Well as a few of you know i am looking for a nice early model 29 with a 4" barrel and not finding what i am looking for...so a friend contacted me today about a Lew Horton...i am told it is a like new 29-3 with a 3" barrel...i have just heard about the name and know very little about them...does anyone here have any experience with them?...from what i can see they look quite nice...the original grips seem a little different but i am told they are great feel in your hand and very comfortable to shoot...from what i can see that they are about the same money i am looking to spend for a early one...but i do not want to waste my money if this is not a smart choice....Dad had a mountain gun which i am told is modeled after Lew's designs....any help will so be appreciated...God Bless John

That's been a running topic for debate with those that say the Lew Horton's aren't worth anymore than a regular cataloged S&W, and there are those that of course whole heartedly disagree, saying that they are every bit worth the premium that they are being sold for.

I'm in between because I'm more selective on which LH guns I consider worth the price versus not. They came up with many "Lew Horton" specials, some were nothing more than a slight variation of a regular production gun, and then there are the N-Frames with the 3" barrels made in the 80's.

I think those are worth more than other LH guns because the 3" N-Frames had features that at time were not common, such as having a round butt grip frame. That was pretty unique because prior to that, if you wanted a round butt N-Frame it had to come at the hands of a Gunsmith, and the same went for the shorter barrel.

I have a 24-3 with the 3" barrel which is a Lew Horton gun, it took a long time to find that one, I'm quite pleased with it and have no regrets with paying extra for it.

Keep in mind too that in todays market, if that gun has the S&W factory round butt combat grips... we're talking a $200 value alone for the grips if sold on ebay.

It sounds like you have a chance to buy one at close to what a regular cataloged 4" barrel gun would go for... if so, buy it, you will not lose money on it.

And yes... S&W did end up adding guns to their line with the Lew Horton features. The 3" barrel 657 was one of them, called the "stocking dealer special", it's patterned after the Lew Horton 629 3" gun (pic below).

Edited to add: I just looked at the Standard Catalog of S&W and didn't see any 29-3's with a 3" barrel, but there is a Performance Center 629-3 with a 3" barrel that was made for Lew Horton called the "Carry Comp II", sporting an un-fluted cylinder. If that is actually the gun you friend contacted you about, by all means go check it out if the price is close to a regular gun, only 100 of those guns were made, the S/N starts with "PCZ".

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

I agree with Gunhacker. It depends. Lew Horton is a distributor and many of their guns are not particularly special but some are. In general N-frame 3" guns from Lew Horton might be more special than others.

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

Lew Horton was the first distributor to order special runs of a particular revolver. Place an order for enough units and Smith would make up anything the distributor wanted. Some were great and became cult classics, some eventually made it into actual production, some were ...meh.
Today lots of distributors order special runs and in particular Ruger is eager to produce them. Look at the Ruger web site for the specials and see just what they produce for a distributor. Lipsey's is one, Talo is another but there are several out there. I almost pulled the trigger on a stainless full stock 77/22 but just could not justify another .22. Likewise a stainless full stock 30-06-I really should have bought that one
The LSU purple LCR-not so much
Bottom line keep an eye of the distributor specials-you might see something that really floats yer boat.

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Forum consigliere

29-3 is catalogued as having a 3" Barrel. These were shipped from Lew Horton and also were available as an Overrun.

I have several. What I have seen is about 5000 were Lew Horton and another 2000 or so were Overrun guns from the Lew Horton contract.

The Standard catalog originally had them as 1 of 200 but was edited on a later edition.

Here is the Lew Horton letter on one of mine

First off, let me state that I am a full blown 3" addict. I'm not really sure what it is, but I can not get enough of them. So much so, that acquiring them has postponed my early retirement by several years.

There is some mystique about the Lew Horton guns. It began around 1984 I was told by a member here who is held in pretty high regard. The story goes that Lew Horton approached Smith and Wesson to build some 3" round but, 44 special model 24-3's. The "experts" said they wouldn't sell, Lew Horton persisted, the guns were sold out in record time!! Next Lew Horton ordered some 3" round but 44 magnum 29-3"s, they sold out as well.

After that, the factory starting offering 3" round but N frames in various calibers and configurations. Lew Horton and other distributors also had many "limited editions".

Are they worth any more money? I suppose that is in the eye of the beholder. I do know that quite a few were made in very limited numbers, 500 or less, which is pretty rare in modern manufacturing.

Getting back to the 29-3 3" revolver you referred to in your post. There were 5000 made, so I would not call it "rare". I would call it "desirable". Original box, docs and tools? As others have said, the original S&W combat grips are worth$$. If complete and original I would put it in the $1500 range.

As they say here, didn't happen without pics. This is from a meeting of the " NE Ohio bunch", all 3" 44 magnums. Roughly 20% of my 3" collection.

