In 1856, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson
established a company to produce a small
revolver that could fire the Rimfire cartridge they
had patented two years before, they called the
company Smith & Wesson. The American Civil
War (1861-1865) was a genuine opportunity for
S&W, which filled their order book. In 1870,
Smith & Wesson developed the first large caliber
revolver, the Model 3 American. In 1899, the
company developed its Model 10, firing the .38
special cartridge, another caliber invented by
Smith & Wesson. S&W created many different
munitions, including the .22 Long Rifle, the .32
S&W, the .32 Gallery, the .32 Long, the .35
Automatic, the .38 Colt New Police, the .38
Special, the .357 Magnum, the .40 S&W, the .44
(American, Special and Russian), the .45
Schofield, the .460 Magnum and the .500
Magnum. In 2003, S&W developed its own
version of the mythical Model 1911, chambered
in .45 ACP, called the SW1911.