Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American firearm manufacturer headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, United States.

Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the “Smith & Wesson Revolver Company” in 1856 after their previous company, also called the “Smith & Wesson Company” and later renamed as “Volcanic Repeating Arms”, was sold to Oliver Winchester and became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The modern Smith & Wesson had been previously owned by Bangor Punta and Tomkins plc before being acquired by Saf-T-Hammer Corporation in 2001. Smith & Wesson was a unit of American Outdoor Brands Corporation from 2016 to 2020 until the company was spun out in 2020.^[2]

History[edit]

Volcanic Repeating Arms[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, while Wesson stayed as plant manager with Volcanic Repeating Arms for eight months.^[3] Volcanic Repeating Arms was insolvent in late 1856, after which it was reorganized as the New Haven Arms Company in April 1857 and eventually as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company by 1866.^[4]

Smith & Wesson Revolver Company[edit]

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.^[3] After Wesson left Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1856, he rejoined Smith to form the Smith & Wesson Revolver Company, which would become the modern Smith & Wesson company.^[4]

Rather than make White a partner in their company, Smith & Wesson paid him a royalty of $0.25 on every revolver they made. This arrangement left White responsible for defending his patent, which eventually led to his financial ruin, while it was very advantageous for Smith & Wesson.^[3]

19th century[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.^[5]

The orders for the Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver outpaced the factory’s production capabilities. In 1860 demand volume exceeded the production capacity, so 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.^[5]

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.^[5]

White’s vigorous defense of his patent caused a problem for arms makers in the United States at the time as they could not manufacture cartridge revolvers. At the war’s end, the U.S. Government charged White with causing the retardation of arms development in America.^[5]

Demand for revolvers declined at the close of the Civil War, so Smith & Wesson focused on developing 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). The U.S. Army adopted this new design, known as the Smith & Wesson Model 3, as the first cartridge-firing revolver in U.S. service.

In 1899, Smith & Wesson introduced its most widely used revolver, the .38 Military & Police (also known as the Smith & Wesson Model 10). With over 6 million produced, it became the standard sidearm of American police officers for much of the 20th century.^[6] An additional 1 million of these guns were made for the U.S. Military during World War II.^[6]

20th century[edit]

The post-war periods in the 20th century were times of great innovation for the company. In 1935 Smith & Wesson released the .357 Registered Magnum, which was the first revolver chambered for .357 Magnum. It was designed as a more powerful handgun for law enforcement officers. The Registered Magnum started the “Magnum Era” of handguns. In 1957, when S&W started issuing model numbers to its revolvers, the revolver that had started as the Registered (and later the postwar .357 Magnum) became the Model 27. The high point was in 1955 when the company created the Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum. The Dirty Harry movies made this gun a cultural icon two decades later.^[7]

In 1965, the Wesson family sold its controlling interest in Smith & Wesson to Bangor Punta, a prominent American conglomerate.^[8] Over the next decade, Bangor Punta diversified the company’s civilian sales to include related gun products (such as holsters) as well as offering additional police equipment (such as handcuffs and breathalyzers).^[6] By the late 1970s these profitable moves made Smith & Wesson “the envy of the industry” according to Business Week.^[9]

Despite these advantages, Smith & Wesson’s market share began declining in the 1980s. As the war on drugs intensified in the United States, police departments all across the country replaced their Smith & Wesson revolvers with European semiautomatics (such as Glock, Sig Sauer and Beretta).^[10] From 1982 to 1986 profits at the company declined by 41 percent^[6]

In June 1987, Tomkins plc paid $112.5 million to purchase Smith & Wesson.^[11] Tomkins modernized the production equipment and instituted additional testing which significantly increased product quality.^[6] However, new gun sales in the United States lagged in the 1990s, some of which was attributed to the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Also, there were numerous city and state lawsuits against Smith & Wesson. After the success of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, municipalities thought they might be able to succeed through tort law against the gun industry as well.^[12]

21st century[edit]

Clinton agreement[edit]

On March 17, 2000, Smith & Wesson made an agreement with U.S. President Bill Clinton under which it would implement changes in the design and distribution of its firearms,^[13] in return for “preferred buying program” to offset the loss of revenue as a result of the anticipated consumer boycott.^{[citation needed]} The agreement stated 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, and dealers had to agree to not allow children under 18 (without an adult present) access to gun shops or sections of stores that contained firearms.^[13]

In response, the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) organised a campaign over the issue of smart guns.^[14] Thousands of retailers and tens of thousands of firearms consumers boycotted Smith & Wesson.^[15][16] CEO Ed Schultz, who negotiated the deal, was forced out in September of that year.^[17] By December 2000, the company’s stock price was 19 cents per share.^[18] Smith & Wesson dropped its smart gun plans after nearly being driven out of business.^[19]

Acquisition[edit]

On May 11, 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.^[20] Saf-T-Hammer assumed US$30 million in debt, bringing the total purchase price to US$45 million.^[21][22] 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.^[23]

On February 15, 2002, the name of the newly formed entity was changed to Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.^[24]

Post-acquisition[edit]

In 2006 Smith & Wesson refocused its marketing on big box retailers, according to Smith & Wesson CEO Mike Golden in a 2008 conference call with investors.^[25]

On November 7, 2016, Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation changed its name to American Outdoor Brands Corporation.^[26] The next years saw increased scrutiny by some due to the use of its firearms in mass shootings such as the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, in which a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style rifle, the semi-automatic M&P15 was used. The same weapon was used in the 2015 San Bernardino attack and the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting.^{[27][28][29][30]}

In 2017 Smith & Wesson saw a severe contraction in its sales as units shipped to distributors and retailers declined 38.3%. The company was forced to lay off one-fourth of its manufacturing workforce.^[31]

On August 24, 2020, American Outdoor Brands was spun-off from Smith & Wesson, with S&W retaining the stock ticker SWBI and American Outdoor Brands becoming a new publicly traded company on the NASDAQ as American Outdoor Brands, Inc.^[2]

As of January 2022, SWBI had a market value of around $880 million, with revenues a little over US$1 billion ^[32]