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Between a time-tested company reputation that’s over 150 years strong and the classic J-Frame design, there’s plenty going for our very first Gun of the Week: The Smith & Wesson M&P 340.
May 14, 2012
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Smith & Wesson has introduced the M&P Shield, a small, compact semi-auto for concealed carry.
April 12, 2012
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Smith & Wesson M&P Shield
April 11, 2012
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For 32 years—from 1954 until 1986—the best deal in the Smith & Wesson catalog was the Model 28, a revolver built on the N frame and chambered for the .357 Mag. cartridge. Before S&W assigned model numbers to all products, the maker called this gun the Highway Patrolman. Made with the user's choice of either 4- or 6-inch barrels, the Highway Patrolman had a matte-blue finish, with a very plebeian exterior. There was no grooving on the barrel rib or rear sight and no choices in sights, trigger or hammer. I have seen Target and Magna grips on them, almost always in oiled, checkered walnut. In other words, the Model 28 was a plain .357 Mag. revolver of the largest and strongest type. You got a lot of gun for your money and that made the Model 28 popular with cash-strapped police agencies and individual officers.
March 15, 2012
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Remember back in the 1970s when Smith & Wesson offered a series of beautiful die-struck belt buckles? A full collection of these handsome artifacts from a never-to-return era would be worth a lot more than what a 70s-era collector paid for them. Sadly, mine does not include every buckle in the series. It does, however, include the famed “gun box” buckle. This variation was a metal rendering of the top of the boxes found in the first few years of the Smith & Wesson partnership. The top of those boxes portrayed the tip-up revolver contained in the box. The original boxes are of course quite valuable, but the belt buckle is also collectible. Original boxes were made from a material known as gutta percha, a form of sap from a particular tree.
March 13, 2012
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A wartime stopgap revolver remains the basis for today’s most sophisticated wheelguns.
February 09, 2012
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The Baughman front sight was created on special order for a senior agent and firearms expert for the FBI. Frank Baughman was well-known in the Bureau as a close confidant of J. Edgar Hoover in the tumultuous time before World War II.
December 15, 2011
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Older revolver catalogs used to list two basic butt shapes for their products—round and square. This actually meant slightly different things in the literature of the two big pre-World War II gunmakers—Colt and S&W.
December 07, 2011
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Thompson/Center is recalling Venture rifles because of a possible sear malfunction.
November 08, 2011
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Developed in 1954 and '55 and announced in January of 1956, Smith & Wesson's .44 Mag. has been a consistent favorite of the shooting public for over half a century. It came some 20 years after the company's first Magnum revolver—the .357. This earlier gun and cartridge were enormous trend-setters and got American handgunners thinking about really powerful revolvers because the added power offered two major advantages. The first was increased practical range, while the second advantage was plain smashing power that could harvest the largest game animals at closer ranges. The .357 did all of these things, but it was the .44 Mag. that took hold of the American consciousness and never let go. It was a bread and butter gun for the Massachusetts firm, with a little help from Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.
October 21, 2011
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Smith & Wesson 386 Night Guard Review
October 07, 2011
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There was a 1950s-era trend in American handgun making that is still alive and even growing. It received its start because post-war handgunners suddenly awakened to the fact that handguns were really heavy to carry.
October 05, 2011
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In a surprise move, Smith & Wesson Holding Corp bought out the remaining contract of Michael F. Golden as president and CEO and appointed him to a seat on the company’s board of directors. Smith & Wesson's stock (symbol SWHC on the NASDAQ) has dropped 27 percent so far this year.
October 03, 2011
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Cabela’s is celebrating 50 years with A Firearm Celebration of the American Dream.
August 24, 2011
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