Lew Horton revolvers?

[Retired LTC, USAR]

Does a Lew Horton revolver increase its value?

Thanks for you opinion.

[PH-2]

Colonel,

I believe the "special features" and relatively fewer production numbers make them desirable to some of us. The Lew Horton 624 is one example.



Mike

[rburg]

I'm going to suggest the Lew Horton name does little to nothing. If you have a gun with identical features, which is very possible, its generally worth about the same amount.

What Lew Horton did was to suggest some pretty obvious combination's of features to make a more desirable gun. Just as all of us with think "why don't they make that", Lew Horton had both the foresight and financing to bring the guns to market. If you or I were to call S&W and request a special version of a gun with special features, they'd probably laugh. When Lew Horton calls and doesn't tell them how cool the gun would be, they call and suggest they make 1000 of them with a firm order. Back to the money talks thing.

But my experiences at work over the years revealed when someone orders 1000 of something, you don't tool up to make the thousand. You shoot high, expecting some losses in production. Then your working folks surprise you and you end up with an over run. So you offer those to the orignal customer. If they reject the overage, you just sell the stuff through normal channels. Mechanically the items are indistinguishable from each other. Often with adjacent serial numbers. The only way we can tell is sometimes the "book" tells us the L H started and ended with certain numbers.

So the rule of thumb here is if you're selling, play up the L H name to the fullest (even if its not). If you're buying, just ignore it or don't pay the premium someone is asking.

[pjpjr]

Originally Posted by rburg

I'm going to suggest the Lew Horton name does little to nothing. If you have a gun with identical features, which is very possible, its generally worth about the same amount.

What Lew Horton did was to suggest some pretty obvious combination's of features to make a more desirable gun. Just as all of us with think "why don't they make that", Lew Horton had both the foresight and financing to bring the guns to market. If you or I were to call S&W and request a special version of a gun with special features, they'd probably laugh. When Lew Horton calls and doesn't tell them how cool the gun would be, they call and suggest they make 1000 of them with a firm order. Back to the money talks thing.

But my experiences at work over the years revealed when someone orders 1000 of something, you don't tool up to make the thousand. You shoot high, expecting some losses in production. Then your working folks surprise you and you end up with an over run. So you offer those to the orignal customer. If they reject the overage, you just sell the stuff through normal channels. Mechanically the items are indistinguishable from each other. Often with adjacent serial numbers. The only way we can tell is sometimes the "book" tells us the L H started and ended with certain numbers.

So the rule of thumb here is if you're selling, play up the L H name to the fullest (even if its not). If you're buying, just ignore it or don't pay the premium someone is asking.

rburg is spot on here.......the LH guns I have sold and see selling are nice guns with the features we want, nothing more so the LH name means not much in my neck of the woods.

[colt_saa]

Originally Posted by Retired LTC, USAR

Does a Lew Horton revolver increase its value?

Thanks for you opinion.

I think that there is much confusion over the use of this term. Also much misuse.

Lew Horton was/is a distributor of S&W firearms. Just because a firearm came through his shop does not add any value to it.

Like is a Cadillac from Maroone worth more than another Cadillac? Who cares what distributor handled the firearm.

What does have more value are Distributor Exclusive firearms. These are small runs that S&W has agreed will not be offered to other sources. The extra value is not that it is a Lew Horton, but that it is a distributor exclusive and therefore usually very low production. A Lew Horton exclusive is no more valuable than a Camfour exclusive. Bangers exclusive. RSR exclusive or other distributor's exclusive.

Over the decades, Lew Horton has taken on more Distributor exclusives than most other sources and his name is better known because of that.

[XTrooper]

Originally Posted by colt_saa

I think that there is much confusion over the use of this term. Also much misuse.

Lew Horton was/is a distributor of S&W firearms. Just because a firearm came through his shop does not add any value to it.

Like is a Cadillac from Maroone worth more than another Cadillac? Who cares what distributor handled the firearm.

What does have more value are Distributor Exclusive firearms. These are small runs that S&W has agreed will not be offered to other sources. The extra value is not that it is a Lew Horton, but that it is a distributor exclusive and therefore usually very low production. A Lew Horton exclusive is no more valuable than a Camfour exclusive. Bangers exclusive. RSR exclusive or other distributor's exclusive.

Over the decades, Lew Horton has taken on more Distributor exclusives than most other sources and his name is better known because of that.

THIS is the "spot on" answer to your question.

My 24-5 is worth more, not because of the Lew Horton name, but because is was a low production model available exclusively through LH.

[Mack]

Originally Posted by PH-2

Colonel,

I believe the "special features" and relatively fewer production numbers make them desirable to some of us. The Lew Horton 624 is one example.



Mike

Actually the 624 is the solution to S&W stating that the 24-3 would be a limited issue with only so many made. LH did spec out the N frame 3" round butt guns which while nice IMO would be nicer with a 3 1/2" barrel and full length ejector rod.

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Does the same go for the Fred Schwartz guns???

[Snapping Twig]

LH is an innovator and as such they are recognized for their insight. Without knowing about LH, I selected several of their offerings over the years as the forehead slapping obvious answer to the correct features in any particular revolver choice. IOW, they make 'em right.

That said, there's a certain following among the enlightened, but no joy within the masses, so unless you meet up with a true believer, prices are going to be the going rate for the model. The features themselves will be responsible for any additional gain in a sale, not the LH name.

I feel blessed now looking back at the LH examples in my collection, but I realize that I bought them for regular price, so selling them (God forbid) would net me no real gain over non LH.

[Snapping Twig]

Originally Posted by Mack

Actually the 624 is the solution to S&W stating that the 24-3 would be a limited issue with only so many made. LH did spec out the N frame 3" round butt guns which while nice IMO would be nicer with a 3 1/2" barrel and full length ejector rod.

Owning one myself, I have no trouble kicking out the empties with the 3" ejector rod. 2.5" seems to be the break point whereby the rod is not long enough to do the job correctly.

Is it an esthetic's thing, the 3.5" barrel?

[LouisianaJoe]

Originally Posted by CAJUNLAWYER

Does the same go for the Fred Schwartz guns???

I think that the value decreases if the guy is named Gary.