One of the finest revolvers I have ever owned was a Smith and Wesson, model 57 with a 6 inch barrel. Everyone says you can tell the .41 has less recoil but I could never tell any difference.
It was a slick gun tho. Barrel to cylinder gap was almost non-existent yet it never had any fouling build up to hinder rotation. Also, all six cylinders were in perfect range. It was about as accurate as it is possible to make one.
I ended up trading it for several guns worth quite a bit more and even tho I came out way ahead on the trade, I still wish I had kept that beauty.
Shot metallic silhouette pistol with it for years, it's flat shooting and I find the recoil much more reasonable than the .44 (I wish I had a dollar for every .44 mag out there that somebody put 5 rounds through and then put it back in the box . . . awful lot of them like that!)
The old Bulldog was not a bad pistol, and was the favorite of one of our judicial lights, sadly no longer with us. The late Charles Worrell was nicknamed "Two Gun Charlie" because when he was an Early County superior court judge he presided with 2 loaded Bulldogs on the bench, using one for a gavel. The order in his courtroom was something wonderful to behold . . . .
. . . but I just don't trust Charter to make a decent pistol. I just don't.
Cast Performance makes a 265 grain hard cast gas check bullet for the .41; loaded with an appropriate dose of H 110, the recoil is stout. The cases drop free from my 657, though.