my .44 mag was my first handgun....going against the experts who suggest a .22 rimfire or .38 should be your first....I loaded the Redhawk up with full house loads and blammed away....I did develop a flinch so I got the .22 Mk 2 Ruger to ease up a bit...
a good trick to control flinching with a revolver is to load 2 or 3 rounds spin the cylinder and fire each shot as if there was a round in it....if it goes click and you flinch, you will know it...then you can concentrate on not flinching. mind over matter...it will work if you can concentrate on it.
my .54 caliber Hawkin(replica) muzzle loader kicks worse than any gun I have....a good trick is to hold these FIRMLY against your shoulder.....holding it lightly because you fear the recoil will give you MORE recoil....
The first handgun I ever fired (age 10) was my uncle’s Highway Patrolman .357 and my Dad loaded three random rounds into the cylinder. After gun safety, the very next lesson was flinch control!
At my last range session I was happily blasting away at a target consisting of Jane Fonda’s ugly scowling face (.38 wadcutters work best). Two younger guys were watching and one said, “Is that his ex!?”. The other replied, “Naw, man, he must be Vietnam. That’s Jane Fonda!”
FWIW I was in Vietnam while Fonda was treasoning in Hanoi.
I gave the lads an unfired Fonda target and told them to copy it and pass it around.