S&W percussion revolvers

M

mega twin

New member
I see a lot of Colt,Remington,and other percussion revolvers,but do not recall ever seeing,or hearing about S&W during that era.
Did they make percussion revolvers,or did they not start til the cartridge era?
 
Nope, S&W never made percussion revolvers.

Horace Smith & Daniel Wesson partnered in the early 1850s to produce one of the earliest US-made cartridge guns, the lever-action Volcanics.

These used a hollow-base bullet, into which was loaded a powder charge and a primer.

The concept was largely a failure, and the company came under the control of Oliver Winchester, who would take lever-action concept and run with it.

Smith & Wesson a few years later founded their company, and shortly afterwards began producing guns for a cartridge patented by Smith (I think it was Smith), the .22 Short rimfire.

And the rest, as they say, is history.
 
S&W acquired the Rollin White patent in 1857 I believe and began producing small bore revolvers in 1858. The patent didn't expire until 1872 is why Colt and Remington took so long to make cartridge guns.
 
Now, Edwin Wesson (Daniel's older brother) was famous for his percussion target rifles and pistols, and Daniel apprenticed under him when he was young. Edwin was famous for inventing the false muzzle for muzzleloading rifles which aided in helping extreme accuracy.

The book History of S&W written by Roy Jinks gives a complete history. (However, there are much cheaper places to get a copy than amazon- like the S&W website)

I do have one example of an original Wesson target pistol in .31 caliber.
 
Here's my False Muzzle on my Pistol

0003-1_filtered_filtered.jpg
 
Andy, According to my sources the False Muzzle was invented by Massachusetts telescope maker Alvan Clark in 1840.
Click to expand...

A mind is a terrible thing for (me) to waste. :o

Well shucks...I do know he was famous for putting them on his target rifles though. ;)
 
kwhi43 - nice lookin' false muzzle. I always wanted a rifle with one of those . . . that way, my barrel would look longer than it actually was . . a "man" thing . . . . :D

My luck though . . . I wouldn't have tied it to the bench and I would have shot it down range . . . I wonder if one would "key hole"? :D:rolleyes::eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top