I believe there were terminations at the factory, loss of S&W Distributorship and possibly federal charges involved in these guns. They also had unique serial numbers.
While these guns were made "off the books," S&W did, later, make similar guns in stainless steel. They made a 629-3 "Carry Comp" or "Mag Comp" (they were called both names) for Lew Horton. They were three inch, fixed sight guns with a top compensator. This particular gun was made in two runs and numbered about 495. Later a lock frame was made with a strange underlug and fixed sights was made in greater numbers for Lew Horton.
Camfour, a Mass distributor had two runs made. The first 629-5 were two and one half inch, full underlug with fixed sights. This was a limited run, but I don't recall the exact number, but very scarce. They also had another run of 629-6 guns, that were similar with the lock and a change in the way the top, rear of the frame is made.
I pursued these guns for many years and was finally able to acquire the Carry Comp at a LGS, who had no idea what it was. I paid less than one thousand dollars for it. I know that S&W prices have softened somewhat, but just before I got mine two were sold, one for over three thousand and the second for fifty three hundred. My cousin had one of the Camfour "-5" guns and he will not sell it. I finally was able to find both of the Camfour guns, one on the other S&W forum and one from an on line auction.
The Lew Horton Carry Comp or Mag Comp (I changed the grips as the original grips don't fit my hand)
The Camfour guns
The trifecta
