So, I usually carry a 442, and very recently switched to the Gold Dot 135gr +p rounds from the HST 130gr rounds. The Gold Dot has a good track record in real world shootings, but I previously didn’t want to carry it in an alloy frame gun because of the excessive recoil. Despite the HST also being +p, it had significantly less recoil for me. The change I made was switching to Ergo Delta Grips.
These grips are pretty darn ugly, but it drastically improved the shootability of a J-frame for me compared to Hogue Bantam boot grips on the gun that it wore previously*. And now I feel comfortable to carry a more proven round, which also is a lot easier to reload than the HST.
*I went from not remotely being able to do a one successful string of a 5^5 drill with the Hogue grips, to handily being able to clean a string of five with the delta grips. Both drills were run with 148gr HBWC.