doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Snmith & Wesson (Other Fine Guns)

In 1852 Horace Smith & Daniel B Wesson formed a partnership for the purpose of building a pistol. This wat the "Volcanic", a lever-action magazine-fed repeater. Very shortly they adapted the BB cap to work in it, providing for extraction. By 1855 they had sold their interest to the New Haven Arms Co & devoted their attention to a revolver, armed with the exclusive rights to a Bored Through Cylinder via Rollin White's patent of 1855. By 1857 they had developed the .22 short rimfire & began production of the model 1, 1st issue, a tip-up 7 shot revolver. Very soon a model 2 was introduced in caliber .32 short rimfire, 6 shot. Neither were powerful enough for military use, but both models sold well to individual soldiers on "both sides" during the "War of Northern Aggression" for hide-out use. Following the war sales dropped off sharply, so by 1867 D B Wesson decided a side-line was needed to pay the bills until sales picked back up.

He set up a separate entity to protect the interests of the major Corporation & named it the Wesson Firearms Co. Their only production was a Double-barreled Hammer breech-loading shotgun. It was a high-quality gun & priced in the range of many of the top make British imports & simply could not meet the competition of these already well known makers so soon faded from the line with the company being closed.

Their next deviation from revolvers came in 1880. At this time another side company was formed with $50,000 in capital named the Wesson Sewing Machine Co. This company lasted for 21 Days & was sold to Farmer & Gardener Manufacturing Co for $52,200. Charles K Farmer was S&W's bookkeeper & Henry L Gardener was a local inventor. Both had been a part of the Wesson Sewing Machine Co.

Miller, interesting history. Thanks I think a little over 200 of the doubles were made. Some of the guns had Wesson's initials on them.

Letters in The Chicago Field in 1878 state that a barrel forger named John Blaze of Birmingham, England had immigrated to America to make Wesson's barrels. He was listed in the 1865 Worchester, Mass. City Directory as a �Gunsmith�, and 1878-1881 as a �Blacksmith�. Whether he left Wesson for Parker's employ after Dan Wesson shut down his shotgun production in December 1870 is uncertain. Other Wesson gunmakers did take jobs with Parker, including Charles A. King.

Wesson's have been identified with Laminated Steel



Laminated Damascus



and a messy 3 Iron crolle



carrying the (Horace) Smith & Wesson and Daniel B. Wesson initials

Thanks for the pictures Daryl & Drew. From these it is rather easy to see why the gun had to be priced so high.

My info on this came from an article written by Roy Jinks back in 2002. My understanding is that Roy was never an employee of S&W but was a big-time Collector of their handguns & had done a considerable amount of research into their background. He was held in Very High Esteem by S&W personal for his work.

Thanks for the pictures Daryl & Drew. From these it is rather easy to see why the gun had to be priced so high.

My info on this came from an article written by Roy Jinks back in 2002. My understanding is that Roy was never an employee of S&W but was a big-time Collector of their handguns & had done a considerable amount of research into their background. He was held in Very High Esteem by S&W personal for his work.

My oldest S&W is a model 1 2nd issue CA 1868. I did on one occasion fire a few rounds of CB Caps through it. It performed flawlessly but shot High.

Hi Daryl;
Jinks states the company filed its "Intent to Manufacture" on May 27, 1867. By the end of 1870, they had sold only 219 shotguns. April 15, 1871, the company was dissolved with D B Wesson buying all outstanding stock & patents. He does not say if any more guns were sold beyond the 219 or not. That matches very well with your take that a Few over 200 were sold.

Miller, I'm going from a decade's ago memory, but as I recall some of the very late guns were possibly put together after the company demise. I think, but can't prove at the moment , that some of these guns did not have the "Wesson" name. Not sure, now, if they carried serial numbers.

Russ Rupple had a brass framed Wesson that looked to be a mock up of the production guns. The interior parts of the doubles were quite small, almost pistol -like. The fit and finish of the doubles were very good, and the engraving might have been some of the best of the period.