If you don’t already have pistol powder sitting on your shelf, you are probably out of luck. I’ve been trying to resupply for months, only a few bottles of rifle powder at the shops and no luck even at the gun show.
If you can find powder, for a short barreled light gun, you want a lighter bullet with faster burning powder.
For self defense rounds, buy ammo, don’t reload. To get proficient, load and shoot a lot. I’ve shot 10s of thousands of rounds, a good portion of them 185 grain cast bullets sitting on top of 5 grains of bullseye or Red Dot.
If you have one nearby, head to a gunshow. Get there early, the line for supplies is the longest you will see there.
Oh sorry...saw you tried. Live in Az where it’s common and no issue.
Powder is hard to find. I started reloading to make some light loads for my Ruger LCR. Later, I made the mistake of shooting some of the reloads in a larger revolver. One went ‘poof’ instead of bang. Bullet stuck in the barrel. Thank God I stopped shooting.
primers are hard to find, especially CCI primers, but pistol powder is off the shelf here in GA; same for the brass and bullets.
Online places have ‘em, but what I don’t have a feel for yet is what is a good price, and what is a rip-off.