ErikS had the best advice for you Jeff having recently experienced
what you are asking about doing in your firearms experience.
My first handgun was a S&W Model 18 medium frame .22 LR I was young
and money was dear so the inexpensive cost of the ammo allowed me to
shoot a lot more than any centerfire cartridge. It also with it's light recoil allowed me to learn proper sight alignment, trigger control, Single Action (SA)
and also Double Action (DA). It served me well on the farm in my teens
I have S&W revovlers in small, medium, and large frame sizes of various calibers, including a medium frame 686 with a 4" Bbl. feels great balance wise but when I shoot full power loads, it has a supersonic blast, and a big
flash from unburned powder, as well as great recoil THe Magnum means it uses slower burning powders that need longer barrel lengths in order to brun completely I'd rather have a .357 Mag on the large frame and a 6" or longer barrel. I also have a small J-frame that has a 3" Bbl. chambered for .357 Magnum, I limit it to .38 Spcl. +P for shooting and it's quite enjoyable. THe .38 SPcl +P also fires at below the speed of sound so for a home defense weapon there's no sonic BOOM and less muzzle flash as well as greater recoil management.
IF or when you are confy with revolvers and want to experience semi-autos I'd recommend a platform that has the option of a .22 LR conversion kit. IT usually means you change the slide, barrel recoil spring and magazine, but you use the same frame thus grip as well as the same trigger.
Good Luck, and go with ErikS/s advice as well
Randall
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