I agree with GRH here. If Taurus would offer their snubbies in 3" with no porting.... Then again I'm kinda partial to three-inch guns. They balance better and you really don't give up a lot of concealability with that one more inch of barrel. The added ballistic advantage doesn't hurt either.
IMHO, porting works best in a high pressure round, where the gasses diverted by the porting can have some ooomph to help tame the muzzle rise. I really doubt their effectiveness in a short barrelled gun shooting a low energy round to begin with. (For anyone who knows anything at all about physics, the force (ported energy) applied to the moment arm (barrel length) produces the torque (recoil dampening effect).) The guns weight factors in there also, but the point is still valid. In .44Mag, OK, I'll buy that porting will help significantly. The same goes for .357Mag. Even 9mm, 10mm and .40S&W. But a low-energy (low pressure) round like .38Spl, .44Spl, .45Colt I would seriously doubt the true effectiveness.
I have used a ported gun once -- I didn't like it. My buddy had a ported Taurus .357 with a six-inch barrel. We compared the percieved recoil to my unported 6" gun. With full mag loads there was a noticeable effect, but with .38Spls there wasn't. As much as the porting helped with the recoil dampening with the .357Mags, I found the flame jet obscuring the front sight to be a noticeable distraction, preventing quick front sight re-acquisitiion for a follow-up shot.
Of course, this is just my opinion. Yours may vary.
Now Casey,
The Taurus five-shot snubbie and a large-frame Dan Wesson are two entirely different platforms, with entirely different applications. The snubbie would be fine for CCW or nightstand duty, but hardly a target arm. The DW is meant to be more of a hunting gun. You have to decide what you intend to use the gun for. I'll tell you right now that a large frame Dan Wesson is huge! It is not something you'll be able to conceal easily, even with a short barrel installed. Heck, I have a small-frame DW (.357), and even that is hard to conceal with a 2-1/2 inch barrel, not to mention heavy!