Merwin, Hulbert & Co revolvers

[Deadeye Don]

No - and I do know who you mean, and I even own one of his holsters - a floral-carved Cheyenne style a'la the dustjacket of 'Packing Iron' that I bought off the shelf in Hill City, South Dakota.

That one has too many 'good ol' pards' that get defensive and mean-spirited in their replies.

Scouts Out!

If this one goes back a few years and is the one that switched states, I know who you are talking about.  He was a piece of work too.

[St. George]

That's the one.

Scouts Out!

[Goody]

Guy over on the SASS wire reports that he received a refund check.

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=207556

[Mean Bob Mean]

Given that C&WAS is by and large a dying 'sport' - there's zero financial sense in introducing a revolver with limited appeal and almost no 'out-of-cowboy' usage.

Well, I politely disagree because guys like to buy new and unusual guns regardless of how they intend to employ said piece.  I think a niche maker, building extremely high quality pieces, could sell a limited number annually and never worry.  Going over the top would likely get you over extended and killed.  If a known product purveyor, someone who has other revenue streams, made them, they could do fine.  Or if someone partnered with a couple folks--one CnC guy forging and cutting parts, someone else finishing, I am sure they could do it.  Look at a guy like Doug Turnbull, if someone could turn out the parts, I bet he would sell everything he made.  Again, it can't be the sole source of income.  It is a specialty item, but gun "nuts" like us, want specialty items and will pay for them.  

[Pettifogger]

Well, I politely disagree because guys like to buy new and unusual guns regardless of how they intend to employ said piece.  I think a niche maker, building extremely high quality pieces, could sell a limited number annually and never worry.  Going over the top would likely get you over extended and killed.  If a known product purveyor, someone who has other revenue streams, made them, they could do fine.  Or if someone partnered with a couple folks--one CnC guy forging and cutting parts, someone else finishing, I am sure they could do it.  Look at a guy like Doug Turnbull, if someone could turn out the parts, I bet he would sell everything he made.  Again, it can't be the sole source of income.  It is a specialty item, but gun "nuts" like us, want specialty items and will pay for them.  

Gee, you mean like USFA and to a certain extent Colt?  Neither could/can make it making single actions.  No one could build a profitable business selling M&H's.  You are correct there are guys that like new and unusual guns.  The problem is once they have bought theirs, the market is pretty well dried up.

[Mean Bob Mean]

Gee, you mean like USFA and to a certain extent Colt?

No, and neither fits the description I gave you for a couple reasons.  First, USFA was all over the place and obviously over extended in their market--precisely what I noted they could not do.  Colt has also been a hot mess at times for various reasons.  Colt, and no large manufacturer, can ever seem to ramp up a custom shop that is consistent.  You need a shop that can pick it up and drop it without marginalizing the rest of their line.  So someone who finishes can take the parts at their leisure and sell assembled guns.  A CnC shop that does not rely on that alone (the "New" Merwin's problem) can machine or not as need exists. You make a few dozen a year, you'd sell them all and for decades with no problem.  Colt cannot operate with that economy of scale model.  People always want to make a ton at once and bring the cost down/profit margin up--therein lies the stupidity.  Like S&W building the Schofield--never going to compete with an Italian maker on costs.  No one builds Merwins so the market is wide open for a niche builder.  Look at Sharps rifles, there are a few small Sharps shops that turn a profit and numerous rifle makers who will build a Sharps out of parts they can purchase.  You telling me there exists a Market that is greater for 3500 dollar Sharps rifles than for 1500 dollar hand fitted M&Hs?  I sincerely doubt it.  

[RDak]

Update:  I received my refund check yesterday.

Never thought I would receive a refund.........got lucky.

[litl rooster]

That's the one.

Scouts Out!

ditto

[litl rooster]

Update:  I received my refund check yesterday.

