I'm brand new to the revolver world. I've shot them and always thought they were "neat" but I never actually considered their reliability until I thought of all the malfunctions you can have with an autoloader compared to a revolver.

In addition, revolvers are the best looking handguns.

It seems that my timing is terrible as all of the older model Smiths have skyrocketed in price... well I guess I should've expected that (and I did). I missed out on the surplus/turn in sales from companies and now I've been researching based on what I can find online.

What should I look for in my first revolver? I'm partial to age, history, and older designs in my search. I do like the added value of them being used as police / military in their history - I don't necessary need a prior marked LE/MIL gun though.

My intended uses are mostly going to be range use and the occasional walk in the woods gun. It may be delegated to the wife's side of the bed since it's so easy to use in comparison to my decked out autoloaders with optics.

I'm going into this with limiting my purchase to one gun at this time. Like a, if you could only have one, which would it be, type of scenario. If I enjoy it, I may get others.

The options I've researched have been:

Model 10 (Dash 4, 5, 6)
Model 19 (Pre lock)
Model 66 (Pre lock)
Model 686+ (Prefer pre lock but that's been thin picking)

I've been trying to find a decent price for these and they've seemed to be all over online. Anybody able to give me a good range to start with/go by?

I've gravitated toward a 4 inch barrel and I don't have a huge preference on blued vs SS.

As far as caliber, I'm not terribly partial but I'd think a .357 capable gun is the best option currently since you can run 38s through it.

Any other insight, recommendations, pricing history, etc is greatly appreciated.