Current Value of a Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum
To start with, how much is a Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum today?
While prices vary, the average Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum is worth $3,500 to $8,500.
Things like condition and accessories can change the price. For example, a good S&W 357 Registered Magnum with its certificate and box can sell for $10,000 and up.
What if we bump up the gun in the package to excellent condition? Then the price can even go to $13,000 or more!
Here are other examples of recent sales for Registered Magnums (from 2023-2024):
- $9,400 - 1935 gun in excellent condition with its original invoice, order, and factory papers. Sold by Rock Island Auction.
- $6,497 - 1939 gun in very good condition with its original invoice, order forms, and factory letter. Sold through GunBroker.
- $4,428 - Blued gun in very good condition and without papers. Sold through Morphy Auctions.
[[card_start]]
Get Big Bucks for Your Registered Magnum
Have a Registered Magnum for sale and want to make sure you get what it’s worth? Reach out to Cash for Arms today! We love those guns and will give you top dollar for yours.
[[card_end]]
What Affects the Value of a Registered Magnum for Sale?
The value of an S&W Registered Magnum is affected by its condition, the rarity of its configuration, its accessories, and its historical significance.
Price Factor 1: Condition
Revolvers in good shape sell for more. By “in good shape,” also check if your 357 Registered Magnum still has its original or period-correct parts.
A recently refinished Registered Magnum may look good, for instance. However, its condition drops because the modern refinishing isn’t original or authentic to the time period.
At any rate, you can use these condition tiers to grade your gun:
New or Mint
Bought from the company but never fired. It should be perfect in every way, from finish to function. S&W 357 Magnum price history gives these the best values.
Excellent
Hardly ever used and it shows, with near-perfect looks. Sell for just 10% or so less than mint-condition guns.
Very Good
Used on the sparing side, with only mild wear and handling marks. Sell for just 20% or so less than mint-condition guns.
Good
Well-used but also well-maintained. It still works perfectly and has controlled wear on its appearance. Sell for about 30% or so less than mint condition.
Fair
Well-used but not well-maintained. Sell for about 40% less than mint condition.
Poor
Very worn, with clear defects, or possibly no longer functional. Sell for around 50% less than mint condition, depending on how bad it is.
Price Factor 2: Configuration Rarity
To explain this, let’s ask “What is a Registered Magnum?” first.
The answer: this S&W revolver is a custom-order sixgun chambered for the .357 Magnum.
Buyers placed custom orders for specific parts to be hand-assembled and hand-fitted for it. Each gun initially took 3 to 4 weeks to finish, with demand spiking it to 6 weeks later on.
People could choose from a range of options for different parts. Some options were more popular than others, like the blued finish being more requested than the nickel.
That’s why there are Registered Magnums today that have rare configurations. It means they’re worth more because only a few of them exist today. Here are the rare parts worth noting:
Rare Registered Magnum Barrels
The rarest barrel lengths for the Registered Magnum are 5.75, 6.25, 7.25, and 7.75 inches.
The most common barrel lengths, by comparison, are 6.5, 5, 6, 8.75, 4, and 3.5 inches. That’s in descending order, so the 6.5-inch ones are most common.
Value: Guns with uncommon barrels add 10% to 30% over the standard price. Those with the 4 rarest barrels we listed earlier add up to 50% more.
Rare Registered Magnum Grips
The rarest S&W 357 Registered Magnum grip options are pearl, ivory, stag, roper, and tuskoid. The last one is so rare that only one ever shipped out of the factory.
The most common grips for the gun, by comparison, are the standard (pre-war service style) and Magna grips in walnut.
The price increase for the rare grip options is dependent on whether or not you can prove the grips are original. You can do this by getting a factory letter. You’ll learn how later!
Value: For rare and period-correct but not factory-installed grips, add about 10% to the price. For factory-installed rare grips, add about 20% to 50% to the price.
Rarest Registered Magnum Finish
The rarest Registered Magnum finish is the nickel one. Some suggest under 200 were made.
