An alternative for you might be an SP101 38 Special using 110 grain standard velocity hollowpoints. They should be pretty tame out of the SP.
Or buy a small frame 22 and do all your practice with that and use +P ammo in your carry gun. Not likely you would notice the recoil in a gunfight with a BG. I have one of the aluminum J's in model 317 that I use for DA carry practice. Or the snubbie Taurus 22 would work as an understudy gun.