All the smart folks and knowledge floating around here, I think I'm probly unqualified to even open my mouth here. Thankfully though, common sense or a lack of qualification hasn't stopped me yet.
I am but a poor public sector employee myself, and only own two Performance Center revolvers, but...they are both truly excellent, and give up nothing to my older revolvers as far as lock up, timing, action, etc. I do own one recent non Performance Center revolver, and while it's perfectly adequate, it is not on scale with my PC revolvers, even after the action has been lightly gone thru and very much improved. In summary, I personally prefer PC marked guns when they are an option.
Since you have emphasized this is not a uniform duty gun, it would seem to the seven shot 686 might be excluded with it's seven shot capacity, etc. I've never seen the L frame as a great option to the N frame myself anyways, so on that front I'd be inclined to either exclude the L frame from my consideration, or add the N frame 627 to my list (I got one a month or so ago, it is truly impressive)
The model 19 comp....I could really see the temptation in that one. Kinda an old school look and feel, but with the cool, high teck muzzle brake we were not privileged to have 28 years ago. Seems a cool synthesis of old and new.
On the 66, I would not fear the two piece barrel. My most accurate shooting revolver has a two piece barrel. That style barrel is known for it's accuracy. Back in the day when silhouette shooting was a bigger thing, it was darn near ruled by Dan Wessons with two piece barrels. Bear in mind, you can also buy your own wrench for peace of mind and tighten, adjust, or just monitor for factory tightness. I wouldn't let that scare me away, if I were in your shoes.
You've listed some very tasteful selections, all of them pretty great. Maybe it comes down to a soul search and whether you would wanna jump more head first into modern revolver technology, or try to rock it old school, like ya' did back in the day before your bottom feeder loving colleagues were even a glimmer in their parents eyes?
