That's fine by me, but is there a russian without that odd finger rest?
No. All the reproductions of the Russian model have the spur on the trigger guard.
It was fairly common for owners in the Old West to saw off the trigger guard spur.
It is not a finger rest, it is a stylistic embellishment the Russians insisted on.
Some will tell you it is meant to be a finger rest to help steady the gun. I have not found this to be true, placing a finger there just makes shooting the already awkward grip worse. Others will tell you it was meant to protect the hand when parrying a blow from a sabre. This may be true. Still others will tell you it was put there to make the gun easier to hang from a sash without a holster.
My take on it is that the trigger guard spur is simply a stylistic embellishment that the Russians wanted. Many 19th Century European revolvers had similar trigger guard spurs.
In fact, the New Model Number Three was available with a similar trigger guard spur on special order. This can make identification confusing.
Don't forget what I said about how awkward the Russian model is to shoot.
All the Smith and Wesson #3 Top Breaks required a longer reach to the hammer spur in order to cock the hammer than a Colt Single Action Army did.
Sorry for these photos being a little blurry, I was holding the gun in one hand, my phone in the other. Things got a little bit wobbly.
I have fairly large hands. With my hand underneath the bump on the grip (S&W calls it a Knuckle), I cannot reach the hammer spur with my thumb.
In order to reach the hammer spur, I have to regrip, placing my hand higher in order to reach the hammer. If I fire the gun this way, with the knuckle pressed against my palm, even with the relativity light recoil of the 44 Russian round, the point of the knuckle gets driven into my palm and it hurts. Trust me on this.
In order to fire the gun I have to regrip again, getting my hand under the knuckle.
So if you want to shoot left handed and cock the hammer with the other thumb, without regripping, go ahead and buy a Russian model. But if you are going to shoot one handed, I do not recommend it. That is my experience.
With a Schofield, if I cram my entire hand onto the grip, I can reach the hammer spur and don't need to regrip.
The same with a New Model Number Three.