Best regards, Bob

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SWCA #2785
OGCA #35078

I don't believe that the Lew Horton guns received any special parts or special had fitting. They did have special features such as the 3" barrel, an excellent idea, even to this day.

As a limited number of Lew Horton guns were produced they are commanding a premium price. Are these worth the money? Well that's up to a potential buyer.

It all depends. The L H guns are built by S&W exactly like the standard guns. L H did order some runs of particular configurations that S&W normally didn't make. Some of those seem to demand a little premium due to the scarcity. S&W did not take any different manufacturing steps for L H than any of it's other guns, other than the configurations requested.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Don't forget that there are "regular" Lew Horton guns, and also guns out of the Performance Center that they "commissioned".

So you can't really lump all LH guns into one category and say there's nothing special in how they were made.

Just like regular cataloged S&W guns, the Performance Center guns are on an entirely different level and usually command a premium unto themselves. Anything on top of that for an LH variant out of the PC would need to be evaluated based on rarity and uniqueness of features, such as what I mentioned on the 629-3... the un-fluted cylinder.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

Some are definitely worth the money, because they were never offered by S&W or anyone else and cannot be found in that configuration.

My 657 3" may be a LH special or an overrun special...Doesn't make any difference to me..all I know for sure is that it is my favorite 'N' frame carry gun..the 3" barrel is just right...I have plenty of 'N' frames, but only hip carry my 657..

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NRA PATRIOT BENEFACTOR LIFE

As mentioned some of the LH guns are very limited production numbers.

If they only made 500 units and 600 of us want them.. Well you get my point.

Yes, they are.

Yes, they are...cuz I have one.

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For me, the fact that it was distributed by Lew Horton does not add any value to the gun. The value comes from the configuration and caliber, that had not been made to that point. If identical guns, one Lew Horton, and one not were laid side by side, I would not pay more for the Lew Horton distributed one.

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

Snub Models 29-3 (left) and 24-3 (right)


Sold them like 5 years ago thinking they were too short for target use and too large to carry , Also being non P&R revolvers were not ever going to become that collectable...Wink

well just a update on the one that was offered to me...now the seller has decided to keep it...i did get some info today ...i did not know that my Dad had bought a 24-3 from Lew back when he made the first ones...too bad he no longer has it...it was sold to his best friend who's son has it now...so the search continues....really appreciate all the help..maybe someday i will finally get what i am looking for...patience is key...God Bless John

There is nuance here... a distinction needs to be made.

When asked, "Is a Lew Horton gun worth more than a regular S&W?", the "Lew Horton gun" in that is a broad brush.

It first needs to be established, is someone asking in generic terms about guns that simply came from Lew Horton, or specifically about one of the special runs based on one of the production gun platforms? And does the person asking have enough background knowledge to understand the distinction in the relationship between the two?

Any gun whose only virtue is that it was sold by one of the large S&W distributors, be it Lew Horton, RSR, Talo, etc. does not automatically make it intrinsically more valuable.

Comments towards the premise that an identical Lew Horton gun placed side by with a regular S&W is not worth anything additional... that really does not apply. A special run gun isn't going to be exactly identical to a production gun.... but nearly identical would be a valid side by side comparison criteria.

If the only difference is a minor variation from the production model, such as a special fixed combat/tactical sight, different finish and/or grips and not much else... that's nearly identical in my book and not different enough from the original gun to warrant any "premium".

When you get into the ones that were more modified, then the answer becomes "it depends", and as many have said, the determination of additional value is going to come from caliber and configuration differences, as well as the extent of the difference between it, a regular production gun or even a rendering of special run from other distributors that's similar.

The PC 945 is really good example of that, as there were variants made by the Performance Center for both RSR and Camfour (also large S&W distributors), before being added to the regular Performance Center line up.

If Lew Horton had or were to now come up with their flavor of a 945, it would have need to be compared with all of the above, to assess its relative value.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

DROOL.. all over keyboard, seeping into the works.... there goes my laptop.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

Hindsight is always 20/20 !

I actually wasn't looking for the 24-3 with the 3" barrel 44 special. My wife started going to shows to keep an eye on me. Saw one in a dealers case and asked was that a 24-3 44 special. Once he said yes we settled on a price. The wife caught me as the dealer was making the phone call busted. Frank

Thanks for posting your letter. I have a 3" M29-3 I bought from the estate of a retired sergeant from my work several years ago. Unfortunately, he liked to store some of his handguns in Seagram's Crown Royal whiskey bags. The M29 was stored this way and became pitted. He took it somewhere and had it coated with some sort of black substance over the pits and all. Gun looks like heck but functions and shoots just fine. The RB combats were pristine, so I removed them and put on a pair of Sile boot type grips. Paid $300 for it. Just recently bought reloading dies and load a 240 grain SWC lead bullet with 7 grains of WST for an inexpensive range load.
I am reasonably sure this is a LH gun. The serial # is ALB 5250.