I'll mention a couple of them: My good friend and former forum member Leland had one he inherited from his uncle. The uncle took it with him when he shipped over to Europe during WWII. His was a S&W 1917 and Leland's uncle was carrying it when he was killed in the Hurtgen (SP?) Forest during the battle of the bulge. Somehow the 1917 and other personal stuff made it back to his family near Poplarville, Ms. after his death. Leland had known about the 1917 since he was a kid and kept up with who had it. It was gifted to Leland by a family member when Leland was still in his 20's. Fast forward a few years and Leland passed away March 2020 at age 65. In his will he left my son Robert the 1917 and several hundred rounds of auto rim reloads. It's not going anywhere probably for a few more decades. One vote for the S&W.

Back in the early 70's (I started in 1969) when I was a rookie officer and knew little about handguns I became close friends with a Detective who was a gun guy, armorer, machinist, mechanic, and a lot of other handy stuff. 1917's were plentiful, Colt and S&W. Lots of folks tinkered with them, including my friend Det. George. He bought a S&W 1917 cheap at a local gun store who had a lot of them. They were ugly and nobody wanted them, kind of like the Victory models. Det. George took his and rounded the butt, shortened the barrel to 2", had it nickeled, did a smooth action job on it, and put some real pretty old stag grips on it. This was over 50 years ago. We don't butcher guns like that now...I hope. We had to furnish our own back then and that was Det. George's duty gun. He carried it with personally loaded hollow point auto rim backed up by several full moon clips. Another vote for S&W.