The Taurus .454 Casull has a ported barrel to reduce muzzle flip. Does the Ruger? Gun Week just did a feature on it recently.
Nope, the 7.5 inch or the 9.5 inch barrel use the gun weight to hold down the recoil.
The picture above in post #20 is not accurate. That is the Super Redhawk .44 magnum. The 454 uses a target grey teflon finish.