here . for the cafeteria see s & w cafeteria . for strunk & white s elements of style see the elements of style . smith & wesson holding corp. type public company nasdaq swhc industry defense products & services founded 1852 founders horace smith daniel b. wesson headquarters springfield massachusetts united states key people p. james debney ceo jeffrey d. buchanan cfo leland a. nichols coo products firearms and law enforcement goods revenue us 412 million 2012 1 operating income us 47.1 million 2012 1 net income us 16.1 million 2012 1 total assets us 326.989 million 2013 2 us 261.674 million 2012 3 number of employees 1 453 2008 4 subsidiaries thompson center website smith wesson.com smith & wesson s & w is a manufacturer of firearms in the united states . the corporate headquarters are based in springfield massachusetts . founded in 1852 smith & wesson s pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world in addition to their popularity among sport shooters . their revolvers have been featured in numerous hollywood movies notably clint eastwood s dirty harry . apart from firearms smith & wesson has been known for the many types of ammunition it has introduced over the years and many cartridges bear the company s name . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 the civil war 1.3 western frontier 1.4 clinton agreement 1.5 acquisition by saf t hammer 1.6 recent history 2 cartridges introduced by smith & wesson 3 revolvers 4 semi automatic pistols 4.1 sigma series 4.2 sw99 series 4.3 m & p series 4.4 sd ve series 4.5 sw1911 series 5 rifles and carbines 6 submachine gun 7 shotguns 8 internal locking mechanism 9 other products 10 see also 11 references 11.1 footnotes 11.2 sources 12 external links history edit early history edit 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 returned to his native springfield massachusetts wesson stayed on as plant manager with volcanic repeating arms . 5 as samuel colt s patent on the revolver was set to expire in 1856 wesson began developing a prototype for a cartridge revolver . his research pointed out that a former colt employee named rollin white held the patent for a bored through cylinder a component he would need for his invention . wesson reconnected with smith and the two partners approached white to manufacture a newly designed revolver and cartridge combination . 5 rather than make white a partner in their company smith and wesson paid him a royalty of 0.25 on every revolver that they made . it would become white s responsibility to defend his patent in any court cases which eventually led to his financial ruin but was very advantageous for the new smith & wesson company . 5 the civil war edit smith & wesson s revolvers came into popular demand with the outbreak of the american civil war as soldiers from all ranks on both sides of the conflict made private purchases of the revolvers for self defense . 6 the orders for the smith & wesson model 1 revolver outpaced the factory s production capabilities . in 1860 demand was so great that smith & wesson expanded into a new facility and began experimenting with a new cartridge design more suitable than the .22 short that it had been using . 6 at the same time the company s design was being infringed upon by other manufacturers which led to numerous lawsuits filed by rollin white . in many of these instances part of the restitution came in the form of the offender being forced to stamp manufactured for smith & wesson on the revolvers in question . 6 white s vigorous defense of his patent caused a problem for armsmakers in the united states at the time as they could not manufacture cartridge revolvers . at the end of the war the us government charged white with causing the retardation of arms development in america . 6 western frontier edit demand for revolvers declined at the close of the civil war and smith & wesson focused on the development of arms suitable for use on the american frontier . in 1870 the company introduced a large frame revolver in heavier calibers than the pocket sized revolvers it had been making . the design was known as the smith & wesson model 3 . clinton agreement edit on march 17 2000 smith & wesson made an agreement with us president bill clinton under which it would implement changes in the design and distribution of its firearms in return for preferred buying program to offset the loss of revenue as a result of anticipated boycott . 7 the agreement stated that all authorized dealers and distributors of smith & wesson s products had to abide by a code of conduct to eliminate the sale of firearms to prohibited persons dealers had to agree to not allow children under 18 access without an adult to gun shops or sections of stores that contained firearms . 7 after an organized campaign by the nra and nssf 8 thousands of retailers and tens of thousands of firearms consumers boycotted smith & wesson . 9 acquisition by saf t hammer edit on 11 may 2001 saf t hammer corporation acquired smith & wesson corp. from tomkins plc for us 15 million a fraction of the us 112 million originally paid by tomkins . 10 saf t hammer assumed us 30 million in debt bringing the total purchase price to us 45 million . 