"Cartridges being slammed in a chamber by a slab of steel and being yanked out with a little claw is elegant?"
yes, well, not being "slammed", being fed. Compared to ejecting them by hand and inserting fresh ones (Into a slab of steel?) by hand, in the heat of battle, way way yes.
You have to start with an understanding and love for automation, automation is the reason we have firearms at all in meaningful quantities and sold cheaply. If you want to make your revolver with a file, well, unless your hourly wage is pretty low I wouldn't want to pay for it, and it probably would look like it was made that way. No two parts from two guns exchanging, and wait an interminable time for replacement parts of equally poor quality that need to be hand fitted. Automatic machines do things formally done by hand faster and better, what's not to love about that? I know some folks wish we all got around riding horses, that's ok to have an opinion like that, but I don't have to agree. If you don't prefer automation there may be something else wrong somewhere else. This argument really centers about the superiority or inferiority of doing things with machines compared to doing them by antiquated methods.
It's pretty likely that in the 1830's people were having similar arguments about those new fangled revolvers, and how inferior they are to the good old single shot pistol.
But I think I'd be a rude fellow to come into a revolver forum and say all that.