I've been doing a lot of research (several hours each day reading old threads here and other places) and thinking about revolvers the last month and want to buy one now that I know more about what I want. I do not own a revolver currently and have limited experience with them that has all been negative. I think my experiences will become positive with more time on the platform and an open mind. I am very interested in owning one revolver for these reasons:
A) The long DA trigger of a revolver will help me learn to shoot my other guns better. 95% of my use case to own a revolver is for training to get me better at shooting my other guns. I plan to dry fire the revolver a lot. On average maybe 1 to 2 hours a month total dry fire is my goal split into 15 minute sessions. I plan to shoot it relatively little. I may take it to the range and put 5 to 10 rounds of 38sp out of it each range trip before I start shooting my other guns, to prime me for the session. I may occasionally do a revolver-only range session, shooting 50 to 100 rounds through it, but that will be pretty sparingly. I plan to put very few 357 mag rounds through it.
B) My semi auto handguns are all 9mm. 4% of my use case to own a revolver is for outdoor woodsy use for bear defense or "survival" hunting in emergencies (like I'm starving to death and I don't care that my barrel length is below legal minimums for hunting). I would probably carry this revolver out into the woods a lot, but the chances of me ever shooting it in the real world "woods" is almost zero since I probably won't need to shoot a bear and I probably won't be starving to death and be able to shoot a deer given I have no hunting experience. But, I can also say the chances of me ever shooting a person with my CCW Glock is similarly low but I still like carrying it when allowed.
C) The last 1% of my use case to own a revolver is in case semi-autos get banned and this is all I'm allowed to carry. I mention this as 1% of use case because I don't see that happening although people smarter than me have suggested owning a revolver in case semi-autos are banned, so it's in my head as a possibility. I'd want to own and get good with it in advance of the need.
Not included in my calculations above are that while I never liked shooting revolvers, I think they are really cool and want one just because. I'm interested in mechanical engineering so "playing" with one in the form of dry practice seems to be a way to have fun while increasing a useful skill of trigger control.
To sum up, I want a gun that can shoot 357 magnum, shoot it well and accurate, although doesn't need to be able to handle too much of it. I need a gun that I can dry fire an enormous amount, maybe 25 hours total a year for the next 30 years and not break. I have no interest in owning or learning how to use speed loaders. In any situation I would be carrying the revolver, I don't intend to reload it with speed. I mention this only because it appears some guns (and grips) are better suited for speed loaders than others. I have no desire to shoot competitively with a revolver. I have no desire to legally hunt with a revolver (necessitating a 6" barrel in many places).
I only want to own one revolver, although I'm open to the possibility that I may love it and want more. Please don't count on me ever buying a second revolver when making the recommendation because I have a lot of other gun interests to explore. Here's what my research has come up with:
The GP100 is the best current gen revolver on the market for my purposes. But, the trigger sucks and the grip options aren't as good as S&W grip options. The GP100 4" Match Champion is on my list. I shot one this week with factory wood grips and I hated the grips. I think I would prefer a fingerless G10 grip for my purposes like VZ makes for S&W but no one seems to make GP100 grips like that. The best GP100 grips that are recommended on PF are the smallerish rubber ones with inserts. I dislike wood or natural material on my guns so I'd have to get one with G10 inserts in the rubber.
The Vintage S&W 686, up to -4 model seems to be best choice. The downsides being that it's hard to find and if I get a no-dash model, it needs to have the M-stamp for the recall, otherwise I don't want to risk sending it to S&W and having them replace anything with MIM parts or worse, sending me a whole new current gen 686.
I've also looked at 19/66 and those are interesting. From what I've read the forcing cone on the older K-Frames is not strong and won't hold up to sustained 357 magnum use. That might be okay for me, if I don't plan to shoot much magnums out of it. I plan to shoot just enough magnums to be moderately proficient, and load magnums for outdoor use which would probably never be used.
The cool part about the 19/66 is that they seem smaller/lighter easier to carry concealed for backwoods use and also to AIWB if semi-autos get banned.
The main problem with any vintage S&W is that if they break, it's hard to find parts, and also I have to find a good smith because if I send them back to S&W, I will risk not getting my gun returned to me. But, if I buy a good vintage gun that's solid, then maybe me shooting 200 rounds of 38 and 10 rounds of 357 a year for 30 years won't be too hard on it. My main concern is dry firing. Maybe the hours of dryfiring will cause excessive wear?
I really hated the GP100 I shot this week. The trigger felt terrible. The grip felt bad. But, with the GP100, if it breaks, I can send it back to Ruger and it will come back fine. Less of a maintenance concern than the vintage S&W. Also, I bet the trigger would get a lot better after hours of dry firing it. And, maybe with a different grip, it would feel better in my hand. So I'm open to the GP100 as well in spite of my bad experience with it.
Also open to anything else, but really like the idea of owning a vintage S&W, it seems like the cool guy thing to do. But the GP100 seems like the practical thing.