Re: the GP100
See, the weight isn't the whole story on the GP100, it's also overall quite a bit "fatter". Bulkier. Harder to make it a daily-concealment gun...but again, that's apparantly not what you're looking for?
The advantage with the GP100 is that it's the smallest-frame-size .357 can can still eat a diet of the very hottest .357 commercial loads, the "heavy hunting hardcasts".
With any revolver, there's a wide variety of power levels available for a given caliber. With the .357, that's taken to a crazy degree. You've got:
(NOTE: as you read this, remember that bullet energy goes up at an exponential rate as the speed rises, not a steady rate. What I mean is, a 148grain load doing 1400fps is NOT "twice as potent" as the same doing 700fps - it's one hell of a lot more than that. See also:
http://www.naaminis.com/energy.html )
.38spl target loads, such as a 148grain wadcutter doing 700fps, with recoil not much worse than a .22. If you ever suffer severe wrist damage and still want to shoot, these things won't hurt you and are still at least minimal acceptable self defense fodder. Probably better than all but the very hottest .32ACPs.
.38spl defense loads, such as a 125grain lead hollowpoint doing 800fps from a 2" tube. Recoil still very mild, the Federal Nyclad 125 is the best known example - a great "arthritic granny self defense round".
.38+P Defense. Now we're talkin'. We've got 158grain lead hollowpoints doing 850 from a snubbie, more from a 4" or more barrel. Or there's 110/115grain JHPs doing up past 1,000fps. Recoil from these can be stout in the lighter .38Spl guns, especially alloy/TI/Scandium. The SP101 user can handle the recoil of these no problem at all, due to the gun weight.
Light .357s: there are 110/115grain .357s made for the snubbie market. Some are quite good. Again, the SP101 can handle these great, but the owner of a TI or Scandium .357 snubbie is going to start to feel real pain. Steel-frame S&W and Taurus .357 snubbies are still in decent shape, although shot-to-shot control is getting difficult.
125 combats: The Remington 125 JHP .357 pulls just under 1,400fps from a 3" tube - now we're dealing with a serious load. The SP101 owner, with practice and a bit of grit, can deal with these...the guy with the GP100 is feeling no pain, the guy with the Scandium gun just broke his wrist. Literally. The guy with a TI .357 is in serious danger of wrist damage. Steel-frame S&W and Taurus .357 snubbies will be OK although a steady diet of these will eat the gun alive, and it'll take more grit than the SP101 owner needs to control 'em.
180/200grain hardcast hunters: CorBon sells these bad boys commercially, as do a few others - they head downrange at between 1200 and 1400fps. Some custom loaders do a 158 hardcast pulling 1,500fps, which is probably the hottest .357 possible. From a short-barrel GP100, there's some pain but it's possible to shoot small amounts of these. The guy with the SP101 is REALLY hurting. The dude with a steel J-Frame S&W probably damaged his wrist, and the TI/Scandium guns probably exploded, killing their owners
. Not really, but it'll sure feel like it, and damage to the gun is highly likely. These loads can kill more or less anything encountered in the continental (48 states) US, short of a stray Grizzly in North Idaho or something.
Most of the guns that can take even a modest diet of those monster hunting loads are bigger than the GP100, which is why that gun is so popular.
Anyways. Decide what you want. This may help you understand that there's .357 loads and then there's THREE FIFTY SEVEN loads
- some of those hunting loads are pushing the bottom edge of what the .44Magnum can do in terms of raw energy. CorBon does extensive warnings not to shoot these in too light a gun, and they're not at all joking.