Smith & Wesson history

According to Smith & Wesson historian Roy G. Jinks, "The fire power of this lever action pistol was so impressive, that in 1854 when the gun was reviewed by Scientific American , it was nicknamed the Volcanic since its rapid fire sequence had the force of an erupting volcano."

The Smith & Wesson Company was renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855 and was purchased by Oliver Winchester.

Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation Incorporated: 1856 as Smith & Wesson, Inc.

In 1866 this firm changed its name again, to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

One of the most important of these was a design by William C. Dodge that automatically emptied shells from a gun—a patent Smith & Wesson bought in 1869.

In July 1873 Smith sold his interest in the company to Wesson and retired.

The next great leap forward for the company was in 1880, when they released their first double-action revolver, chambered for the .32 caliber.

Wesson carried on as the sole principal for ten years before bringing his two sons on board as partners in 1883.

In 1899 Smith & Wesson introduced its most widely used revolver, the .38 Military & Police (also known as the Smith & Wesson Model 10). With over 6 million produced, it became the standard sidearm of American police officers for much of the 20th century.

After Wesson died in 1906, the company he cofounded continued to be owned and managed by members of the Wesson family well into the 20th century.

In 1946 C.R. Hellstrom was named president of Smith & Wesson, becoming the first person outside the Wesson family to run the company.

Introduced in 1955, it’s chambered for the massive .44 caliber round, although it can also fire the lower powered .44 Special.

For the year ending in June 1965, the company posted earnings of $1.5 million on sales of $10.4 million.

The company was also highly profitable, posting operating profits of $18.4 million on sales of $84 million for the year ending in September 1977.

The profits figure represented a decline of 41 percent from the level in 1982.

In January 1984 Santa Monica, California-based Lear Siegler Corporation acquired Bangor Punta, giving Smith & Wesson a new parent.

For the fiscal year ending in June 1986, the gunmaker reported operating profits of $14.1 million on sales of $116.1 million.

In June 1987 Tomkins plc paid $112.5 million to purchase Smith & Wesson.

With interest in gun ownership increasing among women, Smith & Wesson introduced the LadySmith line of handguns in 1989.

Under the leadership of Ed Shultz, who became president in 1992, Smith & Wesson introduced the Sigma Series of pistols.

Prevailing in the end, however, was U.K. conglomerate F.H. Tomkins PLC (later simply Tomkins PLC), which paid $112.5 million in June 1997 to purchase Smith & Wesson, marking its first foray into the United States.

In January 1998 Smith & Wesson began selling bicycles designed specifically for police work.

Another light-weight line, the AirLite Ti titanium revolvers, was introduced in 1999.

Adding to the turmoil at the company was Tomkins' announcement in July 2000 that it intended to sell Smith & Wesson as part of a streamlining aimed at shedding noncore units.

Buyers slowly began returning, and sales grew from $70.7 million in the fiscal year ending in April 2001 to $79.3 million the following, before jumping to $98.5 million the year after that.

Cuny had joined Smith & Wesson in November 2002 as vice-president for operations.

Of course in America bigger is always better and S&W supersized the concept in 2003 with the release of the .500 S&W Magnum, which has remained the biggest, heaviest, most-powerful factory-produced double action revolver in production.

In 2005 the company introduced another poly-framed pistol under the M&P line for “military and police.”

The M&P15 is introduced at the 2006 SHOT Show to overwhelming enthusiasm.