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150 years with Smith & Wesson

by ‘Doc’ O’Meara
Australian Shooter April 2002

For two men of such disparate ages to come together so staunchly as partners may seem unusual and perhaps it is. There were nearly 18 years between Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson. Smith was 44 and Wesson 27 when they met. Maybe there was something of a mentoring relationship. More likely it was born of a shared passion: the design and manufacture of an efficient, accurate, reliable and economically produced rifle capable of shooting repeatedly before having to be reloaded.

At close range with a Smith & Wesson posterIt has often been claimed that the two met while working on the Jennings repeating rifle project. An improvement of Walter Hunt’s original but complicated and inefficient in design, the Jennings was produced by the Robbins & Lawrence Co of Windsor, Vermont. The Jennings rifle proved to be unreliable and underpowered. Research by Smith & Wesson historian, Roy Jinks, indicates that it is more likely the two met in Worcester, Massachusetts while Smith was employed by Allen, Brown & Luther, a maker of pepperbox revolvers. They may have worked there together before forming their own partnership.

Their first collaborative effort was the manufacture of Volcanic pistols and rifles. Beautifully made and well designed for their period, the Volcanics were victims of their inferior ammunition. DB Wesson had long been intrigued by the potential demonstrated by the Flobert cartridges that had been developed in Europe. The ammunition they designed for use in their firearms was an improvement, but still not quite right. Before the two were able to develop the improvements needed, the company ran out of money and folded. The assets were purchased by a group of 40 investors, among whom was shirt maker Oliver Winchester. The second incarnation of the Volcanic failed quickly and Winchester ended up with control of the firm’s assets. He went on to form the New Haven Arms Company, which evolved within a few years into the legendary concern that bears his name.

Meanwhile, damaged but undaunted, Horace Smith and DB Wesson continued to examine the ammunition problems that had plagued them. The self-contained Flobert cartridge, which remains with us in the form of the .22 calibre BB cap, is a short case that contains no gunpowder, but relies upon a priming compound in its rim to propel a round ball down the firearm’s bore. It was during this time that the fates were kind.

Wesson designed a revolver that permitted the use of a self-contained metallic cartridge with a bored-through cylinder and constructed a wooden model to demonstrate its function. However, in researching patents, he discovered that some important elements of his own design had already been registered by Rollin White, an inventor in his own right and former employee of Samuel Colt. White had first offered his patent rights to Colt, but was summarily rebuffed. Colt failed to see the potential of White’s invention, believing that his own firearms designs provided greater power, reliability and utility than any application of White’s design might permit.

DB Wesson and Horace Smith were not so shortsighted. They contacted White and arranged a meeting. In the end, they agreed to pay a royalty of 25 cents for each firearm made during the life of White’s patent rights. Unfortunately for White, there was a provision in their agreement that required the inventor to challenge any infringements at his own expense. This was a costly process and, in the end, left White penniless. For Messrs Smith and Wesson, it was the defining moment that led to great personal wealth and success. In their posture as a corporate entity, it was the beginning of one of the greatest arms manufacturing enterprises the world has ever known.

The first of what would be hundreds of models to follow was the Model Number 1, First Issue; a small pocketsize seven-shot revolver chambered for what is now called the .22 Short cartridge. Rather tiny and underpowered, even by the standards of its day, it was sometimes the butt of jokes like, ‘If you shoot me with that thing and I find out about it, I’m gonna give you a good whuppin’.’ Nevertheless, it and subsequent variants, dubbed the Model Number 1, Second and Third Issues, exceeded a combined total of more than a quarter of a million units sold.

When one considers that the average American worker earned $300-$400 a year, S&W’s new revolvers were very expensive. In 1858 dealer price for these diminutive seven-shooters was a whopping $12.75. The budding young enterprise grossed nearly $150,000 in the first three years of production. During the 25-year lifespan of the Model Number 1’s variants, the figures came to more than $3 million. In order to put this into contemporary financial perspective, multiply these amounts by a factor of ten. By any standard it can be stated that Smith & Wesson had finally succeeded, but this was just the beginning.

The political picture at that time in United States’ history was volatile. The Southern States and the Northern States were at odds. In 1861 the country erupted into the Civil War. As in all such times, arms makers are the only winners. Smith & Wesson were among them, though to a much lesser extent than other such firms because of their more limited product line and lack of government contracts. Still, their Model Number 2 .32 rimfire revolvers were often purchased privately by military personnel as personal arms.

While the cartridge remained relatively anaemic, as compared to the power of the .36 and .44 calibre percussion revolvers that were standard issue to Northern troops, the S&W revolvers provided some real advantages. Not least of these was the relative stability of the fixed cartridges they used. Virtually waterproof, they were far less subject to the problems caused by bad weather, fording rivers and fighting in swamps. Moreover, the guns could be reloaded in a fraction of the time it took to do so with a cap and ball revolver. For these reasons and others, they became very popular.

Meanwhile, back in New Haven, Winchester’s chief gunsmith, B Tyler Henry, was perfecting the rifle that bears his name and the improvements to it that would become the Model 1866 Winchester. In the course of doing these things Henry also designed a .44 calibre rimfire cartridge to be used in the rifles, the significance of which is that it was of a size suited for use in a large revolver. Applied in that manner it would answer most of the objections Sam Colt had to Rollin White’s bored-through cylinder design. Herein S&W found an opening for the serious law enforcement and military markets. They began designing the first of the Model Number 3 series of revolvers using a cartridge that could certainly be regarded as a man-stopper.

