What's wrong with a soft 250 grain SWC with or without a HP loaded in a 44 Special casing and driven to about 900 fps from a 4" barrel?
It might be a little slower in a 3" barrel but not by much. If it has a hollowpoint and it expands, great. If it doesn't expand, also great.
In a perfect world I would have two molds. One that dropped a 250 grain Keith style SWC and another mold with HP pins that dropped a Keith style SWC that weighed about the same with the hollowpoints.
Bullet expansion is the icing on the cake.