Smith & Wesson

Smith & Wesson NASDAQ: SWHC (S&W) is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. more...

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Smith & Wesson is known for the many types of ammunition it has introduced over the years and for its revolver expertise.

History

Beginning

In 1852, partners Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson formed a company to produce a lever-action pistol nicknamed the Volcanic pistol. The company became known as the "Volcanic Repeating Arms Company"; financial difficulties caused it to come into the majority ownership of investor Oliver Winchester.

In 1856, the partners left the Volcanic Company to begin a new company and to manufacture a newly-designed revolver-and-cartridge combination. The timing of the founding of this new company proved quite opportune for the partners, since the onset of the American Civil War five years later produced a great demand for Smith & Wesson's products.

In 1964, the company passed from Wesson family control, and subsequently several conglomerates took control of it.

From 1987 to 2001 Tomkins PLC, a British company, owned Smith & Wesson.

Agreement of 2000

In March 2000, Smith & Wesson signed an agreement with the Clinton Administration in order to avoid lawsuits. The company agreed to numerous safety and design standards, as well as limits on the sale and distribution of their products. Gun clubs and gun rights groups responded to this agreement almost instantly by initiating large-scale boycotts of Smith & Wesson by refusing to buy their new products and flooding the firearms market with used S&W guns, cutting into their market share.

Acquisition by Saf-T-Hammer

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. Saf-T-Hammer also assumed US$30 million in debt, bringing the total purchase price to US$45 million. Saf-T-Hammer, a manufacturer of gun locks and other firearms 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org