UPDATE with PHOTOS A 45 Win. Mag WILDEY in trade for my S&W Lew Horton 629 3 inch???

RogerA · Feb 8, 2015

UPDATE with PHOTOS A 45 Win. Mag WILDEY in trade for my S&W Lew Horton 629 3 inch???

A buddy wants to trade his 45 Win. Mag. Wildey auto for my Lew Horton 629 3 inch. What do you guys think? It's a neat looking pistol. Charles Bronson used one in a Death Wish movie. Ammo is expensive. Anybody here own one? He says it worth $1500 plus. Any info or advice appreciated. Thanks!

DID NOT make the trade, just came to an agreement and bought it. What do you guys thin????

texmex · Feb 8, 2015

Wiley's are cool. A word of caution. On some of the Wildeys, if you pull the slide back just far enough for the slide stop to engage, the hammer has not been pushed back far enough to catch on the sear. Putting a loaded mag in and dropping the slide will fire the weapon. Just make sure to either cock the hammer and then lock the slide back or make sure to pull the slide all the way back and then engage the slide stop.
When this happened to my dad, he was following rule number one. The gun was pointed in a safe direction so the ad was not a tragedy, just a surprise. I don't know if all or any other Wildeys did this, but his would do it every time. I kidded him about it having a combo slide release/thumb trigger.

surfgun · Feb 8, 2015

A 629 is much easier to get, I say that is a good trade. The 2nd poster's father's pistol needs to have its hammer sear interface fixed to prevent accidental discharges, as I doubt that would ever be considered a feature by its designer.

colt_saa · Feb 8, 2015

I own several Wildeys. I have had my oldest for more than two decades now

The one in Death Wish III was not a 45 Winchester Magnum, it was a 475 Wildey Magnum. Happens to be a great auto loading cartridge. However in the early years jacketed projectiles were hard to find. Now we have a few additional handgun cartridges in the same diameter so the selection is much better.

Wildeys do sell for in excess of $1500 all the time. You have to decide if you like Big, I mean Rally BIG auto loaders or you prefer 44 Magnums. I am not a 44 Magnum fan, so I would make the trade in the blink of an eye. BTW, if you have small to medium hands forget about it, stick with the S&W.

I met Wildey Moore for the first time at SHOT when COLT was getting ready to introduce the Wildey as their own product. I think it was 1999. I do not recall what stopped COLT from going forward. Only 16 of the BIG Colts were produced.

If you hand load, remember that the Wildey is a gas operated action, so no lead projectiles.

This is the first time I have heard of a failure like TexMex's dad. Hopefully it went back for repair as soon as the problem was learned.

RogerA · Feb 8, 2015

WOW!! Just WOW!!! Is all I can say. Very impressive. I think I will have another look at the WILDEY my friend has. THANKS!!!!

Autococker07 · Feb 8, 2015

RogerA said:
A buddy wants to trade his 45 Win. Mag. Wildey auto for my Lew Horton 629 3 inch. What do you guys think? It's a neat looking pistol. Charles Bronson used one in a Death Wish movie. Ammo is expensive. Anybody here own one? He says it worth $1500 plus. Any info or advice appreciated. Thanks!

As others have said.... Do frogs bump their butt when they hop?!?! Hell yeah thats a good deal!!! (If the wildey is in good shape...) I have an acquaintance here that bought one on preorder... one of the first, he says, in 475.... he has never fired it, and is toying with selling it.... I am hoping I can be in the right place and time when he does!!!! The only gun I have ever wanted more was the Wildey's Daddy, a Pasadena Automag in 44AMP!!!

Good luck!!!

NMPinNYC · Feb 8, 2015

Keep the 629, buy the Wildey outright. Easy, peasy.

SLT223 · Feb 8, 2015

Keep the Lew Horton. Let him sell his behemoth of an auto loader. You have the better gun, and this is not your problem.

AR_Black · Feb 8, 2015

Check the slide on the Wildey for cracks. I had one come thru my shop with a cracked slide.....sold it as a parts gun to a collector.

And .45 WIN MAG is LOUD

And I had one of these in .475 WILDEY MAG.

More of a novelty than anything useful. But a good collectors item if in good shape.

muddocktor · Feb 8, 2015

I'd swap for the Wildey in a heartbeat, if the Wildey is in good shape. Replacing the Lew Horton is a lot easier than finding a Wildey.

mc5aw · Feb 8, 2015

The LH is far more practical and user-friendly than the Wildey. As a novelty and expensive fun gun, the Wildey is no-brainer.

Personally, I have no use for a Wildey so I'd stay with the LH.

629shooter · Feb 8, 2015

I'd keep the 629, I'm quite fond of them.

The Wiley would be interesting but, not very practical.

RogerA · Feb 9, 2015

I have decided to keep my Lew Horton 629 3 inch, but the negotiations are underway to purchase the WILDEY. Thanks to all for the info and guidance. I'll post pictures if it makes it way home with me. Thanks again.

Dan Christopher · Feb 9, 2015

FWIW Roger, you've made the right decision. When you factor in the absolute need to reload if you want to do any appreciable amount of shooting, coupled with the fact that the Wildey requires a ton of maintenance...and spare Wildey parts aren't exactly easy to come by...holding on to the LH 629 is a no brainer.

Having that Wildey would be cool, but the amount of effort to feed it and maintain it properly would be a time consuming, money draining PITA!

You made the right choice.

texmex · Feb 10, 2015

This is the first time I have heard of a failure like TexMex's dad. Hopefully it went back for repair as soon as the problem was learned.

He did send it back to Wildey. They not only repaired it, they put a scope mount on it for him. The invoice it came back with said it was a prototype scope mount. There was no charge for the repair or the scope mount. Dad passed away in 1996. Most of his guns were sold off at that time so I don't know where it is now. The 45 Winchester Magnum was a great cartridge. It is a shame it sidn't catch on. Besides the Wildey, it was also chambered in the LAR Grizzly and the Thompson Contender. It never really could compete with the 44 Remington Magnum or the 454 Casull. It would have been a great handgun to carry in Jurrasic Park.

RogerA · Feb 13, 2015

PHOTOS added to first post!

Photos added to first post!!

bigfreakinrevolver · Feb 13, 2015

Really cool wish I could stumble into one of those.

muddocktor · Feb 13, 2015

I remember seeing one for sale at a LGS years ago, but it was priced way out of my range back then. IIRC, it was selling for around $2000 or so.

Kernel Crittenden · Feb 13, 2015

They have a web site. Is Wildey still a going concern? I thought they went under years ago.

koz5614 · Feb 13, 2015

I believe Wildey has been out of business since 2010. I have a Chesire Manufacture version from the mid-80s. It is a lot of fun to shoot, but the grip circumference is huge. The only failure I experienced was a fractured rear sight base. When one of my men did a Wildey factory tour in 2006, he brought my broken rear sight with him. Wildey not only replaced the sight, they gave me extra grips, recoil springs, two magazines and two t-shirts. To say I was happy with the customer service was an understatement. Congrats on picking it up. Don't bring it to an indoor range unless you like a lot of attention.

UPDATE with PHOTOS A 45 Win. Mag WILDEY in trade for my S&W Lew Horton 629 3 inch???

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