Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson (S&W) is an American manufacturer of firearms, ammunition and restraints. The corporate headquarters are in Springfield, Massachusetts. Smith & Wesson was founded in 1852 and after various corporate changes is now a unit of American Outdoor Brands Corporation. Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson founded the Smith & Wesson Company in Norwich, Connecticut in 1852 to develop the Volcanic rifle. Smith developed a new Volcanic Cartridge, which he patented in 1854. The Smith & Wesson Company was renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855, and was purchased by Oliver Winchester. Smith left the company and
Smith & Wesson Model 61 had numerous reliability problems and according to Smith & Wesson historian, Jim Supica, many were returned to the factory for repair. According to Supica, many of these returned pistols were not actually repaired. Employees at Smith & Wesson simply took a new pistol off the line, restamped the serial number and shipped the pistol to the customer in place of the old one because repair time would have been too costly. Model 61 engineering changes: Smith & Wesson Model 61 The Smith & Wesson Model 61 (also known as the Smith & Wesson Escort or simply the Pocket Escort) is