Thoughts on the S&W N-frame 5"?

certain gun being highly sought after is because they don't offer it. It's the same with a lot of guns. The Browning A-5 sold fairly well until they quit making them in Belgium. When word got out that they were going to be made in Japan overnight the Belgium gun became a collector's item. The same with the pre-64 Winchester. Back in '90 or so Ruger put out a short barreled Super Blackhawk with the unfluted cylinder. It was sort of ho hum until they dropped it. Then it became highly sought after. The 5" revolvers were not the hottest seller around until word got out that they were going to be a very limited offering. The 6" or 6½ were the way revolvers were for many years. That was how folks thought they should be. When the 5" were first offered, like the Super Blackhawk above it was ho hum. Then when word got out that they were to be a very limited offering everyone wanted one. We carried one of the 5" S&Ws at our shop in Tennessee and it sat in the showcase seemingly forever.
An old fellow that was retired military and shot in competition with revolvers came in the shop one day all excited and told us the 5" was not to be made anymore and he wanted the one we had in the showcase. He put a couple hundred down and came back that afternoon and paid the rest. Then all his buddies that looked up to him started asking us if we could get the 5" S&W.

So most of the highly sought-after guns are simply due to less of them being available, not necessarily because they are any better than they were a month ago. People always want what they can't get.