thesyn

My recollection of shooting powerful handguns was that when one had to complete weekly club competition target cards. You really wouldn't want to shoot 40 rounds of factory loaded .357 ( always much more powerful than home loaded ammo ) and very difficult to use accurately, always opted for .32 hammerli 280.
This is of course different from the thrill of shooting something new!
Never found the .44 magnum gave that much of a kick either in Ruger blackhawk or S & W model 29 (Dirty Harry).
Worst handgun I ever fired for recoil was a 10mm ? made by Glock, cannot imagine that stayed in production long.
The practical pistol shooters used to use a round called a major 9, very wide case which could contain loads of propellant then necked down to a 9mm. Gave loads of energy for knocking over the big heavy metal cut out targets even they were only clipped. They were very loud indeed.