There really shouldn't be any such thing as a unreliable revolver. In my experience with .22 wheel guns they always go bang unless the cartridge is junk. Now accuracy is a different story. I would avoid a snubby if you plan to hit anything.
Snubbies are not inaccurate ! They do have a short sight radius and in .38 cal & up, can be a handful.
A guy on this site gave a great tip about shooting varmints w/o property damage. He keeps a 9 shot revolver filled w 22 shorts in the corn crib and it dispatches them humanely w/o excessive damage.
Snubbies are the ultimate trainers because you must concentrate on the fundamentals. Revolvers have an advantage over autos in that they can shoot shorts, longs, long rifle or shot shells.
IMHO - still hard to beat Ruger auto. NIB as low as $269 in my area. Why - High Stds revolvers are hard to find, SW is over priced but still top dog, and Taurus is a crap shoot. (they do have a sweet new 22 LR/22 Mag model though)