SMITH & WESSON FACTORY TOUR – Small Arms Review https://smallarmsreview.com Explore the World of Small Arms Thu, 08 Sep 2022 21:30:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://smallarmsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-online-sar-logo-red-32x32.png SMITH & WESSON FACTORY TOUR – Small Arms Review https://smallarmsreview.com 32 32 SMITH & WESSON FACTORY TOUR https://smallarmsreview.com/smith-wesson-factory-tour/ Tue, 01 Jun 2010 21:19:00 +0000 https://smallarmsreview.com/?p=30603 By Jason Wong

Founded in 1852, Smith and Wesson has become a household name. To those not associated with firearms, the name is likely to evoke images of revolvers. Fictional characters from Dirty Harry to John Wayne’s character in the movie McQ, have added to the lore of the brand. The company’s Model 10 revolver chambered in .38 Special has proven so popular, that the firearm has been in continuous production since it was introduced in 1899, and to date, over 6 million units have been produced.

The company was not always successful. Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson originally formed the company with the intention of marketing a lever action repeating pistol that could use a fully self-contained cartridge. This first pistol venture was not a financial success, and by 1854 the company was having financial difficulties. Forced to make the difficult decision to sell the company, Smith and Wesson found a shirt manufacturer by the name of Oliver Winchester that was willing to buy the failing company. In 1866, using the original lever action design created by Smith & Wesson, Oliver Winchester’s company became known as the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

All metallic firearm receivers and frames are hammer forged from billet. In this bin are thousands of revolver frames, recently hammer forged and heat treated.
After being hammer forged and heat treated, the revolver blanks are CNC machined into final dimensions.

Smith and Wesson tried again – forming a second partnership to produce and market a rimfire revolver capable of firing a self-contained cartridge. This revolver was the first successful fully self-contained cartridge revolver available in the world. Smith & Wesson secured patents for the revolver to prevent other manufacturers from producing a cartridge revolver – giving the young company a very lucrative business that grew significantly over the years.

Based in Springfield, Massachusetts with manufacturing facilities in Springfield, Houlton, Maine, and Rochester, New Hampshire, the company also provides professional training to private individuals, law enforcement, military and security professionals. The Smith & Wesson Academy has been dedicated to firearms training before firearms training became popularized. It should be no surprise that the Smith and Wesson Academy is America’s longest running firearms training facility in the country.

Small Arms Review was recently given the opportunity to tour the Smith and Wesson factory, located in Springfield, Massachusetts and presents the following photo array of the production methods and inside views of the Smith and Wesson factory.

After being machined into final dimensions, a computer controlled machine measures all critical dimensions to quality control.
Assembling the revolver and side plates.
A newly complete barrel blank ready for installation on a revolver.
Revolver cylinder, ready for final machining. Note that the chambers have not yet been cut.
Hammer forging forces super heated metallic billets into forms as a means of shaping the metal into the intended shape. In this image, the forms (similar to a mold) used to form the billets into the shape of an M&P semiautomatic pistol are ready for use.
A steel billet, heated via induction, and ready for the hammer forge.
Fresh from the forge, the shape of the M&P pistol is evident.
All critical metallic pieces are heat treated for a long life and to minimize internal wear.
Custom in-house engraving being performed on a customer’s firearm. Smith and Wesson offers several levels of customization and engraving, from CNC performed engraving, simple stock engraved images, or highly customized engravings that can run into the thousands of dollars
Several more machine steps are required prior to this revolver frame being ready for prime time. Several flashings are still attached to the frame as a means of securing the frame within the CNC machine for final machining.
Revolver barrel blanks waiting to be cut and rifled.
Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machines dominate the factory floor. The machine starts with the billet steel blanks locate to the left of the image and machines the blank billet into an M&P semiautomatic pistol slide.
M&P .45 caliber semiautomatic firearm slides in billet form, prior to being machined into shape.
Super heated steel billet, being hammer forged into shape.
Semiautomatic pistol frames are also hammer forged into oversized versions of the final form.”
The M&P 15/22 rifle has proven immensely popular as a means of shooting cheap .22 caliber ammunition. Here, M&P 15/22 rifles are palletized for transport and eventual sale to consumers.
Louis Tiffany created Smith and Wesson revolver.
This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V13N9 (June 2010)
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