The .38 S&W is not now and never has been a decent man stopper, including the new rounds put out by Buffalo Bore, they are just making the best of a bad situation. Of course a .38 S&W is better than nothing. As far as +P goes, the +P of today is a shadow of its former self, usually giving no more than extra 50 FPS with the same weight bullet(read lawyer influence here). Buffalo Bore makes some good ammo and I have used it both handgun and rifle, and the short barrel loads are good, as are the Critical Defense by Hornady though I prefer the Critical Duty by Hornady.
BTW: In a Trooper or other .41 frame Colt you can shoot +P till the cows come home and it will not hurt the gun, after all they used essentially the same frame for the .357, the only change being a floating firing pin.
One of the worst .38 S&W loads ever built were the 200 gr RN slugs for the British Military, it moved out at a rather slow 600 FPS, slower if you used less than 5" barrel. Used in a 2" barrel you can literally see the round loping down range if you stand in the right position.
I have experimented with the Buffalo Bore .38 S&W, but was more impressed with their iteration of the .32 S&W, SWC and flat point WC.