Admitted, I'm way more of a shooter/accumulator than a collector, but I agree with most of what has been said here ref. aesthetics, quality of bluing, smoothness of action, etc.....However, I'll be darned if I can make my good-bored pre-WWII S&W .44s and .45s group as well as some of my more-or-less recently manufactured S&W big bores. A 24-3, 624, and a 625-8 and 629-6 Mtn. Gun, both with the infamous hole, spring immediately to mind. Neither new nor old S&W .45 (ACP or LC) will consistently shoot tighter off-hand groups than my 1940-made Colt New Service, chambered in .45 Colt.

Truthfully, I like the aesthetics of the old grips and refuse to replace'em on my relics. Sometimes, I can feel the gun move in my hand a tad about the time the shot breaks, so I guess they don't fit me as well as some of the add-on grips on my more recent guns, and that may explain it.

I'm no fan of the hole, but, "Purty is as purty does?"