Smith & Wesson pistolIt was with these large revolvers, first introduced to the public in 1870, that we see a pivotal change in the mechanical design of Smith & Wesson revolvers - ‘pivotal’ being the operative word. Heretofore their revolvers had been designed so that they latched at the forward end of the lower frame and the barrels tipped up, hinged at the front of the upper frame, in order to load cartridges and remove the cylinder to extract cases by means of a push rod under the barrel. With the Model Number 3 revolvers the barrel assembly latched at the upper rear of the frame, pivoting downward on a hinge at the lower front of the frame. Included within that portion of the assembly was a camming system that engaged a star extractor to automatically remove expended cartridge cases when the revolver was opened for reloading.

Strength, born of the basic physics associated with the recoil of a revolver shooting a more potent cartridge than the .22 and .32 rimfires with which S&W began, was the reason for this radical change. The upward thrust of the barrel and associated strain on the latching mechanism of the tip-ups meant little with the early low-powered ammunition. The inherent weakness of that design would quickly ruin a .44 calibre revolver. By switching to the break-top mechanism the recoil forces worked with the revolver’s latching mechanism, rather than against it.

The tip-up revolvers continued in production, slowly phasing out during the course of more than a decade. Meanwhile, all new revolvers added to the catalogue followed the basic pattern of the Model Number 3s by using the break-top design.

Smith & Wesson pistolBy the 1890s major new advancements were occurring - one being the advent of smokeless powder. This would require handguns to be built larger and stronger. As well, double action trigger mechanisms had evolved to the point that they were smoother, offered greater mechanical advantage in their manipulation and allowed for improved accuracy. Moreover, the competition down in Hartford had taken a significant stride forward by the development of their New Model Army/New Model Navy revolver, which had won a much-coveted military contract with its adoption as the Model 1889 service revolver. The primary advantage of that piece was the swing-out cylinder with the push rod cartridge extractor. To answer these needs S&W began its own research and development program in 1894 and by 1896 introduced the first of its Hand Ejector revolvers to the public. Along with it came a new, more powerful, improvement upon their .32 S&W cartridge, which was dubbed the .32 S&W Long.

It was soon apparent that there were problems with the new .32 Hand Ejector. A relatively complicated locking mechanism had been designed into the top strap of the revolver’s frame. It was expensive to produce, inherently weak and tended to batter locking notches to the point that their edges were quickly peened over, especially when the gun was fired rapidly. In the course of resolving the flaws, the locking bolt was moved to the bottom strap of the frame, simplifying and strengthening it.

Numerous minor variations meant the need for more efficient manufacture; improved strength and safety have been incorporated into Smith & Wesson’s revolvers in more than a century since that time. However, the fundamental features remain so much like those of the original Hand Ejector models that it requires a discerning eye to detect them without removing the side plates to observe the few more obvious differences.

With the exception of the .35 calibre pocket pistols and the .32s, Smith & Wesson all but ignored the semi-automatic pistol market until after WWII. Greatly influenced by the success of Walther’s P-38, the factory began a research and development program during the late 1940s and by the mid-1950s were making the Model 39. Early examples had single action mechanisms, but once the double action feature was developed to the company’s satisfaction, the pistol was offered to the public and became an immediate favourite in the marketplace. Since then, S&W has designed and marketed a wide variety of high quality single and double action semi-automatic pistols for target, military and police applications.

Did you ever Smith & Wesson posterAmong the most innovative of firms in an industry renowned for its creativity, they’ve played a leadership role in the development of aluminium alloys, titanium and scandium framed firearms. Reducing weight while maintaining strength enough for the ability to use cartridges that generate high pressures is not just an advantage to shooters, but has serious applications for many other industrial uses.

S&W’s leadership in the area of cartridge development has been outstanding. After their initial success with the .22 Short in the 19th century, they went on to design and develop the .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .38 S&W, .38 Special, .44 American, .44 Russian and .45 Schofield rounds. During the 20th century, with the advent of improved steels and stronger construction, S&W worked hand-in-hand with the ammunition makers to develop much more powerful handguns than the world had ever seen. First came the .357 Magnum in the 1930s, followed by the .44 Magnum in the mid-’50s, then the .41 Magnum in the ‘60s. These cartridges, in the guns Smith & Wesson and others made for them, revolutionised target shooting and hunting.

Smith & Wesson have, in recent years, waxed nostalgic and, through the auspices of one of the United States’ leading firearms distribution firms, Lew Horton, have reintroduced variations of revolvers closely similar to late 19th and early 20th century offerings. They are known as The Heritage Series. Among these have been such classics as the .45 Schofield, the .44 Special Hand Ejector, .45 Colt Hand Ejector, Model 1917 .45 ACP and the .22 LR Hand Ejector, which is a near duplicate of the .22 Outdoorsman of the 1930s. This last was the revolver that evolved into the famed K-22 Masterpiece. Several other special editions are pending.

Specifically intended to commemorate S&W’s sesquicentenary year are a limited production of two classic revolvers, the .45 calibre Schofield and the Model 29 .44 Magnum. They are beautifully engraved, richly inlaid with gold and fitted with walnut stocks.

Throughout its 150 years, Smith & Wesson has been an integral part of the settlement of frontier territories on several continents, the military forces and law enforcement agencies of numerous nations and essential equipment for millions of participants in a wide variety of shooting sports.