686 in any barrel length. Hands-down THE best .357 ever made, though there are many others that are good. N frames are next. Definitely pre-lock and pre-everything-being-round-butt. Make mine a no-lock, square butt 686.
A friend of mine, back in the 1990s, was looking to fund an African safari, and was selling most of his accumulated guns. I didn't really want anything he had, but figured I'd help him out by buying his Performance Center custom, four inch, Model 586. This was a pre-lock, but had MIM trigger and hammer. But, man, was this thing sweet. Action like velvet. Super light and crisp trigger, with factory installed over travel stop. I really liked it, but it wasn't my cup of tea (as a backup to a hunting rifle, I prefer aluminum alloy handguns, and for a daily concealed carry revolver, the largest I'm interested in is K-Frame, and that with a barrel no longer than three inches), so recently sold it for a tidy sum.
