 1400FPS with a "not-much-lighter" projectile. I can tell you from my limited factory load experience that the hottest of the hot is the HPR "hyper-clean" using 158gr XTP bullets, which is unfortunate sine they sell 500ct boxes at 17c a round for "blem's" that still use NEW starline brass. The nice medium for me is the Hornaday "custom" 158gr at advertised 1260FPS, comfortable for a snubbie, but to cost prohibitive for plinking. If you are not againt steel-cased, which i am not especially in a revolver(still seals the chamber showing no signs of burn on case mouths) tulammo sells a 158gr loading that is very comfortable and oly runs 16$ a box with decent accuracy and reduced bulk prices available online. Blazer brass JHP is mostly "affordable" for a box of 50 at under 40c a round, these match the velocties of the Hornady Custom load at a hair under 1250 w/158gr bullet. Search around, if you want comfortable, look for 158gr loadings in the 1200-1275FPS area, and although each will have different flash/bang characteristics which can change the "percieved" recoil, they should all be pretty comfotable. I tell you the absolute lightest SD/HD load is the Remington Golden-Sabre 125gr, but as you know these are priced with other premium bullets but have a velocity of 1220FPS(advertised) and are very accurate, i wish the projectiles did better ballistic-wise, if so i would carry these because they are stupid accurate in 357 and 9mm(i think the over-size "driving band actally makes a positive difference in accuracy) but the benefits are outshined by the expensive cost of over 1$ a round. If you want comfortable in a 125gr load, try to stay around 1300-1350FPS (advertised). i have not used Mag-Tech, but at 1230FPS with a 158gr i'll bet they are also not very punishing. It should be pretty simple to find a low-moderate recoiling round simply by reading the numbers. BTW, if you want defensive loads that are insane soft-shooters, check out the leverolution Hornaday Flex-tips, the bullet is so long with the massive polymer tip, that it leaves so litle room for podwer, it makes for a very slow bullet, still expand effectively...but these are not as ballistically efective as other 140-ish grain bullets in the penetration or energy department, and although the flex-tip does consistently promote expansion, i doubt they have much of an advatage over 38+P in a shorter barreled revolver, but they are very very nice shooting ounds with killer accuracy, these are very pricey and am only reccomending if you end up finding yourself very recoil sensitive and need a SD/HD round that produces SOME more power than a 38+P and is super controllable. Short-barrel Gold-Dots in 38 are great for what they are, but have huge clogging issues due to the massive hollow-point cavity.
I myself have found that MOST factory SD 357mag loadings are a little too stout for me, so although sacreligous to some, have found that handloading my own has made me feel much more comfortable. As i was unable to quickly shoot-off follow-ups with 357 loadings and feltthat even the stout 38+P's were somewhat insufficient, THAT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION, i love a lighter 357 load, like Sierra 125's or Hornaday 125's loaded 5% under starting loads with a very fast powder have given me the best of both worlds and my own testing has proved them to be signifigantly etter perfeormers in penetration and expansion of even the priciest +P's, they have let me stop being worried about what i carry and filled that power-abilty to make quick reaquisitions gap that i had with pouring $$ into factory loads. I have a few friends that felt the same way about their snubbies, some like them loaded to published min's, some just under, and some just 1-200 over 38+P's. my wfe for instance shoots a 110gr GD loaded slap in the middle between 38+P and min 357MAG....sorry to get off course there.
Try the Tulammo and see if it fits your bill for cleanliness/accuruacy/recoil/horsepower and if not, the MagTech's(although close to double the cost) would be a good choice as well as Blazer 158's. Make sure whatever ammo's you try, you write down the advertised velocities along with bullet weight, so you can keep track of what power level you find comfortable for future purposes.......and start handloading ASAP. with start-up kits being so cheap these days but still long-lasting and quickly producing accurate cutom-tailored ammo, your really missing out, especially on a round as fun and versatile as 38/357's, you have the power to load anything you can think up of, with min's in th 600FPS's all the way up to high's in the 1500+ rages, extremely versatile and one of the cheapest to reload for since the use of cast bullets are well tolerated by these calibers, i prefer coated/plated/jacketed bullets only in 1200+ 357mag loadings, but leading is almost never a problem with heavy 38 loads since your speeds are so slow. The investment for a Lee starter press kit and a set of dies is 130$ and your rolling.......hard not to justify the cost of equipment when you can crank out any load you want for under 20c a round if you have collected brass.
good luck.