This post is not a rag on Smith & Wesson, I have owned numerous S&W revolvers and currently own three of them. However, despite my love for the older S&W revolvers, there have been some questionable decisions made by the Springfield arms maker.
Imitation is not new or unique in the gun business. Ruger built an entire catalog of guns using designs created by previous gun makers. I guess it is the way in which S&W went about it that makes them different.
Before you get angry, remember this is history and entertainment, it is not meant to piss anyone off.
The first gun produced by S&W was the Volcanic Rifle/Pistol, this was not a design conjured by Smith or Wesson. Instead they bought the rights to a design by Walter Hunt.
This would not be the last time S&W used someone else's idea.
S&W was not able to make a go of the Volcanic pistol. If you know the history of it, you know that the Volcanic pistol evolved into the most iconic American rifle in history: The Winchester lever action.
the Volcanic pistol:
Their next endeavor was to build a revolver, why a revolver? The patent for the revolver, held by Samuel Colt was set to expire and Horace Smith wanted to copy Colt's success. There was something else, the bored through cylinder patent was held by a man named Rollin White. S&W secured an exclusive agreement where Rollin White would receive $0.25 for each revolver built. I heard somewhere that S&W made more on patent infringement lawsuits than they did selling guns...
S&W model 1
Colt model of 1889
Seven years later Smith & Wesson introduced their double action revolver with a swing out cylinder. They called it the ".32 Hand-Ejector model of 1896".
The S&W .32 Hand-Ejector model of 1896
Absent was the cylinder release latch on the left side of the frame. That was added with the model of 1899, also known as the Military and Police (M&P)
S&W model of 1899
After the turn of the century Smith & Wesson increased the size of their M&P revolver to compete with the Colt New Service. In typical Smith & Wesson fashion they unabashedly called it the "New Century."
Colt New Service
To be fair it was 1908 and it was a new century, but it seemed like some emulation was going on.
The S&W New Century, aka the Triple Lock
The J frame, introduced after WWII was designed to compete with the Colt Detective Special, which had been in service since 1927. S&W held a contest to name the new revolver, this "contest" was held at the International Association of Chief's of Police convention in 1950.....anyone could guess what name they chose....even so the name "Chief's Special" is awfully similar to "Detective Special" and the Chief of Police ranks higher than any detective.
Now S&W could lay claim to the "special" moniker as it was they who introduced the 38 Special cartridge, but still the name and the way in which it was conceived seem sketchy.
In 1965 the Wesson family decided to sell the company to a multinational conglomerate known as Bangor Punta. Horace Smith had sold his interest long before (in 1874).
Bangor Punta was not a Spanish company as many people think, the company's name was formed after a merger of the Punta Alegre Sugar Company and the Bangor & Aroostock Railroad of Maine.
FYI: Punta Alegre means "cheerful point" in Spanish, it was named after a town in Cuba.
Bangor Punta was not new to manufacturing, but they were new to firearms. During the time of their ownership S&W cut production costs by no longer pinning the barrels on most models and no longer recessing the chambers on the magnum caliber revolvers. There were other cutbacks as well that resulted in a steady decline of the quality, but I am getting ahead of myself.
In the late 1960's S&W was looking to market a small pistol for concealed carry. Rather than start from scratch they borrowed a design from the early 1900s. The S&W model 61 Escort was an updated copy of the 1908 Pieper Bayard.
The design was brought back in 1987 and following years with the models 422, 622, 2206, 2213 & 2214
In 1984 Bangor Punta was purchased by Lear Siegler, makers of the famous Lear jets.
In 1987 Smith & Wesson was sold off to Tomkins PLC, a British conglomerate, this is where things really went sideways.
In 1994 S&W engineers made a decision to copy the Glock 17 pistol. The S&W Sigma was a near identical copy to the Glock. A patent infringement lawsuit (100 years later the tables are turned...) was settled out of court with S&W agreeing to pay some duckets to Glock and make some crucial design changes.
