

Soon, however, both men left Volcanic andreturned to Springfield, Massachusetts, Horace Smith's hometown. In 1855, Smith & Wesson sold theirinterest to the newly-organized Volcanic Repeating Arms Company.The firm's manufacturing facilities moved to New Haven, with Smithserving as plant manager for the new company, and Wesson working asplant superintendent. This gun used a unique type of ammunition thatconsisted of a hollow-base conical bullet containing propellant andbacked by a primer disc. Their Norwich, Connecticut factory produced theiron-frame lever-action Volcanic pistol, patented in 1854 (see case42 gun #1), which was a direct predecessor to the Henry andWinchester lever-action rifles that became famous during the CivilWar and post-war periods.The Volcanic was a lever-actionpistol that featured a front-loading tubular magazine located underthe barrel. The Model 39, which holds 8 rounds in the magazine, wasintroduced in 1957 as the first double-action semi-automatic pistolproduced in the United States.Massachusetts natives Horace Smithand Daniel Baird Wesson, famous for their revolver designs, arealso known for having developed the first practical American-madeself-contained metallic cartridge, the.22 rimfire short.īoth menwere experienced in the design and manufacture of firearms, and in1852, they formed a partnership for the purpose of manufacturingmagazine-type arms. The Model 59, introduced in 1971, is similar to theModel 39 but has a wide grip to hold a double-column magazine of 14rounds.
Smith and wesson model 59 serial numbers serial numbers#
Model 59 Smith And Wesson Serial Numbers.Smith And Wesson Model 59 Serial Numbers A6.
