NOT AT ALL attempting to steer this toward a "mine's better than yours" but I would like to say that I simply do not care for the + guns with the extra 7th shot.
Now the 8-shot on the larger N-frame is interesting, but adding one single round to the classic L-frame is just -NOT- my taste. It takes some beef from the cylinder, it makes all my speedloaders un-usable and it's just an oddball round count that
in my opinion only doesn't offer me anything I want, while taking away things I like.
I would say that if I never owned a revolver and it was to be my first, I'd be more drawn to the + model with 7 shots and that would make more sense to me. And I don't think the 7-shot revolvers are bad revolvers or even a bad idea.
But I can say honestly that I just don't care for them and I don't want to own one. I've got a 7-shot Taurus Model 66 (that I don't talk about much
) and there are things I like about it...but it being a 7-shot cylinder is one of those things I
don't like about it. But I figured it's relevant to mention because I do have hands-on experience with a 7-shot, and a buddy's 686+ 4-inch as well.