I use a DW 357 MAX. for silhouette shooting and have used nothing but my own home brewed cast bullets for over 20 years with no ill effects.
If you can order the cast with the largest Dia. ie, .359 or .360 over .358.
If you use a lot of 38 Spl. cases you should clean the cylinders after every use or a little build up in the cylinder will hamper loading Mag. case loads.
As for home defence, Apt's I'ld use "glazer" loads, for Home then I'ld use factory loads like the Speer Gold Dot, Hornady XTP's ect. The key word is factory loads