Jon,
I would grab the Hydra-Shoks and go forth. I spent quite a bit of time agonizing over this when I was carrying my GP and 3" M65 regularly. While I
prefer Silvertips or Gold Dots, I would take what I could get. We're fortunate, in some respects, that revolvers are able to utilize a variety of bullet types, it makes exposed soft lead, or mixed-medium bullets available that wouldn't work (well) in a bottom-feeder. And case length gives us that dash of extra juice to make those bullets work just as well as modern bonded JHPs from semi-autos that we all love.
I do agree that it is a shame that modern bullets haven't really evolved for the revolvers yet. The closest is the HSTs for .38s and the Gold Dots. The 140-grain Barnes are great rounds, but overkill for 2-legged critters. I'd
love to see Federal make a ~145-150 grain HST in .357" size for both .38s and .357s. Such a round should be extremely reliable from a 2.5"+ revolver. Alas, the reality seems to be low demand.
Anyways, I'd confidently carry the Hydra-Shoks or even the blue-box stuff if I knew it shot accurately from my gun.
PS: I do really want to like the Buffalo Bore - 140-grain Barnes Bullet "Tactical" Load -
https://www.buffalobore.com/index.ph...t_detail&p=324 - 140-grain bullet at 1250fps should be a sweet spot. I'd love to see some Gel-testing and live medium testing of it.