I started by picking what I liked, what looked good. I had NO idea what I was doing, all I knew was how it worked.
The best part about just flying into this, is that it doesn't cost a fortune. If you make a mistake, its a terrible gun, you hate it, what-have-you, its only a couple hundred bucks, not 800$.
I bought a navy revolver in .44 and abused it somewhat, and found out later that back in the day, there was no such thing as a .44 navy, only a .36.
Point being, I had this revolver that had never seen original production, and it was beat to hell. I spent about 150$ and made another one, no problem.
Really want to buy an 1858, then a starr double action, finally a SAA.
Theres also this really nice carbine revolver, full stock permanently attached to the revolver with an 11" barrel I believe. Looks like a lot of fun to try to hunt with