Yeeehaw! Awesome post! Love these revolvers. Shot one many years ago and it was great. Love the ability to switch cylinders and go from plinking rounds to medium game hunting magnum rounds in quick order. I'm still a big fan of revolvers, easy for teaching newbies, reliable to a fault, and easy to clean without an engineering degree to take them apart like some semi-automatics. Don't get me wrong, I like my semi-auto's too, but it's hard to not like just good performing simplicity sometimes.

Plus, it's a load of fun to practice the finger twirl (Empty weapon only please!) and quickdraw from western style holsters.

As far as moving up to larger calibers, my favorite's are .357 S&W, or Ruger GP100.
And then of course the Dirty Harry .44 Magnum S&W Model 29, a bit of kick in ,44 Magnum, but amazingly accurate in .44 special without the brutal kick and faster followup.
Enjoy!