N-Frames are too big for most officers’ hands and/or fingers. My long hands love the feel of N-Frames, but I cannot get enough finger on the trigger, for a proper DA pull. The so-called “h-grip,” a hold which enables enough finger on the trigger, directs recoil into the base joint of the thumb, which then causes recoil to hammer said thumb, and torque the wrist in a very-non-ergonomically-favorable way. This may be OK, for target wadcutters, but not for duty/service ammo. Cocking the hammer gets the trigger into a favorable position, but, well, cocking a DA revolver, for defensive shooting purposes, is generally frowned upon, if not totally forbidden, by most PDs’ rules.
I voluntarily carried revolvers, for big-city night-shift police duty, until 1997; N-Frames* in the Eighties, and GP100/K-Frames in the Nineties. (There were short periods during which I carried duty autos, the longest being a P220, 1991-1993. I made the big, final switch to duty autos in 1997.) In my personal case, I would rather have kept using speed-loaders, than transition to full-moon clips. A speed-loader can ride in a split-six type of carrier, on the duty belt, which means less protrusion than the type of case needed to carry and protect full-moon clips. As split-six type carrier made it SO much easier to hurry through doorways, gateways, and such, especially when in a hurry, in darkness.
In 1997, I made my final transition away from revolvers as primary police duty handguns, largely due to the available real estate on my belt, as the amount of gear we had to carry increased. I liked carrying two speed-loaders, and a six-round cartridge loop slide, which required quite a bit of room. Plus, there was an undercurrent of thought among thugs that officers who were carrying duty revolvers were “easy to take,” while officers carrying “cocked and locked” 1911 duty pistols were deadly serious. Well, my first handgun, in 1982 or 1983, had been a 1911, and I had owned 1911 pistols almost continuously, since then, so, the easy choice was to “elevate” my reliable Colt Government to duty status. (I had briefly carried a Stainless Colt Commander, as a duty pistol, in 1990, but though it had started out reliable, it later started malfunctioning about once every 400 rounds, so I relegated it from all defensive duties.)
*About 1990, I realized that the compromised hold I was using, to shoot N-Frames, with my K/L/GP100-length fingers, was wrecking my thumbs and wrists; therefore the down-sizing, first to a Colt Commander for a short time, then the P220, then the GP100 and K-Frames.