Aarond, I offer you a challenge.
Get your hands on an
affordable Colt Woodsman or variant. These are out of production, but were made from around 1915 to 1977. Obviously, they can be quite "collectible" which makes some of them expensive and valuable. But the good news is that they made
so many that the "collectible" ones must be in a very high grade, which leaves a LOT of them out there in somewhat lesser condition, mostly exterior wear. And these guns are priced to own. To simply get an idea of how many of them are on the market, and to look at the wide range of prices, search Gunbroker.
Believe me, I'm with you on revolvers... I've been on (what seems like) a very long & strong revolver kick for the past many months and I've enjoyed every minute of the wave I've been riding... it seems like revolvers are the only thing I'm looking for and by far, what I am shooting most often.
But the Colt Woodsman is like nothing else. I suspect that simply drawing the slide back on one of these in decent working condition will raise an eyebrow for you. It seems to me that when someone first used the term "butter" with regards to a handgun's operating feel, they must have been holding a Woodsman.
That's my challenge. Put your hands around a Woodsman or variant, feel that slide and how it moves atop the frame and if possible, dry fire it a single time and introduce yourself to one of the finest handguns ever created.
If you do that, I don't see how you can be done gathering semi-auto pistols before you've added a decent running Woodsman to your cache. I'll admit up front that Colt never made
anything that looked or acted like a Woodsman in any larger chambering, so your interesting collection of paired "smaller & bigger" matchups won't be in play here, but I'd sure like to hear what you think once you've handled one, or a few. And if you
shoot one, well, the deal will be sealed.
