The decibels is the reason I went from a six-shot 357 Mag Speed Six to a 5-shot 44 Spl Charter Bulldog; for less noise if I had to defend myself; no sense going dead in the process...
Then I went to a 7-shot 45 ACP AMT 1911, for more rounds of a similar-power round...
Then I found the ParaOrdnance 14-shot 45 ACP, and after 1,000 zero-malfunction rounds with Golden Sabre hollowpoints, I was hooked. With only 3/16th more girth than a 7-shot single-stack, I'm not sure why everyone doesn't prefer the double-stack, but having long skinny fingers makes it perfect (I'd still prefer it even if it only held 7 rounds; way easier to hit accurately with the double-stack's more rounded, revolver-like, grip).
I still alternate with an 18-round 9mm Lugar Taurus PT-92,which is about 10% faster on follow-up/double-tap, but mostly cuz I'm gettin old and like the hammer-down carry option...
But as a twenty-something in pharmacy school working evening and night shifts in bad neighborhoods, my carry gun WAS a revolver, just not a loud 357 Mag snubbed....
...it was a 7-1/2" Ruger Super Blackhawk in 44 Magnum...
....
hey, I only owned two handguns back then - the other was a Ruger Mark-I in 22 LR....
...'shoot em in the eye-socket....
I imagine the drama today if a 'college student doing their externship hours' was caught with a '44 Magnum' - if that had happened I'd probably have been thrown out of school, lost scholarships, and wound up a successful (I am smart at least) drug dealer. (
...I would probably have made far more money than I have by staying legitimate.... 
).
Such is life.
I still like the 357 Speed Six, but have NEVER shot it without hearing protection...!!!
