I carry a 329NG backpacking in black bear country, and a Ruger Alaskan when camping off of vehicles where the extra pound of weight doesn't matter. The Hogue Tamer grips on the Alaskan and the weight of the gun, make it an absolute pussycat to shoot, and the Pachmyer grips on the light NG do a good job as well. Both have 2.5" barrels, and I load Hornady 240gr XTP's. I prefer lighter/ faster bullets with short barrels, because a heavy/slower bullets just doesn't have enough time to get going from a short tube.

I have a .454 Alaskan as well. Here again I load the 240gr Hornady. If you are worried about velocity loss from the short tube, remember that a .454 from a 2.5" barrel has more umph than a .44 from a long barrel, but that is a lot of gun to drag around for hiking/backpacking!