Smith & Wesson Ladysmith Smith & Wesson Ladysmith The S&W Ladysmith (later styled LadySmith) is a series of handguns manufactured by Smith & Wesson starting early in the 20th century. Early models, branded were chambered in .22 Long. Starting in the 1980s, under the slightly modified "LadySmith" moniker, S&W manufactured several short-barreled revolvers and semi-automatic pistols. Smith & Wesson has produced firearms over the years in several standard frame sizes. "M-frame" refers to the small early Ladysmith frame. Later LadySmith small revolvers were made on the somewhat larger "J-frame", the standard S&W small-frame revolver. The tiny M-frame .22" hand-ejector Ladysmith revolver was produced from
Smith & Wesson to a safety issue with barrels rupturing. The 916 series was discontinued, then later replaced by the Models 3000, based on an improved Remington 870 design, and 1000 intended to compete with the popular Remington Model 1100; both were produced by Howa of Japan. However, with the sale of the company to British Tomkins PLC, Smith & Wesson exited the shotgun market in the mid'80s to return to their "core" market of handguns. During the 1980s, Smith & Wesson released the S&W assault shotgun, which had full automatic capability. In November 2006, S&W announced that it would reenter the shotgun