Back in the day, when I was a young uniformed patrolman and "could whup the world", I was a dyed in the wool wheelgun man. "Those old slab sided things ain't good for nothing but trotline weights." I was a reasonably good shot, and nothing was better than my slightly stepped on S&W mod. 19. Life was good. Then my department hired this retired army guy as a range officer. He used to be in the Army Marksmanship Unit, was a member of the All Army Team, and had represented our country at the olympic games. He and I hit it off, and he became my mentor. I learned how to
really shoot under his tutelage and he kept after me about the Govt. 45 and what a great shooter it was. I saw one in a pawnshop one day, the price was right, and on a whim, I bought it. My mentor sent it off and had it built into a Hardball gun, and I never looked back. Heck, I even carried that thing on duty after I went into plainclothes. I still have that old .45, and it is one of my favorite shooters. I do not feel that it is terribly difficult to shoot safely. One has to learn rules with any firearm, be it "Old Slabsides" or the latest plastic "gee whizbang" supergun. I remember when S&W first came out with their 9mm double actions. Several holes got shot through the Detective Division ceiling until the guys got those decockers down pat (I still don't like those). Sorry if I rambled a bit, us old farts do that sometimes
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