If this is your first handgun OWNED, you're making a big mistake, in spite of the fact that I love the S&W 44 mag and received my first as my High School graduation present. (By the time I graduated, I was a fair pistol shot, a reloader, a bullet caster, and owned several handguns and a few long guns.)

Your first handgun owned (eat, sleep, shower, etc. with it 24/7), should be a .22, or if you're really well off, a 38 or 9mm. That first handgun should be shot so much your fingers wear out from reloading it. You need to buy ammo, lots of it, and spend your time grounding yourself in the fundamentals of marksmanship, so that you can later move on to bigger calibers or higher-capacity handguns.

Starting with a forty, let alone a 44 is doing a disservice to yourself, at this stage. Find a nice Mod. 17 (I think Smith just came out with a 10-shooter version), and shoot a brick of 22s per week for a couple months, and you'll be on your way. Start with a 44 with factory loads, and you'll build yourself a flinch that you'll play heck trying to overcome later. I'm working with our newest officer on this, because we issue 40s, and this officer had ZERO experience, they've got a really good flinch, unless I slow down and talk them through it shot-by-shot. If we'd start them with a 22, this wouldn't be so hard...