My first Contender had a 14 inch 44Mag barrel. The problem was that the pistol grip had a fancy thumb rest. I never had trouble shooting 44Magnum from a revolver; but damn that grip was horrible. I switched it for a T/C grip with a rubber back strap. It went from painful to pleasant.

I havent tried any pistol barrels on my Encores and Im just as happy without the huge desire to add pistol barrels. I do shoot a 16 inch 300 Black Out that is very short (even with a suppressor mounted.