MikeG,
Thought for sure I would get blasted this time. I wasn't trying to, but it seems that everytime I get wordy and state how I feel it happens.
My dislike for the NM Rugers comes from the experiances I have had with two Blackhawks in .45 colt.
I enjoy shooting SA revolvers, but when loading and unloading them I don't want to have to manually rotate the cylinder to center it in the loading grove. That is what the half cock notch is for. With the big bores it isn't too much a pain, but when you get down to the .357's and smaller, getting the chamber lined up with the ejector rod is a major pain.
My second gripe happened with two different NM's. After just a couple hundred rounds each the base pin would come unlatched and jump forward, jamming up the gun. This is a cronic NM SA problem. It would take a spread sheet to list all the posts I have read by people that are asking what can I do about the base pin.
Now, for about $200.xx dollars one can replace the Ruger action with a Power Custom action, and the basepin with an oversized one from several different makers. This corrects for the most part Ruger's design flaws. And still leaves you with the transfer bar.
I don't feel the transfer bar action is any safer than the old style action at all though. Because safety is in the hands of the person holding the gun.
My first center fire revolver was a Colt clone with the standard action. I talked to a bunch of old timers when I got it about the proper way to handle the old style guns. I engraved this into my mind, my hands, and to this date, I have never had an AD with a standard SA. But I did with a NM Blackhawk. Yep, out of ingrained training and habbit I tried to load it like you do the old style, but thinking it's safe with six. Well you figured it out, when I went to lower the hammer like the old style my thumb slipped off the hammer and because my finger was on the trigger, well lets just say I was thankfull the house had a two layer block wall. Had that gun been an old model there would not have been a round under the hammer.
I hope this answers your question about why I don't like NM Rugers. Yes they are strong, durable, and many things can be done with them.
But I would rather have an OM.
I figure that some day I might buy a NM, but I will have to factor in about $300.00 worth of modifications before I would ever fire it.
As for the key lock, my wories are not for people that do as you did, toss the key. It's for those who have kids. They feel the need for a home defense gun, but then swallow the hype about making the gun impossible for unauthorized kids to use. Sounds good on paper, but......................
Picture a key locked gun, a BG coming in, terror, adrinelin pumping, and the terrified gun owner trying to find the key, stick the little pointy end in the tiny hole, turn it the right direction, and all in time to use it before it's too late? I don't like the odds.
Personal experiance: I was asleep, sound dead asleep when a major fight erupted around our neighbors house. They werent home, but the people on the other side were going insane. Actually trying to kill each other. When I woke to this my system was already pumping with adrenilin. I could barely get my pants on. I would NEVER have been able to use one of those key locks. NEVER. As it was I got my pants on grabbed my S&W and headed downstairs to protect mine. If necessary. It wasn't, but I was ready.
I'm wordy as all heck today, must be the screaming sinus headache I am suffering with. Upper respritory virus infection been beating me up the last week.