In 1852 partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed a company to produce a lever action pistol nicknamed "The Volcanic". The company formed by the partners came to be known as the ""Volcanic Repeating Arms Company", and due to financial difficulties this company came into the majority ownership of investor Oliver Winchester.
In 1856 the partners left the Volcanic Company to begin a new company and manufacture a newly designed revolver and cartridge combination. The timing of the founding of this new company was quite fortuitous, as the arrival of the Civil War five years later produced a great demand for Smith & Wesson's products.
Smith & Wesson is famous for the many types of ammunition it has introduced over the years, for its first double action high capacity pistol and for its revolver know-how.
A Modern Smith & Wesson Revolver
Ammunition types introduced by S&W
.22 Short (the popular .22 Long Rifle, based on the .22 Short, was actually developed by the J.Stevens Arms & Tool Co.)
Model 59 (First high capacity double action pistol in 9mm Luger/Parabellum).
Sigma series
The Sigma series of recoil operated, locked breech semi-auto pistols was introduced in 1994, with the Sigma 40, followed by the Sigma 9. Sigma pistols bore so much similirality to GLOCKs, that a lawsuit was raised against S&W by GLOCK. Smith & Wesson paid an undisclosed sum (some millions of dollars) to GLOCK for violation of their patents, and then S&W received the rights to continue the production of Sigma line.
The gun frame is manufactured from polymer, while the slide and barrel can be manufactured from either stainless steel or carbon steel. The Sigma series was improved in 1999, including shortening the barrel and slide, addition of an accessory rail under the barrel, incorporating more comfortable grip checkering and enlarging the ejection port.
Smith and Wesson says that if it had not stopped the suits, the company would have gone out of business within a year, due to attorney fees.
The application of the agreement to several of Smith & Wesson's smaller competitors, or to Glock (one of the largest and most successful handgun companies), would destroy them.
Thus, Smith and Wesson gains an advantage, by agreeing to terms which will harm its competitors.
Smith & Wesson was founded by two men who shared a dream of developing a new type of firearm, one capable of being fired repeatedly without the annoyance of having to reload with loose powder, ball, and primer.
Smith & Wesson continued to grow and expanded its line in 1880 by introducing the first group of double-action revolvers.
As in World War I, Smith & Wesson answered the needs of World War II fighting forces, and by 1941 its total plant production was geared to supplying arms for the U.S. and her allies.
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