Vanity: I need advice. What weight cartridges for this gun?

[Melinda in TN]

My husband bought this .357 Magnum for me from a man that said he couldn't shoot it because it was too powerful. It came with a box of 110 grain .357 Magnum hollow points and a box of 158 grain .38 Special LRN. I can shoot both sizes with ease so I don't know what his problem was. My question is, will the 110 grain .357 Magnum HP be effective in it for self-defense or are they practice quality only? I want a weight that is effective but not more than I can easily handle since this is my concealed carry gun.

[epow]

For decades street cops were required to use this very load

My brother in law's stepfather was an FBI agent back in the 1960s. When he died a couple of decades ago my BIL inherited his .S&W model 10 revolver, which was what the FBI issued and also approved as personal guns for off duty carry at the time. He also got several boxes of standard FBI-issue Remington 158 gr RNL non-plus+ ammo along with it. He gave me a box and I still have 20 or so rounds of the stuff which I have kept, I guess kind of as a keepsake of a really good guy who died way too young.

I have often wondered why an agency of the size and reputation of the FBI would handicap it's agents with such a poor combination of gun and ammo. Even in the '60s it was well known that hollow point ammo was by far the best choice for combat use, and the .357 had been around for many years.