As the owner of a true LETTERED 629-1 Lew Horton 44 mag, I often look at them on Gun Broker. I'm always amazed at how some sellers try to sell unlettered guns as the real thing just because it is a 3 inch 44 mag with round but combat grips. Even if you ask them for a letter, they say they don't need one, because what is stated in the Standard Catalog, WHICH IS WRONG!!!!!!! Do your home work buyers. Call Lew Horton and check the numbers!!!!!

Not a 629-1 but it took me less than 24 hours to get this letter after I had emailed them asking if it was one of theirs. Of course I knew mine was a Lew Horton already because of the factory certificate.

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USAF AMMO

Absolutely call LH. I did and got a letter in less than a week, no charge. I'm not a collector, just an assembler, but don't like to be fleeced.
S&W 624 Lew Horton Special 30.jpgS&W LH 624.jpg

Why would a gun be worth more money just because it was distributed through Lew Horton?

It makes zero sense. They commissioned small runs of firearms that are now very desirable. That's it.

I may be the odd man out but I really couldn't give a rats rear end who distributed it.

Because Lew Horton Distributing kept track of the model, serial number, and production of each series, and will provide the owner with a letter stating such FREE of charge. Each of their guns was a limited production original.

I like the fact that mine is 132 of only 258 and I could document it without paying $50. Honestly I wouldn't care if mine was distributed through Bangers or Lew Horton. The Bangers model 27-7s at least didn't have the Internal Lock.

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USAF AMMO

This is the response I got back when I asked a seller if he had called Lew Horton Distributing and verified if the gun was a true Lew Horton Special.


"Hi,
No, I do not need to call Lew Horton. My Standard Catalog of S&W says Product Code #103610 is a Lew Horton 629-1 3 inch made in 1985. Google the S&W product code #103610 and put in 629-1 Lew Horton if you do not believe me.
XXXX XXXXX"

Find out the s/n and call LH, they'll tell you over the phone. You don't have to have possession of the gun.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

On the other hand.....I bought a Mdl 21-4....which was limited production anyway....that didn't have the Lew Horton imprimatur. Kind of had the idea that mine might be a little more desirable without the extra script. Am I wrong?!

So far any gun I've owned and sold that was a LH gun meant absolutely nothing to the buyer. It's a title that in my opinion should not have any premium attached to the price.

The name "Lew Horton" doesn't appear on any of the guns LH distributes. Nor on the boxes. The only physical thing LH does to the guns themselves, that I know of, is occasionally change the grips. LH is NOT a gunsmithing firm. They don't tweak the guns in any way. They sell guns straight off S&W's standard assembly line. Unless the guns are PC marked, then they're sold straight off S&W's PC assembly line.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I've got a Rem 1100 and a Ruger 10/22 that are Longs Drug Store Runs, What would the extra $$$ value be since the Longs went out of business. Thanks, Theo

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Take my advice Im not using it

Again I will ask; why would it matter that Lew Horton (and not some other distributor) distributed the gun?

It doesn't..!!!

RSR is another distributor of PC Limited run guns. That's all Lew Horton is, a distributor, and they tossed in a set of grips..

They do nothing more than move inventory for S&W..

I do like the fact that they provided (as an option) a very nice holster with the 3" 24 and 624s of 1985.
They were supposedly made by Gould & Goodrich.
Otherwise I have never understood the fascination with all things Lew Horton.

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Nemo

One benefit, as mentioned above, is they provide a free "poor man's" version of the S&W letter with all of the history that their distributor special runs entailed. The main thing though is, as I've mentioned in other threads, Lew Horton guns are worth more because people are willing to pay more for them. Maybe you don't value the name but many buyers see Lew Horton in the name and believe it to be worth more than the same configuration without it thus the belief in value drives pricing. Same goes for 3" magnums being worth more than 2.5"ers, it's because that's what people want to buy right now. It's all perceived value but perception drives reality.

Here's mine, but it means nothing to me that Lew Horton was the distributor. Anyone who pays more for the name is only fooling himself. I got mine because I wanted a blue, round butt, 6-shot 44 Special. The very same gun was also sold by other distributors.

The emperor has no clothes!

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In my opinion Lew Horton distributed some of the finest, coolest and most unique Smith & Wesson Performance Center revolvers ever made, shot and handled. Majority of them were very low number runs and Lew Horton exclusive. One of Smith & Wessons finest performance center gunsmiths like John French worked on several early model PC revolvers distributed by Lew Horton. To me that is why they command a premium. Some of the above comments just make me chuckle. No offense, but you clearly have not handled some of the Lew Horton distributed PC guns if you do not think there is anything special about them...