The blued version was more popular among buyers. The nickel version also cost more to order back then.
Value: Add about 50% to the standard price for a nickel gun.
Price Factor 3: Accessories
For the Smith and Wesson Registered Magnum, several accessories can improve pricing. Here are the important ones:
Original Box
Registered Magnums originally shipped with a blue cardboard box. They’re valuable enough to sell alone or with a gun.
Value: $800 and up
Certificate of Registration
The Registered Magnum gets its name from this certificate. The guns were shipped with a card that the owner could fill out and send back to Smith & Wesson.
Smith & Wesson would then mail back a registration certificate for the gun. It had these details:
- The owner’s name
- The gun’s barrel length
- The gun’s trigger pull in both single- and double-action
- The yardage at which the gun was sighted
- The gun’s registration number (matched to the one stamped on the gun’s yoke)
- The signature of S&W’s vice-president at the time, Doug Wesson
Less than 50% of Registered Magnum owners requested these certificates from Smith & Wesson! So, the guns with certificates are very valuable.
You can technically sell the registration certificate by itself too. However, it can sell for more with the matching gun.
Value: $800 and up by itself, $1,600 and up with the matching gun
Postmarked Mailing Tube
When Registered Magnums’ certificates of registration were sent to owners, they came in a postmarked mailing tube. These tubes are also valuable enough to sell on their own.
Value: $300 and up
Letter of Authentication
Letters of authentication can help you trace the history of your gun. They also confirm its original parts or factory configuration, which can boost value if it’s still as it was shipped.
Smith & Wesson used to offer this service themselves through their in-house historian Roy G. Jinks. Jinks has since moved to the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation.
Contact them through their website to get a letter of authentication request for your gun. It costs about $90 now and you can add that cost to your gun’s sale price if it pans out.
Value: About $90
Price Factor 4: Historical Significance
Registered Magnums that have something historically special about them will sell for more.
The best example is probably the gun with Reg. No. 2. This was a Smith and Wesson Registered Magnum worth buying for two huge reasons:
- It was the second Registered Magnum ever made.
- It was owned by Phillip Sharpe, who helped design the .357 Magnum cartridge.
As you may expect, it sold for a lot – $54,000 at an auction in 2019. Given Registered Magnum 357 history price-wise, it would sell for even more now.
Value: Highly variable, so it’s recommended to get a professional appraisal
Resources for Appraising a S&W Registered Magnum
Think you need more tools to find the right price for a Registered Magnum? You can use these to get an informed or professional appraisal:
- Standard Catalogue of Smith & Wesson - Often available for $67.
- Local gun stores specializing in S&Ws - Sometimes free, but usually has a fee.
- Cash for Arms - Free and online (just send us the gun’s details).
A Note on Registered 357 Magnum Price History
The Registered Magnum originally sold for $60. That’s around $1,413 in 2024, so you can tell the gun was always a high-end one. Comparison to other 1930s guns proves it too!
The Smith & Wesson K-Frame Revolver could be bought for only $22 then, for example. Meanwhile, high-end shotguns like the Winchester Model 21 cost the same as the Magnum.
$60 was two weeks’ worth of pay for the average person then. It’s even more impressive when you consider orders for the gun were backed up during the Great Depression!
Over the years, the gun’s rarity and history have sent its pricing up. Take one sold for $12,000 in 2019 by auctioneers Lock, Stock, & Barrel. Estimates now say it could sell for about $18,000 today.
This means the Registered Magnum may be one of the most collectible, investment-grade firearms. As such, it can be worthwhile to get an expert appraisal like ours to sell yours. This will stop you selling it for less than it’s worth!
[[card_start]]
We’ll Give You What Your Magnum’s Worth!
Don’t even bother with the buyers who’ll lowball you. Come to us instead! We buy S&Ws from all over the US and would love to pay you good cash for yours.
[[card_end]]