Smith & Wesson Model 320 inches. "The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms" By Dean K. Boorman Smith & Wesson Model 320 The Smith & Wesson Model 320 was a revolving rifle produced by Smith & Wesson in the late 19th century. The Smith & Wesson Model 320 is the rarest Smith & Wesson in existence and highly prized by collectors. The Smith & Wesson Model 320 revolving rifle was based heavily on the design of the Smith & Wesson Model 3 pistol. 977 revolving rifles were manufactured between 1879 and 1887. They were serial numbered 1 to 977, with 840 being sold in the
Smith & Wesson Model 3 gunsmiths to reverse-engineer the Smith & Wesson design, and then began to produce copies of the revolver—both in their own arsenal at Tula and by contracting other manufacturers in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to manufacture copies of the revolver (a common practice at the time—Webley & Scott's British Bulldog revolver was widely copied, too, by European and American gunsmiths). The Russian and European copies of the S&W Model 3 revolver were generally of very high quality, but considerably cheaper than the S&W produced revolvers. This led to the Imperial government cancelling the order for significant quantities of Smith &