New S&W and Ruger revolvers run $500-$700. That price buys you a good, durable, accurate and functional revolver. That price does NOT buy a family heirloom or investment-grade gun. If you buy a gun new & it doesn't work, either company will make good on your purchase. If you buy a 30 year old gun, they will stand behind the guns better than any car manufacturer stands behind a 1987 automobile.

If I fired enough 357s to break a K-frame, I'd figure my gun wore out and it was time to get another one. I don't own a K-frame, but if I ever shoot my 357 J-frames to pieces...well, I'm the original owner and S&W will probably make it right. But if S&W didn't, I'd still figure I has used the gun up. I don't buy everlasting shoes, cars, TVs, chairs...or guns.

I've been reading on gun forums a lot more than usually lately because I've been in the market for another gun. Bought a Beretta 92 and will probably, in a few months, buy either a 66 or the 627 snub. But reading on the forums gets discouraging. I'm old enough to remember looking at guns in the 70s, and it wasn't a paradise. Where I lived in the late 70s, the town had one shop that sold new guns and two pawn shops. I could drive 100 miles to a city and cruise gun shops - if I could find them, no GPS steering back then - and see what they had in stock. The gun magazines mostly read like advertisements from manufacturers.

The S&W 38 I was handed to qualify on in the military was missing its sights. I was told to shut up and make do. The cylinder wobbled enough that I just hoped it wasn't going to blow up in my hand.

I'm old enough to feel nostalgia, but I'm also old enough to know the past has ample flaws. I have far more confidence in the average gun coming out of Ruger or S&W working well the first time now than I did in 1975.

More to topic, I find the L-frames less 'handy' than the old Rugers or the K-frames. Not sure why, because the weight and size differences seem trivial. Still, changing grips on a gun affects me more than the difference in size between them. Just put some Altamont grips on my 686+ last night. Compared to the Ahrends grips that were on it...I don't know. Narrower. Conceals better, I think, but points very differently. I may try what I did with the Ahrends, and sand it down to custom fit my hand.

My 3" 686+ is supposed to weigh 36.8 oz. The new 4.2" K-frame is supposed to weigh 36.9 oz. I like the new K-frame to hold, but I'm not sure it is a big enough difference to spend the money on. The old Rugers felt good to my hand, but not so much so that I want to search for one. I'd buy one, though, if they made them new.