Never thought I would receive a refund.........got lucky.

ah never mind

[Graveyard Jack]

I don't think many generalizations can be made about USFA. They weren't run like any other company. It certainly didn't "fail" for lack of sales. They were backlogged for 12 months and sold everything they ever made. Donnelly just decided not to play any more, took his ball and went home.

Given that C&WAS is by and large a dying 'sport' - there's zero financial sense in introducing a revolver with limited appeal and almost no 'out-of-cowboy' usage.

I disagree as well. There are A LOT of people buying single action revolvers that are not shooting CAS. I'm 38yrs old, own over two dozen SA's and have never shot in a CAS match in my life. I can spend all day conversing online with single action enthusiasts on half a dozen different forums and only one is related to CAS. No sir, the SA is alive and well.

[Mean Bob Mean]

I disagree as well. There are A LOT of people buying single action revolvers that are not shooting CAS. I'm 38yrs old, own over two dozen SA's and have never shot in a CAS match in my life. I can spend all day conversing online with single action enthusiasts on half a dozen different forums and only one is related to CAS. No sir, the SA is alive and well.

I have never shot a match either but I now own three as well as an 1873 Winchester repro. 

[Fox Creek Kid]

...You telling me there exists a Market that is greater for 3500 dollar Sharps rifles than for 1500 dollar hand fitted M&Hs?  I sincerely doubt it.  

You'd be wrong. BPCR is a popular sport that has a Nat'l Championship in Raton, NM every year. Shiloh Sharps sell all they can make and are backordered over a year. A M&H repro would be lucky if 500 were sold. There just isn't enough interest to make it economically feasible.

[Mean Bob Mean]

You'd be wrong. BPCR is a popular sport that has a Nat'l Championship in Raton, NM every year. Shiloh Sharps sell all they can make and are backordered over a year. A M&H repro would be lucky if 500 were sold. There just isn't enough interest to make it economically feasible.

Ever hear of CAS? It's a popular sport as well, with nationals etc.  I know about BPCR, but that does not mean there is a greater market.  It's a postulate, not a fact.

[St. George]

Settle down...

Scouts Out!

[Mean Bob Mean]

Settle down...

Scouts Out!

Not to worry all is cool here, there simply is no evidence that there exists a larger market for the one than the other.  Markets are in fact established for both.

[Pettifogger]

Not to worry all is cool here, there simply is no evidence that there exists a larger market for the one than the other.  Markets are in fact established for both.

[/color]

There are?  How can there be an "established" market for a gun that has never made it to the market?  It doesn't take a marketing genius to figure out the market for an M&H would be small.  The question is can money be made tooling up for such a niche firearm?

[Mean Bob Mean]

[/color]

There are?  How can there be an "established" market for a gun that has never made it to the market?  It doesn't take a marketing genius to figure out the market for an M&H would be small.  The question is can money be made tooling up for such a niche firearm?

There is an established market for vintage reproduction pistols associated with the west.  Let me point something out, when I was a kid, if you'd have said any of these cartridge guns and obsolete calibers would be revived you'd have had a dunce cap stapled to your head by gunowners and the gun writing fraternity.  Yet, here we are.  So, saying there is no market is patently silly and I am not wasting another breath here in a dialogue in which simple logic and reason are taken to task by entrenched positions.

Cheers.  

[Deadeye Don]

I didn't read anything that anyone said here indicating there was NO market, but just a limited market and one that would make producing a niche gun difficult.

[Pancho Peacemaker]

Just spoke with a friend who attended SHOT Show 2014.

No Merwin . . . No Hulbert.









FYI:  Some guy shot a Bigfoot down in San Antonio . . . But the elusive Chupacabra still roams freely from there on South.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Just spoke with a friend who attended SHOT Show 2014.

No Merwin . . . No Hulbert.

That was because Bottom Dealing Mike got the only one - over at the Antique show!









FYI:  Some guy shot a Bigfoot down in San Antonio . . . But the elusive Chupacabra still roams freely from there on South.