The holes in the barrel shave lead off non-jacketed bullets.
When you handload for .44, hard lead alloy LSWCs are a great choice -- definitely not something you want to categorically eliminate.
Now if you're talking about a separate screw-on muzzle brake like the one long-barreled Smith on the first page of the thread, that's probably not a problem with lead bullets; I was referring to ports in the barrel itself. Porting is the more common approach to compensating a revolver like this.