You all are making some very good points. WVSig, your comment in particular about hand size is critical. I can relate/speak specifically to that being a large individual but with smallish hands. Lots out there that just flat don't work ultimtely that you thought you were in love with at first. When I was first looking at a then new wave of autos twenty years or so ago, a classic case of this was the CZ platform. I thought I was in love (well, severe like). Aside from the Browning HP, which I'd found to be the Holy Grail of grips/feel, the CZ similarly felt very good. EXCEPT that darned trigger reach, a problem the HP (and 1911) didn't have. Similarly, a few years later I talked myself into a Daewoo DH40, because it had had (and still has) some neat features a slightly better reach--near the limit but workable--BUT it's still a bit chunky of grip (which of course also exaccerbates the reach issue). I still have and love this weapon, an underrated gem IMO, but it is still not optimal because if the chunky (to me) grip girth, and I SHOULD have moved on. (I'm surprised I didn't end up with the HP, but I was looking for a multimode pistol at the time. Ditto 1911).
Some of CZ's newer offerings seem to be better in the reach department, and many others have "solved" the hi capacity vs grip girth vs trigger reach...but it takes looking, handling and, as suggested, ultimately firing these to really know.
Back to revolvers for a second, the beauty of the L Frame Smiths is sharing grips with the K Frames--not so, IIRC, with the N Frame Which also means if the factory grips are a little chunky, replacement with the likes of Pachmayr's Compac grips *can* help to moderate a bit.
