I've always, at least since 1964, found that Smith's 'K' frame revolvers fit my hands best of all. '64 was the year I entered the Air Force, and the M-15 Smith was my introduction to revolver shooting. I begged and borrowed various M-15's all the while I was at the Air Force Academy from '64 to '68...an easy task as I competed on the Small Bore and High Power rifle teams during those years. Ammunition was free, and it was a rare weekend that I didn't head up into the Front Range behind the Academy with an issue M-15 strapped on...ammunition, the free kind, was issue 130 gr FMJ and I saved the brass for reloading using a 2nd hand Lyman 310 tool, Bullseye, and some wadcutters donated by a friendly rancher. Fond memories from those weekends, climbing on horse back through the gap above Jack's Valley. Living on grouse and trout fried over an aspen fire.
A cpl years after graduation, my first assignment out of Pilot Training was flying an O-1E Bird Dog in Vietnam. The issue gun was....you guessed it, a M-15 Smith but my enthusiasm for it waned when confronted by the realities of combat, and nightly mortar & ground probing attacks on the Special Forces camp I was living in. For those dark encounters, half asleep, a .45 1911A1 made more sense and I got the camp armorer to 'issue' me one...later I inherited a Browning Hi Power that became my steady companion.
On return from the SEA festivities my first new gun purchase was a 6" M-19 .357. I still have it and it's every bit as accurate now as then. I've added several other 'K's' to the herd over the years and changed my druthers on which grips make them more shootable or handled the recoil best: Pachmyr's fugly but effective rubber, a set of Roper thumb rests off my FIL's Border Patrol M-66, a cpl pair of Ahrends beauties, and most recently, Altamont's version of the Roper style.
These last, the Roper types, fit me the best and I do good shooting with them, but they don't help much if at all with recoil, especially the 2nd knuckle rap. With moderate loads in .357 and .38 Spl., say up to 900 fps with 158 grainers, they're just fine but full house magnums or hot .38's are brutal on my arthritic thumb joints, not to mention the ball peen hammer affect on my 2nd knuckle. And the M-69 .44 Magnum I've had for a cpl years is a whole new chapter in pain with true magnum loads.
I've done some work with Magna's but found they too, just didn't support the 2nd knuckle, and in my use, made it almost impossible to keep a uniform grip from shot to shot. S&W target types, do a better job, but feel blocky in my use and I usually switch them out. One of my good finds two decades ago was an almost new Smith Hand-ejector 4th variation in .32-20 and with it on the dealer's table was a box with a new set of Redfield grip adapters ($10 for the R's, and ~$300 for the HE IIRC). I found that the grip adapter with Magnas offered a great feel and really helped with the recoil...not much obviously from a .32-20 but noticeable. I've not tried them on any other 'K' frame but would be surprised if I didn't like them.
So that's the 'K' frame odyssey, for me...around a dozen over the past 52 years, that I've owned, and more if you count the loaners and 'issued' pieces. They truly are elegant weapons from a less torturous time, in my opinion. The pic below is the most current acquisition...less than two weeks in fact. A M-67 .38 Spl. Louisvile, KY police turn-in mentioned in another thread here on THR. It joins a 4" M-66, unmarked police turn-in, the aforementioned 6" Hand ejector, a 4" M-19 to join my earlier 6", a 4" M-16 .32 H&R, a 4" M-18 .22, and lastly, a 4" M-696 (really a 'K' frame with extra beef IMO).
1st Pic of the M-67 with Altamont Ropers and the 2nd is my 686 with a holster I made up for OWB at the 4 o'clock position.
Hope you all have as much fun with your 'K's as I have had with mine...Best regards, and a Merry Christmas to you and yours...guard the fort...Rod