Free: Contests & Raffles.
The reason there are so many Ruger upgrades is because they're necessary.
Great pistols for what they do. They have a bit of recoil as already mentioned. The triggers are terrible, trigger work is needed on the newer ones. I am a Smith and Wesson fan number 1 but I do think that their quality control has gone down in the last few years on their revolvers. They aren't bad, just not what you picked up 10 years or so ago. I too would lean to a hammerless model. Less of a chance to get hung up on something and zero chance of getting into a habit of cocking it in practice which can then show up when it is put in service for the "real" job.