Just when you thought the Brits couldn't screw up Smith & Wesson any more, they made a really bad decision....they made a "deal with the Devil", the devil in this case being Democrat President Bill Clinton. On St. Patrick's Day 2000, a secret agreement was made with the Clinton Administration. S&W agreed to add some safety devices and enforce a "code of conduct" with it's dealers in exchange for some government contracts.
This did not sit well with the gun buying public and the resulting boycott nearly put the gun maker out of business.
A little more than a year later, Tomkins sold S&W to Safe-T-Hammer for $15 Million (along with some debt) which was a huge loss, considering Tomkins paid $112 Million for S&W just 14 years earlier.
One thing that didn't change was the ugly safety device mounted just above the cylinder release.
In recent years S&W has cut additional corners and changed the way their revolvers are made.
Many models now come with a two piece, sleeved barrel
S&W is also producing many of their small parts using Metal Injection Molding or MIM, the resulting part needs less machining. Despite S&W saying that the parts are just as strong, reports from the field suggest otherwise.
Smith and Wesson is still in business, in 2017 they celebrated 165 years of gun making and while it would be nice if they could make their guns the way they used to, that just isn't reality, very few things are still made today the way they were 100 or even 50 years ago.
References
Chuck Hawks
Wikipedia
Business Insider
The Unblinking Eye
the S&W Chief's Special aka the model 36
the Colt Detective Special
In 1965 the Wesson family decided to sell the company to a multinational conglomerate known as Bangor Punta. Horace Smith had sold his interest long before (in 1874).
Bangor Punta was not a Spanish company as many people think, the company's name was formed after a merger of the Punta Alegre Sugar Company and the Bangor & Aroostock Railroad of Maine.
FYI: Punta Alegre means "cheerful point" in Spanish, it was named after a town in Cuba.
Bangor Punta was not new to manufacturing, but they were new to firearms. During the time of their ownership S&W cut production costs by no longer pinning the barrels on most models and no longer recessing the chambers on the magnum caliber revolvers. There were other cutbacks as well that resulted in a steady decline of the quality, but I am getting ahead of myself.
In the late 1960's S&W was looking to market a small pistol for concealed carry. Rather than start from scratch they borrowed a design from the early 1900s. The S&W model 61 Escort was an updated copy of the 1908 Pieper Bayard.
the 1908 Pieper Bayard (top) & S&W 61 Escort (bottom):
The design was brought back in 1987 and following years with the models 422, 622, 2206, 2213 & 2214
The S&W model 2214
In 1984 Bangor Punta was purchased by Lear Siegler, makers of the famous Lear jets.
In 1987 Smith & Wesson was sold off to Tomkins PLC, a British conglomerate, this is where things really went sideways.
In 1994 S&W engineers made a decision to copy the Glock 17 pistol. The S&W Sigma was a near identical copy to the Glock. A patent infringement lawsuit (100 years later the tables are turned...) was settled out of court with S&W agreeing to pay some duckets to Glock and make some crucial design changes.
The S&W Sigma
The Glock 17
Just when you thought the Brits couldn't screw up Smith & Wesson any more, they made a really bad decision....they made a "deal with the Devil", the devil in this case being Democrat President Bill Clinton. On St. Patrick's Day 2000, a secret agreement was made with the Clinton Administration. S&W agreed to add some safety devices and enforce a "code of conduct" with it's dealers in exchange for some government contracts.
This did not sit well with the gun buying public and the resulting boycott nearly put the gun maker out of business.
A little more than a year later, Tomkins sold S&W to Safe-T-Hammer for $15 Million (along with some debt) which was a huge loss, considering Tomkins paid $112 Million for S&W just 14 years earlier.
One thing that didn't change was the ugly safety device mounted just above the cylinder release.
Many models now come with a two piece, sleeved barrel
S&W is also producing many of their small parts using Metal Injection Molding or MIM, the resulting part needs less machining. Despite S&W saying that the parts are just as strong, reports from the field suggest otherwise.
Smith and Wesson is still in business, in 2017 they celebrated 165 years of gun making and while it would be nice if they could make their guns the way they used to, that just isn't reality, very few things are still made today the way they were 100 or even 50 years ago.
References
Chuck Hawks
Wikipedia
Business Insider
The Unblinking Eye