Start with what you can afford and get now, and watch for the holy grail, they do come along. Be warned it's an addiction and most of us end up with a collection. I've got 2 ROA's, both 7 1/2" but they were bargains, one was mislabeled and in b/p pistols, a blurry pic. but I could make out the TB on the grip, so I got it and it was a beauty, the 2nd had a bad spot in the barrel from a squib load left for too long, so it was a bargain and actually shot well, was going to have the barrel shortened, but got a bargain frame and barrel on Ebay and switched it out. The new barrel looked unfired. I also ended up with 6 ASM's Italian clones of Colts, from the 1849 Wells Fargo to the 1861 Navy. All are excellent shooters.