keyboard commandos
Don't listen to these keyboard commandos. I carry a 6.5 " 629 classic 24/7. I handload 180 grain hornady xtp bullets to over 1600 feet per second. There is more penetration with the 158 grain swhp +p "FBI load" in a 38 special. I use this load because it DOES NOT penetrate much more than 15-16 inches in gelatin. !80s, even in the fastest comercial loads or handloads, do not kick in a 45 odd ounce gun. The action is very smooth, right from the factory. The longer barrel, and hence, sight radius, makes hitting very easy. My scores at 50 yard bullseye shooting make all the old codgers at the shooting range green with envy.
I don't know everything, but I have carried this piece every day for over a year, and the longer barrel actually makes it EASIER to carry inside the waistband. The longer barrel puts more gun below the belt, which stabilizes everything better. It is probably a few tenths of a second slower to draw,but that's about all. I have killed deer and bullfrogs with it, and I can guarentee nothing will do more damage to meet than a light hollow point at 1500 feet per second plus.
The problem with these armchair quarterbacks is that they wuss out when something is loud, and has a visible muzzle flash. I promise you, the gunfight will be over before your eyes have a chance to adjust to the bright flash, anyway. Besides, did you ever hear of a flashbang grenade? It is the first thing swat teams do now, throw in a flash bang. It disorients the bad guys.
Don't listen to someone repeating what someone else told the guy that told them. If you can shoot, you can master the 44, especially with lighter bullets. I wouldn't reccomend 300 grain hard cast bullets for the 44, but I have personally seen 40 smith and wessons penetrate a lot deeper than my carry load (3x deeper) with full metal jacket.
A final thing, most of what is on the net is fourth and fith hand urban myth from some idiot gunwriter, rehashed, rewarmed, and served up to an earnest seeker after knowledge as if it were carved in stone on a mountain top. Use your head. I heard all my life that a carry gun should be small. Why? As above, a 6" barrel carries better than a four for me. It's the holster, stupid, not the gun. I heard all my life that a 44 will go through three houses and two schools and bust the engine block on a locomaotive parked on the other side. It's the bullet, stupid, not the calibre. You are probably a lot smasrter than most of the people giving you advice; you still ask questions, you're just asking the wrong ones.