[silicosys4]

Hello,
Just wondering about a recent purchase I made, I love old steampunk-looking mechanics, and this revolver with the way it disassembles, really caught my eye.
From what I'm reading, $350 doesn't seem like a terrible price, but I have found prices for these ranging from $50 to several thousand for boxed guns in great shape.

What is the collectors value on this item? should I enjoy the mechanics of this piece, shoot it, or just store it and visually appreciate it?
I know it can be fired with 38 s&w rounds, but that they should be loaded with blackpowder
Any information would help
Many thanks

http://pictures.gunauction.com/496666/11495706/sdc12707.jpg_thumbnail0.jpg

http://pictures.gunauction.com/496666/11495706/sdc12708.jpg_thumbnail0.jpg

[col.lemat]

Why not all of the above?

[silicosys4]

I've got plenty of other guns to shoot that aren't 125 years old, rare, hard to fix, hard to find parts for, have to be handloaded for, and collectible, lol
My interest in this was less as a shooter and more as a fine piece of mechanical art from a bygone era

[Jim K]

While the advice to use black powder is good, those guns can be fired a few shots with modern ammo without risking any damage, but avoid a steady diet of smokeless loads and avoid handloads that exceed factory specs.

That model M&H can run over $1000 in top shape, but in the condition pictured, the gun is worth about what you paid for it.

There has been quite a bit written on the M&H, some by folks who seem not to have actually seen one. Contrary to most stories, they are rather slow to load and require cartridges of the proper case length if the feature of extracting only fired cases is to work right. Even then, fired cases extract, but don't always fall clear due to interference with unfired cartridges. Then, of course, the gun has to be closed up and fresh cartridges loaded through the loading gate one at a time, like a Colt SAA.

IMHO, the M&H had all the disadvantages of the SAA combined with the S&W breaktop, and the advantages of neither.

For some reason totally inexplicable to me, someone recently proposed making repros of the M&H. Some folks seemed to be ready to buy them, but the proposal apparently fell through and AFAIK, no repros were ever made.

Jim