Smith and Wesson is an iconic American Company whose history is fascinating, IMO. Owned by the Wesson family until 1964 it was taken over (hostile take over)by the conglomerate Bangor-Punta. Quality control eroded. Then they were purchased by Lear-Siegler. The problem then was they never really saw Glock coming. Steve Melvin who was at CEO at the time improved quality control significantly, but didn't know how to respond to Glock. The Third Gen of semi-auto pistols were created at this time with so many variations, there was actually a whiz wheel that was issued to dealers where you could look up all the variations. (these whiz wheels are worth some money today). Eventually they were sold to a British firm, Tompkins limited which made their money in the plumbing fixture business. The Sigma was an ill fated attempt to compete with Glock, so much so that they agreed to pay a royalty on every Sigma sold to Glock. They then formed a strategic alliance with Walther and marketed a version of the Model 99 which never caught on with American Law Enforcement. In 2001 Thompkins sold S&W at a loss to the Saf T Hammer corporation who invested in new designs and there very successful M&P line.
In 2000 S&W cut a deal with the Clinton administration where they cut a deal regarding the installation of safety devices and also putting some controls into their dealership network that were intrusive. This resulted in a massive boycott by the shooting public. There hope was to obtain government contracts and that never materialized. The new owners began winning back the American shooting public.
Considering that in the 1970's 80 percent of all firearms issued to LE worldwide (except for the Soviet Bloc and Chinese) were S&W, they really wanted to regain this market and appear to be succeeding with the M&P line.
S&W has made some of the best handguns ever developed and were responsible for the .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum and .44 Magnum and now the .500 S&W. The first American made DA auto, the M39 led the way in the adoption of the semi-auto by American LE.
The majority of guns in my collection are S&W and I am a S&W stockholder. I love the tradition and history associated with the company, but quality control has been an issue from time to time. The lifetime warranty program is good. Three of the last four new S&W handguns that I have purchased (starting in 2006) have been sent back to the factory for warranty service for the following reasons:
M22 "Thunder Ranch" .45 ACP Revolver: Pin holding the front sight worked its way out, had to be replaced.
M22 "Model of 1917" .45 ACP Revolver in the Classic series: I ordered it nickel plated, The plating was so bad that it came off in chunks. It was re-plated and I have had no further problems or issues with the finish.
Model 642 Stainless Airweight Centennial: Purchased brand new at FS Gun Shop in May of this year (wanted a hammerless J, have a 637), it had a huge gouge under the crown of the barrel left there in the manufacturing process. In my haste to purchase the gun, I didn't look it over minutely at the store. My bad there. Barrel was replaced.
In each case, the guns were returned (I usually just drive down to Springfield and drop them off at the guard shack). to the factory and sent back to me within two weeks with all corrections made. If anything S&W always manages to redeem itself.
I currently have a S&W firearm on order at a local gun shop. It will be interesting to see if it has any issues or not.
![[grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif "Grin [grin]")
