Add me to the list-- you got a fantastic price on what amounts to a painfully awesome revolver! List the first 3 digits of the serial number and we can likely get you the year it was born.
Since you are not a new shooter, simply new to revolvers, here's the best tip I can come up with:
learn to handload!
Back in the day, the .38 Special was -the- most popular centerfire caliber on the planet. Ammo was made by the metric tonnage and prices were low. Sometime between the 80's and 90's, the 9mm pushed it aside as the "most popular" and these days, .38 Special ammo isn't as low in cost as, well, it "oughta be."
.38 Special, is, in my opinion, the single
BEST cartridge for a brand new handloader, bar none, and for many, many reasons.
It's the best one out there to learn on for handloading and it can really save you a heap of dough. And you might find yourself a phenomenal new hobby along the way.
The title of this thread may be "My First Revolver", but you HAVE to know that it may just as well say... "the first of
many!"