While many (if not most) of us favor the older S&W revolvers, one suspects that there are just as many of us who have positive experience with the newer versions. I went through my "damn the lock" phase and have evolved into a "If it suits my needs, I'm gonna buy one" mode. S&W is still putting out a darn good revolver, and they're not being made by accountants and attorneys. The very fact that S&W has ramped up its "Classic Series" models as well as paying homage to a number of its older thoroughbreds, i.e., the Model 66 and 586, should tell you that the company is, in fact, concerned about what shooters think, and want.
Unless you haven't been paying attention lo these past thirty years or so, you haven't noted that we just can't hand-make guns the way we could in the old days and still pay our employees. Yeah, profits do matter for the folks that run the companies, but there are still an awful lot of quality firearms being produced ... as there are still a lot of the guys sitting around moaning about how things just aren't as well-made today as they were in the old days. Some of us, however, were actually around in the old days and can appreciate that there's still guns getting made today just as well, or better, than in the past.
