FOR ME, FROM THE TIME OF WOODEN SHIPS
AND IRON MEN IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SINGLE ACTION SIXGUN IN ANY AND ALL PERMUTATIONS.
In a solid second place is the Double Action sixgun. The S+W has always been my favorite DA sixgun but the COLTS have also tickled my fancy a time or two.
In a DA 357MAG sixgun there is no finer member of the tribe than the S+W M19. My old 4" M19 has just under 50,000 rounds through it and is still going strong. That total is about evenly divided between 38SPL and 357MAG cartridges. At round 39,110 [ if memory serves...] I shot the gasring in the cylinder loose. It was back at S+W for a week and was back in my hands.
I have a 6" M19 also that is a peach of a sixgun which shoots screaming hot 357MAD 125jhp handloads with exquisite target accuracy, the only 357MAG I have ever owned capable of this. I'm not sure this newer 6" M19 has had 1000 rounds through in the 18 years I have owned it.
I do indeed love the S+W sixguns in J, K, L, N, and X frame sizes, but THEY AIN'T NO SINGLE ACTION SIXGUN....
AN SAA...be still my heart....sigh
Just in case you're wondering I also own all those newfangled shellshuckin' sumbiscuits and they're ain't nothin to 'em atall. A passing fancy in the world of real guns...
A real-honest-to-god sixgun has a heart, a soul, and a personality all its' own...go find that in a GLOCK or a SIG, OR A CZ, or a KEL-TEC....OR YOUR FAVORITE 1911/1911A1...can't be done because an autoloading pistol is just a machine to squirt bullets.