Well the trigger breaking was a fluke.
If he'd been shot in one hand, he'd have switched to the other. We can cock and fire these things one-handed with no problem, in fact these operate one-handed very nicely.
There's two advantages to these things over anything else:
* Fast into action on the first shot.
* Excellent "feel in the hand" and they tend to "point naturally" - better than almost anything else at naturally pointing the gun as an extension of your hand. Ergonomics are just superb - it was designed by people who used hand tools daily instead of CAD/CAM. Ergonomics is one area of science in which I believe we've gone backwards, not forward.
They also tend to be very accurate, esp. with upgraded (from 19th century standards) sights. Even with early style sights, with the longer barrel lengths they still work very well.
And they're usually carried with serious calibers, with the 45LC and 357 being the most common. Both are superb stoppers.
Yes, there's downsides. Rate of fire is a bit slower although in skilled hands...hell, check out this video:
http://flatlander.sixshootercommunity.org/videos/
It's only four seconds long...doesn't need to be longer.
The big downside is reload speed. And it's serious. But, KNOWING THAT, you're more likely to make your shots count. "Spray and pray" isn't part of the vocabulary. And the case we're discussing is a prime example - again, three out of four shots hit.