357

Question
trying to find out about a .357 from h.schmidt ostheha/rohn that i inherited.looks like a colt replica or something of that nature to a six shooter.my father did alot of reanactments/western etc.can you give me some insight on this piece and a possible worth,ide say fair to good condition maybe better.never heard of this company till now. thank you

Answer
John,

Your gun was manufactured by Herbert Schmidt in West Germany.  H. Schmidt produced a number of Colt replicas in a variety of calibers.  These gun were mostly imported by Hawes Firearms in Los Angeles from the late 60s to the early 80s.  The .357 in particular was introduced in 1970.  They were well made guns, but primarily good shooters.  They were not very expensive to begin with and are not considered to be collectable.  The other big maker of Colt replicas was J.P Sauer, also of West Germany.  This would have been exactly the type of gun someone doing western reenactments would have probably used.  

H. Schmidt was originally founded in 1919 in the town of Zella-Mehlis by two brothers, Francis and Herbert.  Zella-Mehlis was the home of several firearms manufacturers including Walther.  In 1950, Herbert moved the operation to Ostheim, Rohn and began to manufacture starting pistols.  In 1959 they introduced a .22 magnum version of the Colt Frontier Scout.  In 1970 versions were introduced in .22, .22 magnum and .357 as well as in 6mm and 9mm.  Herbert Schmidt died in 1974.  His son Wolfgang took over the business and expanded further into blank guns and knives.  In 1994, the company now called HS Arms GmBH manufactured a single action "Texas Scout" model that could be converted between .45 Colt and .22 LR, a double action "Buffalo Combo" in .38 caliber and an "Undercover" double action revolver in 9mm.  Sometime in the late 1990s, HS Arms ceased operations and closed permanently.

I've seen people asking as much as $250 for guns of this type, but I don't see them selling.  Probably a more reasonable valuation is something in the $50 to $150 range depending on the exact model and condition.

Hope this helps you out...

Regards,

Doug Little