Easy answer is .44 Special, 230 grain LRN. That is EXACTLY what I loaded in my 3" Model 629 when it was my bedside gun, before I happily sold it.

44 Magnum is - IMHO - just about close to the worst ammunition you can use for personal defense, indoors or out, EXCEPT - MAYBE - against bears. But we're not starting a "bear thread" here.

Take your 44 Magnum to the range, stoke it with full house .44 Magnum loads, and play Dirty Harry. Aim at a silhouette target at about 7 yards and fire off six exciting rounds at a reasonably fast pace. This is a gunfight so you can't stop, recover, reacquire your sights, you have to kill your attacker NOW.

Count the good hits.

Do it again with .44 Special rounds.

Count the good hits.

Then decide.

Try it one handed..................................................................

Don't worry about where the misses go, through which of your home's walls, into whose room or which neighbor's house, etc. Those little niceties can't be a distraction in a gunfight. Just count hits.