I shot on the NMLRA national pistol line from 1987 till 1998, and saw many fine revolvers, pistols, and pistolsmiths. And yes, they were designed expressly for winning matches. Today, we would refer to them as "race guns". Back then, they were referred to as "Buck Rogers" guns or "Space Guns".
The first pistolsmiths to bring out a production inline S/S pistol and rifle were Bob Tingle of Indiana, and Alex Blaines of San Antonio, TX. Alex's were called "10-Ring" firearms, usually in 45 caliber, and available in percussion and flint, starting back in the '70's. The popularity of these guns influenced pistolsmiths to look at both the Ruger Old Army & the repro Remington New Model Army and start customizing for a better hold and more accuracy.
They prompted other well-know pistolsmiths like Harold Yazel & his son, Mike of Indiana, Dick Lewis & his son, Rob, Ed Mason of Memphis, Tom "Mulie" Ball, and Cimarron's "Lightning" single shot pistols to create handguns that eschewed traditional design and go for the "jugular" to achieve accuracy.
Mike Yazel, now a noted engraver, showed up in the eighties at Friendship with a revolver grip for the Ruger and Remington repro that looked like a small wooden bowling ball that had a slot that the competitor's hand "disappeared" into. There was no need to grip the gun, the "ball grip" allowed the revolver to "rest" on the shooter's wrist & hand. I'll have to dig it out and take a photo of it. I added a little more Acraglass-Gel to the my grips.
It was the age of "anything goes" when customizing a handgun. Many national-level competitors like myself, owned expensive German-made match-grade air pistols made by FWB, RWS, & Walther. If you look at the design and grips of those guns, you'll begin to understand why revolvers looked like a "Space Gun" with encompassing grips, barrel weights, and large sights.
These revolver designs were also influenced by the importance of the "consistency of the grip angle" which prompted pistolsmiths to use the same grip found on s/s inline pistols to put on C &B revolvers as seen in the photo in the first post. The competitor wanted to have the same grip angle on his s/s pistol AND his C & B revolver. He also wanted the weight and balance to be the same. He might even want to have the same sight radius (distance from rear sight aperture to front sight) on both guns, the same trigger pull. You get the point.
In my repertoire of match pistols are two each, Yazel inline s/s .36 caliber pistols, each with Bo-Mar sights, a flint .36 caliber Lighting flint s/s pistol with Bo-Mar sights, the reversed flint lock, and Pachmayr grips, a Pietta Remington Deluxe Model .44 revolver, a Uberti Remington .36 caliber, accurized by Tom Ball, a Ruger Old Army "Dragoon Model" (Super Blackhawk grip-frame w/squareback trigger-guard), fitted with Bo-Mar sights & Herrett custom-checkered grips, and a Ruger "Old Navy" .36 caliber, custom-made by Tom Ball with a octagon 9mm barrel fitted with Bo-Mar sights.
"Old Fuff" may have had the same thought as the late Ed Mason, a noted muzzle loading shotgun competitor, who took a Douglas .45 caliber, 1-1/8" across the flats, benchrest barrel, and milled the "east" & "west" side of the barrel to the dimensions of a Colt 1911-A1 pistol slide. A percussion nipple and breechplug were fitted to the barrel, and a link was milled out of the bottom of the barrel, so that a 1911-A1 lower receiver unit would "marry up" with the Douglas slide/barrel combo, and it looked like a muzzle loading 1911-A1 .45 pistol. Really neat.
I'll have to dig out the article from "Muzzleloader" magazine back in the '70's or '80's.
None need to be viewed as "beauties" but if you want to win matches, they are the "cat's meow".
Yazel inline s/s pistol, .36 caliber, with Herrett adjustable grips, barrel weight, extended front grip, & a Ruger Old Army .44 caliber, nicknamed the "Dragoon Model" with Bo-Mar sights, & Herrett full-checkered grips.
The license plate: The goal of every serious pistol/revolver competitor.
