The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms (Hardcover)

~ Dean K. Boorman (Author) "Referring to his .44 Magnum in the movie "Dirty Harry," Clint Eastwood says, "This is the most powerful handgun in the world..." (more)
Key Phrases: hand ejector, blued finish, tin barrel, World War, United States, Chiefs Special (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms provides a fascinating illustrated history of one of the most legendary names in all gun lore.

Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson were New Englanders who challenged the domination of Samuel Colt's patented revolver. The Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver, using a rimfire cartridge, went into production in 1856 and was followed in 1862 by the Model 2, which was mass-produced during the Civil War.

In 1867, Smith & Wesson began a global sales campaign that brought the company new markets, particularly in Russia, and established the company, which has always specialized in revolvers, as one of the world's premier makers of firearms. The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms takes the story through the years of the Military and Police .38 (now known as the Model 10) and of the Magnum cartridge, to today's wide range of products for law-enforcement customers.

This important reference work displays every Smith & Wesson firearm produced in the past 150 years, all in beautiful full color. An excellent reference guide, it is a boon to collectors and firearms enthusiasts alike. (8 1/2 x 11 3/4, 144 pages, color photos)

Dean K. Boorman is president of the Armor and Arms Club of New York, the "oldest club of collectors in the Western Hemisphere," which is affiliated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His great uncle, Dr. Bashford Dean, was founder and first curator of that museum's Arms and Armor Hall, one of the finest collections in the world. Dean K. Boorman is a member of the prestigious American Society of Arms Collectors. He is also the author of the acclaimed The History of Winchester Firearms.

From the Back Cover

This fascinating book provides a detailed history of one of the most famous, and controversial, firearms manufacturers, and its products. Smith & Wesson was founded in 1852 by two men, Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson who shared a dream of developing a new type of firearm, one capable of being fired repeatedly without the annoyance of having to reload with loose powder, ball, and primer. Their ideas moved firearms manufacturing out of the muzzleloading era that had dominated the industry since the invention of the hand cannon in the 14th century. Since then, the company has produced countless pistols and revolvers that have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world, and which have also been used by sport shooters and criminals. In addition, these famous firearms have been featured in several sensational Hollywood movies, including Dirty Harry. Complete with more than 200 full-color photographs, this stunning book describes the range of Smith & Wesson firearms in detail, and features cutaway drawings to show the mechanisms, along with detailed technical evaluations. As well as being of interest to enthusiasts and historians, it will be an excellent reference work and an invaluable guide for collectors. It is part of a series of books on famous firearms by the same author, which includes The History of Colt Firearms and The History of Winchester Firearms.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: The Lyons Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585747211
• ISBN-13: 978-1585747214
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #509,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Far From Perfect, Far From Useless, July 24, 2005

By	John M Walker (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book has been pretty roundly panned by reviewers on this forum, and it's true, this book coulda been, shoulda been better, but it's not entirely without merit.

It seems that Dean K. Boorman is more of a historian writing about guns than a pure "gun-guy," and some of the errors in this book seem attributable to poor editing rather than poor research, but then on page 24, for example, he refers to a model being introduced in June, 1861, two months "before" the firing on Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War. Many readers will catch this rather egregious error right away (the event was in April, 1861).

On page 45 he refers to the .32 S&W Long cartridge as being a half-inch longer than the .32 S&W. Actually, the case is .32 longer, and the factory loaded cartridge is .35 longer. There just doesn't seem to be any good excuse for errors such as these (but ".99mm caliber" on page 73 is so idiotic that this just had to be inserted by someone other than the author, right?)

Also, he habitually refers to guns as ".32in caliber" for example. This is at least an odd way to express caliber, and maybe even a little annoying. Using .32 in or .32 caliber makes perfect sense and is in line with convention, but .32 in caliber is a tautology and diminishes the sense that the writer is truly expert.

But I do have some positive things to say about this work. First of all, the many pictures in this book are more than just "coffee-table-book" dress-up; they represent a really fruitful search, and their diversity and quality is admirable. There are interesting pictures in this book, especially those of historical nature, you won't likely see elsewhere.

Another good thing about the pictures included is that there are many photos of representative production guns. This sounds normal enough, but in my opinion some books by collectors go overboard on exceedingly rare and highly embellished pieces that are so far from the mainstream as to be of minimal interest to a reader who is not a millionaire specialist collector, which would include 99.99% of all readers, including me.

A reader who is a beginner on the subject, having read this book cover to cover, would come away with a good working knowledge of the subject -- there is some exceedingly elementary content here. He or she can then unlearn the mistakes and overcome the errata. But there are also tidbits here and there for the more advanced reader. Whether or not such tidbits are worth the price of admission is up to the individual purchaser. The answer is not a flat "no."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth full price, but OK if you can get at a discount, November 18, 2004

By	Lodge2 (Texas) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

There are some nice pictures in this book, and some interesting stories. If you can find it at a discount store, then it may be worth the purchase price.

The writing style leaves a lot to be desired. It's as if the author did not know anything about firearms, and was writing the book using interviews and publications. The inaccuracies are plentiful (almost every paragraph), and some of them are amusing (ever hear of a .99mm?). Entire chapters are nothing more than a description of what is in the S&W catalog.

Reminds me of a travel book I purchased in Prague about 15 years ago. Has great pictures, but it was translated into English by somebody who did not speak English. The words may be English, but you can't read it because it makes absolutely no sense.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Full of Errors- a coffee table book, March 2, 2003

By A Customer

this book, long awaited, is full of errors and mislabelings.. Contains very little useful collector infomrmation. A coffee table book for casual interest.
No addition whatever to knowledge of this field.
Best done without.