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I have a .030 over '74 440 that threw a rod in 2004. I have been tempted to buy a single new piston and a reconditioned connecting rod and screw the motor back together.
I am aware of the heavy six pack rods and their excessive mass, though I don't recall ever seeing them up close. I'm curious about the standard 4 barrel rods, since the short block I have was originally in a police car.
A side note: I am a little hesistant to use any of the rods in this 440 since it seems to have been a cursed engine. Besides breaking a rod, one of the rocker shafts from this motor snapped while in yet another motor. THAT was interesting... immediate loss of oil pressure and power after 4 lifters popped out of their holes!

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Unless the rods are really beat, the stock 440 rods are extremely tough. Chances are they broke from other factors (rod bolts, succumbing to detonation, rod bearing problems due to oiling issues, etc.)

There are only two rods. The six pack or heavy duty rods and the standard rods. Personally, I'm not a real fan of the 6 pack rods since they are a lot of extra weight for no real benefit. All the extra metal is in the beams. Typically the week point is in the broached area for the rod bolts. This is one of the benefits of rods that use cap screws instead of bolts.

I would have the other rods checked. If the check ok, I would replace the broken one. If more are on their way out it might be cheaper to invest in some aftermarket H beam rods. With this being a 74 engine, it probably has a cast crank so an after market rod will probably necessitate re-balancing. At that point it might also make more sense to replace the crank with a steel one.

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there was a 3rd rod. i believe it came out in '63 and was for sure used in the '64 stageIII s/s wedge engines. it had more material in the rod bolt area.

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There are several more than those two, 1969 440 6 pak had its own forging number, the LY rods and some early 413/426 street wedge rods also OP, if it is a 1970 to 1975 police car 440 it probally has the later six pak style rod in it I have a bunch of OEM LY rods, some still on pistons, I'm sure I could come up with 8 good ones, you will probally need to have the crank assembly rebalanced if you switch from the heavy rods to the LY rods