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If you are going to carry, I suggest you get past the "no tail" thing; consider it your bull dog or dobie...! No need for a SA trigger for defensive carry, and the hammer is just a lint and snag magnet. I have a particular fondness for S&W Centennials. I have one that I had Wygend do his "Executive Companion" mod pack on about 20 years ago and it is amazing.

My current carry fav is a S&W .357 Pro Series that comes with really nice combat night sights fore and aft and a cylinder recessed for full moon mags. Amazing how accurate these little buggers are with decent sights. Just one ragged hole at 7 yds. and the Hornady 125 gr. FTX .357 load is managable. Liked it so much I ordered a second one in March so I could run a pair port and starboard, but it must have been one of those dreaded "gun of the month" variants on the production line and I missed out on remaining stock before they were all gone.

Anyway, the 60 series S&W's mentioned earlier are also nice. This is a case where you are probably ahead if you can find an older used one. I have noticed their attention to detail slipping lately. The cylinder gap on my Pro Series is big enough to drive a truck through, and it could use a little trigger work. Just haven't found a 'smith yet I trust enough to work on it.

The Rugers are also fine guns, but IMO, S&W still rules when it comes to wheelguns. I had a Taurus 85, and while it was functional, it just wasn't in the same league. That was a long time ago though; perhaps their quality is up now.