O.K., Conchmariner, here are my thoughts. Others may disagree, that's fine with me. Ultimately you will have to decide what to put in you .44.
I went to the link you provided, skimmed through much of it and mulled over the .44 magnum data the site provided. I carry a 5" 629, and have test fired different loads into Perma-Gel, which is a 10% ballistic gelatin substitute. I feel that it gives close enough test results to 10% gel to make apples to apples comparisons with results I find online. All of my .44 magnum test results, my own 165 gr. JHP handload, Federal's 180 gr. JHP, Hornady's 180 gr. XTP/JHP, Winchester's 210 gr. Silvertip and Remington's 240 gr. SJHP, are available in this forum if you do a search. Only two loads did not overpenetrate, my 165 gr. JHP handload, and Federal 180 gr. JHP. I consider anything that penetrates over 16" an overpenetrator (actually anything over 14" gives me the creeps) and will not carry that load if something better is available. That 300 gr. Hornady penetrated over 20" (I'm guessing it penetrated through the testing midia and may have hit a backstop that further expanded the bullet) in the results posted on that site. If you are in a shooting situation and there is an innocent person standing behind your assailant, you will likely hit them after the bullet passes through the shootee. While the expanded diameter of that Hornady load was lauded as one of it's great attributes, my test results show that the Federal 180 gr. JHP was recovered with an average diameter as good, or better IIRC, and that was after throwing off useful secondary fragmentation. Also, do not let the weight of the 300 gr. Hornady beguile you into thinking it is the more powerful load. The 5" test gun they used yielded a velocity of 1120 fps and 836 fpe. while Federal 180s did 1515 fps/917 fpe from my 5" gun (which I suspect is a slow gun). While I don't think muzzle energy plays much of a role in stopping power in weaker handgun calibers, I am convinced that it most definately can and sometimes does in more powerful ones. Much of the energy that the 300 gr. Hornady packs will be dumped into whatever is behing the target after it overpenetrates. Not only is that energy wasted, but it has worked against you, because you have already payed the price for it in recoil. The Federal cartridge not only posseses a higher level of energy, but should stop somewhere between 10"-14" pen. thus depositing more, or all, of it's power into the target.
Last of all, I recall in a past conversation a S&W customer service rep saying that S&W considered 240 grs. the largest weight bullet that was not needlessly hard on their guns and the maximum that they recommended.
