The OLDEST S&W Revolver In Existence & Smith & Wesson Founding

In this week’s No Lowballers presented by GunBroker, we’re talking with Mike Helms from Smith & Wesson about the history of the company and how it became the company it is today. We start out talking with Mike on the shadowy history of when Smith & Wesson was originally founded. A few different dates float around, but Mike gives us a good estimate on when he believes the company actually started. Next up, Mike dives into the Smith & Wesson Model 1. We talk all about how it jumpstarted the company into loads of success basically unheard of in the time period. Mike shows us an amazing example of an EARLY Model 1…you won’t even believe how low the serial number is on it! We swap over to talk about early top-breaks by Smith & Wesson. Mike brought an awesome .38 single action example, that’s actually the first ever .38 caliber Smith & Wesson ever created. Nicknamed the Baby Russian because of its resemblance to the larger Model 3 Russian, the medium-framed S&W .38’s biggest difference to its big brother is a spur trigger compared to the traditional trigger on the Model 3. The Smith & Wesson .38 came equipped with an automatic extractor, with many arguing that this firearm is some of Smith & Wesson’s finest manufacturing ever. After the top-breaks we get into hand-ejectors, which in layman’s terms is a regular revolver. Logan goes over an example of one in the Smith & Wesson Model 1896. This Model 1896 is unique because it doesn’t have a cylinder release button on the side, but instead has a pin you pull on the front of it. Mike goes into how the Model 1896 regressed in a sense, going from an automatic extractor to a hand-ejector. Logan and Allen talk about examples of the 1896 and other Smith & Wesson firearms that are listed on GunBroker and what you can expect to spend on examples of some of these. Closing out, Mike shows us an example of a 2nd Issue Model 1, “The Fancy Gun." Not sure exactly where this example came from it shipped from the factory either to the mayor of Springfield, Emerson White, as a gift or if it was sold to Emerson White and he gave it to someone else as a gift. Mike also gives us a rundown of joining Smith & Wesson’s Collector Association and how they try to welcome everyone no matter what sort of collecting you’re into! The show launches every Thursday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.