I'll admit of the 3 624's the 3"(LH) IS the best built one.

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Nemo

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Translation: Performance Center guns in the '90's were cool and really well made. Some were sold by Lew Horton.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I too have noticed that Lew Horton 629's I have been looking at have been very expensive from what I've seen. But, they did commission some cool setups!

There is the statement that matters. Lew Horton doesn't make anything. BUT they did participate actively in distributing PC guns in the 1990s that that were higher end, good looking and often cutting edge. S&W designed them but Lew Horton helped pushed them into the market place. I buy PC pistols and revolvers not because Lew Horton distributed them. I but PC guns and very often Lew Horton was the sole distributor. So when I come across a LH pistol or revolver especially from the PC and from the 1990s I take note. RSR or Talo could just as easily be the distributor. I don't care. I just want guns built with better quality and often a little more "cool factor", and performance than a standard S&W.
The FComp 66-3 and Shorty 9 are recent PC acquisitions. Very nice pieces. Both happened to be LH distributions. SO to the OPs question..why sucjh a fuss about LH? Not LH...PC guns...usually distributed exclusively by LH..or Talo.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Translation: Performance Center guns in the '90's were cool and really well made. Some were sold by Lew Horton.


Just kidding. You're 100% right. If I come off as a LH basher on this thread, that's not my intent. I just wanted to be clear what LH really did (and do), and it wasn't gunsmithing.

Lew Horton was very good a one thing... spotting trends and having guns made that S&W aficionado's wanted. In fact, they did this much better than S&W did themselves. LH caught, maybe created, the short barrel crazy. 3-inch and shorter guns. Magnums! In the '80's that was not the direction big bore handguns were going. It was all about hunting and target shooting. Long barreled M29's that looked like golf clubs!

LH popularized the short barrel, even before CCW was big. LH had all kinds of special Mag-Na-Ported guns. Guns with matte bead blast finishes. Groovy laminate stocks. Comps and trigger stops. Unfluted cylinders. They had guns with STYLE........

And the way they back their product, all these years latter, with free letters, says a whole lot about their service and their attitude to their customers. It adds value. They deserve adulation. Just not for gunsmithing, or making anything.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

Well stated Kernel. I have a 2.5" 686 that happened to be a Horton but that wasn't what drew me to it. It just has the chunky, all business look that they realized would be a hit before the factory did.

I just missed a 3" 624 that sold today, correct period box and docs, looked in nice shape. It went for what to me was the top end of $1k, I would've gone a smidge higher but not much to try to get it. Haven't seen any in my area in a very long time. I hate being busy at work!

Translation:

I am sure most are aware Lew Horton was a distributer nothing else.

who buys a small run of "custom" guns and sells them to folks as made-to-order "collector's items." Winchester made thousands of lever action rifles with all kinds of embellishments that some people bought up thinking they might be worth something. Well, many are worth less than the base gun in the same model. I knew an old guy here in town who had a trailer-full of boxed Winchester "commemorative" model 94 rifles that his wife tried to sell after he died. She sold them but not at any kind of premium....real collector guns are normally something out of the ordinary, a high grade model of a popular gun where only a few of the high grade models were made, or a gun which can be positively connected to a celebrity of some sort...etc.

That's right. Winchester (USRA) was trying to improve the image of their Post-'64 M94, so they hit that commemorative thing hard in the late '60's and all thru the '80's. It is funny, maybe even sad in a way, seeing guys trying to sell those guns now, many which are kinda gaudy, for a big premium. The one bright spot is today most of those guns qualify and Curios & Relics for purposes of a Type 03 FFL, even though most aren't even 50 years old.

I've got two, a Canadian Centennial (1967), and a Illinois Sesquicentennial (1968). Both .30-30 saddle-ring carbines. I like the Canadian because of the octagon barrel and it was NIB when I got it, and still less than a new gun with the safety. The Illinois gun I got cheap because it had some water damage from sitting in a basement that flooded (rusted the nickel-plated steel butt plate, stained the stock). Both have Williams FP peep sites to which I've added a finger adjustable target turret just for elevation.

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

I have a 625-7 in .45 Colt. Just for fun can anyone tell me what that should be configured as? Then, I'll let you know more.

Bill

When you get one let me know, I'll take it off your hands cheap.

You are exactly right. The guys that think it is a big deal are the buyers who are frustrated they can't find a rare or desirable gun.

So no Lew horton distributed guns are rare or desirable ?? Thanks for the good laugh.

This was the last Lew Horton Distributed gun I bought.
1 of 160 and a member here was glad to pay me more for it than I paid.