Please help me get some information about these guns

[motoracer1486]

Hello,
My grandfather passed away a few years ago and left behind a few handguns. I am assuming they are unregistered, but not sure. I don't know anything about older handguns and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on them.

The first handgun is a Winchester - the barrel shows 32 Winchester CTG. Here are some pictures of it:

[motoracer1486]

The next handgun is a Colt 357 Magnum Lawman Mark III. Here are the pictures:

[motoracer1486]

The last handun is a Lorcin Model L25 .25 Cal Auto (made in Riverside, CA). Here are the pictures:



Basically, we need to know what a reasonable price to ask for each gun and how to go about selling them. Will we run into trouble if they are/aren't registered? If for whatever reason they are registered in someone else's name, what can we do? If we find a buyer, can we just go to a FFL and do the transfer?

Thanks in advance!

[d sauce]

The top one looks like it has a Smith & Wesson insignia on it, not a Winchester. Hang on to that Colt whatever you do. Colt wheelguns can be big money depending on what you have. The Lorcin is probably only worth 40 to 60 bucks. I bought a .22 for 50 on here a while back. Pretty poor quality and I don't even know if they are around anymore. I don't know a lot about the older firearms but you have come to the right place. Also I am not familiar with the legalities of transferring/registering said guns.

[Revoman]

The first handgun is definitely a Smith & Wesson. It appears to be a 32 long cartridge hand ejector, could be a model of 1903, they had from first change to fifth change. Looks to be in great shape and the approximate value might be in the $375 - $400 range unless it happens to a 1903 third change, then it might be worth $500 - $700. The serial number is needed to affirm which it is. There are others newer than the above and it also could be one of those, those values would not vary too much beyond the above.

The Colt is also a nice firearm, I'm not too familiar with Colts or their value, but since it's in nice shape too, I would consider it to be about $350 - $400 as well.

The last gun is not a high value gun.

[Eljay]

The Colt's a really nice revolver but I'm not sure what they're running right now.

To sell them if you can find a local buyer you would both go down to a FFL and follow their instructions. The registration shouldn't be an issue, although obviously if it was reported stolen or something that's another matter. Hopefully somebody will chime in with the details but I believe there should have been some paperwork done at the time you inherited them, but it shouldn't bite you in the butt if you're selling them. (I'm not a lawyer, etc. etc.)

[mase1b]

A good place to start is to find a copy of The Blue Book of Gun Values by Fjestad. They come out every year and are about $30 at most gun shops. They often provide a lot of detailed info on specific models. (although I'd say the estimates others have given here are fairly close)

As for selling them, you can post them here, or find someone who wants to buy them wherever, and have the transfer done by any FFL holder (i.e. any gunshop, and some private dealers, or at gunshows, will do the transfer for ~$35 bucks.) The buyer will have to wait 10 days and have a background check, but there are no issues on your end with them not being in your name.

Your local gun dealer may also buy them from you, or consign them and sell them in his shop. Dealer usually takes 25% of sales price for a consignment, and they'll probably give you only about 50% of the value for a straight sale...but then you don't have to hassle with finding a buyer etc.

My $0.02: If you have any interest at all in collecting firearms, hold on to the two revolvers, but especially the Colt Lawman (Colts revolvers are in high demand these days). The Lawman were meant to be no frills Law enforcement service guns, so they aren't quite as fancy as the Troopers or Pythons, but still quality guns. The S&Ws are nice too, they just cranked them out over quite a long time that they aren't hard to find. (that said it's possible that you have a rare caliber or configuration that makes it rare)...That Lorcin isn't worth much at all, keep it if you have a use for it, but there isn't any collector value there.

Hope that helps...best of luck!

[motoracer1486]

Everyone, thank you so much for all of the information - I truly appreciate it. I have received some good information via PM as well. I will probably be listing these handguns in the for sale section within a few days. If anyone is interested, let me know.

[Neptune]

Just adding to and backing what everyone else has said...

The S&W is a really clean example and my favorite as I'm not a Colt fan at all, but having said that, the Colt is the gun that's actually worth something to a collector.

That Lorcin is what is referred to as a "Saturday Night Special" by the politicians, something that is really cheap and affordable for anyone to purchase. An unfair bias and misunderstanding to be sure. Unfortunately, their reliability is in proportion to their cost, and I wouldn't recommend ever using it if another option were available.

I'd keep the Smith, sell the Colt, and hope somebody would take the Lorcin off my hands.

Nice little collection by the way.


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[mase1b]

Looking through my 2010 blue book, I see that the S&W is most likely a .32-20 (aka 32 Winchester) Hand Ejector Model 1905. There were 4 changes made, but all are valued the same - $1100 in 80% condition to $1800 in 98%. The fact that its stamped "32 Winchester" means is was made before 1916, although the serial # will tell you exactly (with with some research). I have a similar S&W .38, and I wrote to S&W with the serial # and they wrote back with the exact model and manufacture date.

The Colt Lawman III is worth $180-$375 (80%-98%) and made from 1969-83.

So I guess, I had things a little backwards, the S&W is worth more...although I think that you can sell the Colt in about 5 mins, as they have a pretty rabid following.

[Eljay]

Oh - and with the Lorcin - don't forget those gun buybacks they have periodically where they'll give you $100 to take it off the streets.

[Oceanbob]

You can check values using google.com as well. Gunbroker usually has some good numbers.

Take care, Bob