I had a satin chrome Colt .45 Combat Commander for a few months about 20 years back. Beautiful weapon, not bad to carry, but I'm not sure I could have hit a barn with it while standing inside the barn.
OTOH, the Smith Model 39 was money in the bank anywhere on the 50-yard range the Sheriff's dept used. And I qualified up to 50 yards with a Smith Combat Masterpiece .38 with a 2" barrel, so I'm comfortable in saying it was the Colt, not me.
In retrospect, I'm sure the Colt needed a complete going-over by a qualified gunsmith.