I don't even have to look at the books to answer this question.
My favorite gun is a revolver and I like the single action the best.
To be honest, you only have a choice of two different calibers. The first as you said, is .45LC and the second is .357 magnum. I would not go for a ruger super red hawk in .44 magnum because they kick HARD and they cost a lot of money.
Now my recommendations for single actions are:
The Ruger Vaquero
Colt Single Action Army (or the Peace Maker)
(or) The Cattleman:
http://www.uberti.com/firearms/single_action_cattleman.php
Now I like all of these guns but let me talk about the highs and lows of each each one. Both the Cattleman and the Peacemaker are American classics and are unchanged. When you pull the trigger and it goes BANG! you are doing exactly what people done over 130 years ago with the exact same gun. The only down fall is that you have to follow old trail rules. The most important, is you leave a cylinder empty to let your hammer rest on, thus cheating you out of one shot (which is a lot considering you only had 6 shots to begin with).
Another bad thing about these old guns is that .45LC is very expensive. Like .75 to .80 a round expensive. Good part is you can reload with black powder (which means you don't have to worry about a loading press) and you get all of your brass in perfect condition. Which basically means you just need to buy primers (which are pretty cheap), bullets (again, pretty cheap... especially since you can use black powder cap and ball balls... about 6 or so buck per 100) and powder is also pretty cheap. I would recommend about 38 grains (get a powder measure... do not skimp on this).
Now my favorite is the Ruger Vaquero (personal preference). There are two mains reasons for this. #1, It utilizes what is called a transfer bar. This means you can load up every barrel and let the hammer down without a problem.
#2, You can get it in .357 magnum. This is very good because you can shoot .38 special out of it which is VERY cheap. That means you get to save on cleaning supplies and time that is required to clean and maintain a revolver shooting black powder. It is still probably cheaper over all to shoot reloads though since you basically just buy your .45LC and then shoots with that brass over and over and over.
BTW, make sure that the casing is made of brass and the more expensive it is, usually the better the round (which means better brass). So if you are planning on reloading do not skimp on your initial buy.
You should be able to get a any of these used for around $300 or so. I have seen Vaquero's as low as $210 and still be in great condition. Ya don't see that many Peacemakers or Cattleman though.
Also, do not count on you hand loads to be incredibly accurate if you are using the round ball method.
Also, you might want to waist one round of .45LC and measure the powder charge that the factory is loading. Simply pull the bullet out with pliers.
Well, I hope this helps you.