Dad and I spent a of of time watching spaghetti westerns. I'm shy about the Italians despite reading mostly favorable reviews.
I too grew up watching Spaghetti westerns. Funny how those six shooters always seemed to have more than 6 shots.
I'm not a big fan of SA, even tho I have seriously thought about getting into SASS. For me it's more of a lever action rifle and a sawed off coach gun kinda thingy. I've had SA revolvers in the past, I too had a late 60's 3 screw in .44 mag. Went down the road for a SxS 12 ga. Coach Gun.
The Italian SAs have gotten good reviews and are said to have some of the biggest bang for the buck out there. You claim you want a field gun, not a collector. I'd say, maybe give 'em a try iffin you want the real old west look without breaking the bank.
Won't consider tube feds excepting a New Original Henry.
^^^This was the reason for my statement about all levers being tube fed. While there are some levers like the Ruger 96 and the BLR that are magazine fed, since you were looking for a cowboy type gun, I didn't include them. Both tho, are excellent choices for a field use lever gun. Much safer, faster and easier to load and unload compared to a gate loaded lever.
As for no guns to look at in your area......I feel sorry for you. Hard to believe with the huge increase in interest and demand lately for SAs, that any store with a good inventory wouldn't have something you could handle. Gun shows around here, while having their fair share of Ostrich Jerky and $5 Chinese knives, also have a significant amount of handguns, including SA cowboy types to handle. One thing I do whenever my wife and I travel is to stop at gun shops I see along the way. Most of the time they have the same old/same old, but many times they have things I don't get to see in my area. Been a long time since I bought a gun from looking at a picture or just by going from a strangers suggestion, without handling the gun in person first. I know I'd be quite reluctant to do it again.