I started out on center fires with a Security Six. I put a Hogue on it because the grip was tiny. LOL I never thought of my hands as being especially large, but I could wrap my fingers around that grip twice. It kicked like a mule, though, with the same loads I feed my Taurus, revolvers. I had a LIGHTER Rossi M971 that was very nice to shoot with those hot .357 loads. There was just something about the grip angle or something on that Security Six that pounded the shooter and it had a lot of muzzle flip. It did look like the barrel bore axis was well above the hand compared to a lot of revolvers. I even have a SP101 2", 27 ounce gun, that's more pleasant to shoot hot loads out of, go figure.
Thing about the medium frame guns is they carry well. L frames and N frames are heavy on the belt. There are some lighter L frames out, now, but I still prefer a K frame sized gun for outdoor carry and, yes, it's plenty with 158 or 180 grain loads for any black bear. I do have a .45 Colt Blackhawk that pushes a 300 grain .45 at 1200 fps if the .357 seems weak, but the 4" 66 is easier to tote. It's my hiking/camping gun. We don't get out a lot, right now, but we will soon as I can get a daughter to GET A JOB AND MOVE THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE. Sorry, touchy subject. Having to raise a grand daughter at the moment I didn't really have anything to do with, oh, well, won't go into that.
But, anyway, yeah, with certain loads the ol' .357 is hard on ANY forcing cone, not just K frames. This is why the .357 Maximum didn't go over, it ate forcing cones in Dan Wessons and Ruger Blackhawks, virtually melted 'em. With a sane load, though, and sparing use of anything hot, a K frame will last a long, long time. I shoot primarily .38 out of my .357s, not just the medium frame ones. I just prefer shooting the milder loads. I have a very hot 180 grain load I hesitate to fire in my Taurus revolvers, but they'd probably handle low levels of it. I think I'll fire a few groups out of the 4" sometime. This is a great load to carry for hunting or bear/critter defense. I've killed three deer with a mundane 158SWC load, though, and have full confidence in that load to get any job done afield. It's also my practice load, 14.5 grains 2400 behind my cast, gas checked Lee 158 SWC. It's a tick off the fire breather loads, but gets the job done and I have less concern that it'll hurt one of my guns.
See, this example is why Taurus doesn't warranty guns that have been fired with handloads. Some people are just idiots. Give 'em a press and they'll try to turn a .38 into a .357 maximum. I don't know how they're going to prove this guy fired handloads in the gun, though, probably cover the damage I'm guessing. If I knew the guy's name and address, I'd send it to Taurus and warn 'em. LOL!
It just snowballs on those sites. Most of the bashers have never even picked up a Taurus and if they did, it was "EEEEWWW, a POS!" 