11 12 saf t hammer a manufacturer of firearms locks and other safety products purchased the company with the intention of incorporating its line of security products into all smith & wesson firearms in compliance with the 2000 agreement . the acquisition of smith & wesson was chiefly brokered by saf t hammer president bob scott who had left smith & wesson in 1999 because of a disagreement with tomkins policies . after the purchase scott became the president of smith & wesson to guide the 157 year old company back to its former standing in the market . 13 on 15 february 2002 the name of the newly formed entity was changed to smith & wesson holding corporation . 14 recent history edit in december 2014 smith & wesson holding announced it was paying 130.5 million for battenfeld technologies a columbia missouri based designer and distributor of hunting and shooting accessories . the company made the acquisition with the eventual intent to merge all its existing smith & wesson m & p and thompson center arms accessories into a single division . 15 cartridges introduced by smith & wesson edit bullet coming from a smith & wesson 686 .357 magnum taken with an air gap flash . .22 short 16 .32 s & w sometimes called .32 short 16 .32 s & w long sometimes called .32 colt new police a variation produced for the colt new police revolver as colt did not want an association with their competitor 16 .32 44 s & w defined as .32 caliber true .32 caliber measures .323 sole use in model 3 revolver to 1898 . 17 .38 s & w sometimes called .38 colt new police a variation produced for the colt new police revolver as colt did not want an association with their competitor and the 38 200 in england . 16 .38 44 s & w there are two distinct loads with this designation . the first was intended for use in model 3 revolvers up to 1898 . the second was a predecessor to the .357 magnum . using the latter load in a pre 1898 gun could cause serious injury . 17 .38 s & w special 16 usually referred to as .38 special .357 s & w magnum 16 usually referred to as .357 magnum .40 s & w 16 smith & wesson developed the cartridge but the first firearm to hit the market chambered in .40 was manufactured by glock 18 .41 magnum while remington arms developed the ammunition smith & wesson made the first revolvers to chamber the cartridge . 16 .44 american 16 .44 russian 16 .44 s & w special 16 .44 remington magnum 16 .45 s & w schofield 16 .460 s & w magnum 19 .500 s & w magnum 19 revolvers edit smith & wesson volcanic caliber .31 between 1854 and 1855 smith & wesson model 1 second issue .22 rimfire smith & wesson army no 2 made 1863 caliber .32 rimfire smith & wesson model 3 cal . .44 between 1874 and 1878 smith & wesson .38 special model 1899 military and police hand ejector smith & wesson m1917 cal . 45 smith & wesson model 10 cal . 38 smith & wesson has produced revolvers over the years in several standard frame sizes . m refers to the small early ladysmith frame i to the small .32 frame j to the small .38 frame k to the medium .38 frame l to medium large and n to the largest .44 magnum type frame . 20 in 2003 the even larger x frame was introduced for the .500 s & w magnum . smith & wesson model 1 21 smith & wesson model 1 1 2 22 s & w .38 single action first smith & wesson revolver chambered in .38 caliber . 23 smith & wesson model 3 first automatic ejection of spent cartridge cases 24 smith & wesson double action smith & wesson safety hammerless the lemon squeezer also known as the model 40 model 42 and 38 safety . 25 smith & wesson ladysmith 21 i frame small models smith & wesson model 30 a small six shot .32 caliber revolver . 25 smith & wesson model 32 terrier a small five shot revolver chambered in .38 s & w .38 caliber . coil or flat mainspring round front sight 2 barrel . 25 kit gun kit gun from 1953 to 1958 it was called the model of 1953 . in 1958 it became the model 34 . it was blued chambered in 22lr with a 2 or 4 barrel and adjustable sights . 25 the model 34 1 moved up to the j frame . smith & wesson model 35 a small six shot target revolver with adjustable sights and six inch barrel chambered in .22 lr . 22 32 target model of 1953 . produced from 1953 to 1973 . 25 j frame small models smith & wesson model 36 known as the chiefs special ; first j frame 1950 5 shot revolver 21 smith & wesson model 37 known as the chiefs special airweight ; 25 smith & wesson bodyguard standard and airweight models 38 49 438 638 649 . 25 smith & wesson model 60 first regular production all stainless steel revolver 1965 ; the stainless chief s special 21 smith & wesson model 340pd first revolver made of scandium alloy very light possibly the final evolution of the classic j frame chief s special introduced over 60 years earlier weighs 12 ounces 340 g . 21 smith & wesson centennial standard and airweight models 40 42 442 640 642 at one time available in 9 19mm caliber as the model 940 21 k frame medium models smith & wesson model 10 .38 special . previously the .38 military & police and .38 victory model 21 smith & wesson model 11 .38 s & w. previously the .38 regular military & police 26 smith & wesson model 12 .38 special . airweight alloy frame version of the model 10 .