Smith & Wesson Model 1 Smith & Wesson Model 1 The Smith & Wesson Model 1 was the first firearm manufactured by Smith & Wesson, with production spanning the years 1857 through 1882. It was the first commercially successful revolver to use rimfire cartridges instead of loose powder, musket ball, and percussion caps. It is a single-action, tip-up revolver holding seven .22 Short black powder cartridges. As Samuel Colt's patent on the night revolver was set to expire in 1856, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson were researching a prototype for a metallic cartridge revolver. When they discovered that a former Colt employee named Rollin
Smith & Wesson At the end of the war the U.S. Government charged White with causing the retardation of arms development in America. Demand for revolvers declined at the close of the Civil War so Smith & Wesson focused on the development of arms suitable for use on the American frontier. In 1870 the company switched focus from pocket sized revolvers to a large frame revolver in heavier calibers (.44 S&W American). This new design, known as the Smith & Wesson Model 3, was adopted by the US Army as the first cartridge-firing revolver in US service. In 1899 Smith & Wesson introduced