Re: OP. Delightful thread! Repetitious? Not in the least! So at the risk of being thought small minded ... I'll jump in! One revolver? Only one? S&W revolvers are like Lay's Potato Chips! It's hard to stop at one. But, if I were required to stop and one and be done, it would be my S&W 18-2. It is the one single revolver that ever other manufacturer would have had in it's line up of revolvers ... but those manufacturers were not Smith and Wesson! It is the very best most ideal single revolver ever developed by S&W. It can do everything up to and including anything that I might need a handgun to do, even if that need to does not include my every want to. My little M-18 will shoot the entire qualification course firing double-action from 7 - 25 yds. producing a nice little 2.5 group for the entire ball of wax. It will delightfully punch out shotgun shells set on a 2x4 out at 40 yds. It has been used on occasion to do good work on aluminum cans out at almost 100 yds. All of this has been done while firing like a man standing up w/o any recourse to such assistance as benches, sandbags, etc. If I were confronted with a predator at some hard off the barrel distance, only body armor w/ a trauma plate would keep them from being impressed by what came out the business end of my little M-18. If the first round didn't get the job done, there would be five more rounds that would stacked on top of the first round since of course the first round would be so precisely placed on target that further improvement would be impossible. In all seriousness, I've not been without a M-18 since 1983. There have been a total of six ... all wonderful. I foolishly traded the first one off to buy a 29-3. It was ... a revolver. But, it later went away. And, I found another Model 18. Today ... my M-18 is the sixth one I've owned. It was bought in 2000 from an acquaintance at a gunshow. It is my most handled, most enjoyed, most shot, most appreciated revolver. It is treasured. Only my six inch 28-2 is closer to me ... because that revolver was given to me by my now deceased twin brother. He is the one who on that Saturday afternoon in 2000 urged me to buy the Model 18 I'd found for sale at that gunshow. In the closet is about a case of ammo for the 28. In the same closet are several cases of .22 LR ammo for the 18. The Model 18 ... Bob Milek thought it the ideal .22 LR out-door handgun for backpacking, etc. I fully concur with his opinion. Sincerely. bruce.
