Best thing is to get to a range and to see what you can handle. I was little nervous shooting a .44 magnum the first time, but actually found it wasn't that bad. It was a Ruger Redhawk with a longer barrel (not sure the length) - a bigger and heavier pistol that soaked up the recoil pretty good. I actually found it more pleasant to shoot than my friends compact SIG in .40 cal.

People hear horror stories and get afraid for no good reason. I'm not a huge guy (6 foot, 175 pounds) and the .44 mag was very pleasant to shoot. We weren't shooting super hot loads, but in my mind, shooting a moderate .44 mag load is better than a hot .357 load.