My personal favorite, a late 1950’s Colt Targetsman. It was my Father’s gun and the first firearm I ever shot. Even with the pencil barrel, it’s like shooting a laser (I’d love to acquire a Woodsman). Unfortunately, it’s a really difficult pistol to detail strip and clean.
Therefore, I would primarily shoot a Ruger MKI bull barrel I bought new in 1978. Clearly not a “finesse” gun, but very accurate and great value for the money. I finally took the unpleasant plastic grips off a couple of years ago and replaced them with Hogue rubber. What a major improvement! I just can’t bring myself to replace it with a MKII. I’ll most likely use this as a backup BE gun.
I picked up a 1961 vintage S&W Model 41 late last year. It’s a shooter, not a safe queen. I haven’t had much opportunity to shoot it, but with the better weather, I’ll be taking it out alot. It is much more accurate than I will ever be. I hope to make this my primary BE gun.
Finally, I also got a good deal on an incredibly clean late 1950’s vintage S&W Model 17 last Winter. No chance to shoot it yet, but I expect to be greatly impressed.
I also have a S&W Model 34 (4” Kit Gun) I bought new in 1979. I haven’t shot it much as it suffers from the difficult case extraction problem (I really despise having to whack the extractor with a plastic hammer to get out expended cartridges). It’s very accurate and I had replaced the small Magna stocks with Pachmyrs years ago. Not a very ergonomically designed rubber grip, but I don’t shoot it anymore, so no reason to spend the money on another set.
Matt