http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H0dYEjR-jA
watch this vid and notice the side of his belly is all taped up. also, towards the end of the vid you will see the burnt spots on the tape...at about 4 minutes.
Revolvers kick a blast out sideways from the gap between the cylinder and the barrel. It is like a flame thrower.
Here’s another clip of a guy holding a hot dog next to the revolver when fired to show the damage to flesh from the blast coming out the side of a revolver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_TNvPhTiB8
I don’t think you want to shoot a revolver while its in your pocket.
Yup, powder burns are to be expected when you are close to the point of exit. I looked at your videos and my conclusion is the .44 would have a much larger cylinder gap and barrel flash than my .38 does.
Quite a few years ago, I intentionally fired my Chief Special while my hand was holding it under my jacket. I pulled it out of my shoulder holster and point shot the target through the side of my jacket. I was wearing a cotton shirt and a Levi jacket.
As expected, it singed the hairs on my fingers and left a powder burn on my shirt and the jacket BUT I had not lost my night vision which was the intention of the test.
I think I was firing Winchester or Federal loads which I had tested for the smallest night vision ruining gap flash. I recall that Remingtons would absolutely blind you for ten minutes when it was pitch black outside. Remingtons had a monstrous bright white flash as if someone was using a flash camera. Winchester had the orangest flash of the loads I tested which allowed your night vision to recover faster.
From my #18, I never said it was a good idea, and noted that it may result in you being burned. I just meant that a revolver would be less likely to jam from an in-pocket firing than a semi-auto.
Back in the days when work required me to be in a bad area late at night, I would walk to my car with my hands in my pocket, holding a .38 snubby in my coat pocket. To be sure, I would take it out of my pocket if at all possible if I needed to fire.
Even so, I could see one or two scenarios where I might need to fire the first shot through the pocket, such as a mugger already having a weapon up against me.