Smith & Wesson Model 57 Smith & Wesson Model 57 The Smith & Wesson Model 57 is a large frame, double-action revolver with a six round cylinder, chambered for the .41 Magnum cartridge, and designed and manufactured by the Smith & Wesson firearms company. The gun was designed as a weapon for law enforcement agencies. However, due to size and recoil it found more favor with civilian target shooters and hunters. In the early 1960s, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, and Skeeter Skelton, all noted firearms authorities and authors, lobbied Remington Arms and Smith & Wesson to introduce a new .41 caliber police cartridge with the
Smith & Wesson SD built, the unique feature was a Titanium slide. The SW40Ti was never put into production. At this time Smith & Wesson retired the 4.5 inch barrel and switched all Sigmas to the 4.0 inch barrel. Sigmas from this era onward are considered "2nd generation" Sigmas. Shortly after the introduction of the VE series, Smith & Wesson further improved it by adding an accessory rail but did not change the model number to reflect this update. Sometime after 1999 Smith & Wesson introduced the SW40P and SW9P. These models were identical to the SW40VE and SW9VE but added porting to the