I shot a friend's 44 magnum that had a 2"-3" barrel, something like that. It didn't hurt my hand. It was dark outside and the fireball was very impressive.
If someone got a 44 magnum snubby and decided that even mild magnum loads were no fun, he could just shoot 44 specials out of it. They have modest recoil in my experience and are good for SD for anything short of bears and dinosaurs.
I think that the Rossi model that I see every now and then is 2" or 2.5". IIRC, they were a special batch made to sell at Academy a few years back. I think they are on the Taurus Tracker frame. My understanding is that many of them had QC issues. The ones I see from time to time on GunBroker seem to be factory reconditioned. Is there a Taurus version, too? I own two of the Trackers (a 22 and a 44 special) and like them both.