What did S&W produce for WWII?

[Rembrandt]

Enlighten me.....we all know various firearm manufacturers produced M1 carbines, Garands, 1911's and other firearms for WWII, but what did Smith & Wesson produce? They would be one of the big firearm makers of the day, yet I rarely see S&W stamped on any of the common arms for war. Did ordnance keep them busy making revolvers for the military or something else?

 

[Duke of Doubt]

Tons and tons of S&W Victory Model .38 special revolvers, based on the Model 10 but rougher-finished.

 

[gripper]

Revolvers( Victory model comes t mind) , and an ill fated attempt at the Light Rifle concept in 9mm.It did not compete well against more reliable ,robust designs like the Brits Sten,nor was it as inexpensive to manufacture IIRC....

 

[bhk]

Large numbers of .38 Miliary and Police (4th Change) were sold to the Coast Guard, Marines, Army, and Air Force during WWII. Over 160,000 .45 auto Model 1917 were produced for the Army toward the end of WWI and many of these saw service in the second war.

 

[BCCL]

Did Smith & Wesson make any .45 autos back then?

 

[rcmodel]

No, actually Victory models were made for the U.S. services and were .38 Special.
There were 242,291 guns made.

The English guns were chambered in .38 S&W, or more properly to the British, .38/200.
There were 568,204 guns made.

But they were not Victory Models.
They were K-200 Models.

rc

 

[Jim Watson]

an ill fated attempt at the Light Rifle concept in 9mm.

I have seen it said that S&W delivered a lot of those M&P revolvers to England in lieu of the Light Rifles which were rejected by the British... after payment.

Picture at:
http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=261565

A collector here had a pair, Mk I and Mk II.

The big wide magazine housing not only covers the magazine from lips to base, it is also the ejection chute. Access to the chamber for cleaning or malfunction clearance is nil. A semiauto 9mm carbine at the dawn of the submachine gun era would have been a flop even if it had been better laid out. A nicely made gimmick gun by a company that did not understand the requirements.

 

[GRIZ22]

I attended the S&W Auto Pistol Armorer's Course in 1997. A factory tour was part of the program. I saw in a display case a S&W N frame prototype that was chambered in 30 carbine. The narrative by the revolver said it was never put into production because of the large muzzle flash.

 

[Tommygunn]

Yeah, I have no doubt there'd be a MUZZLE FLASH if .30 Carbine was fired iin a handgun. That's a rifle round, not a pistol round!

 

[natman]

I was at the range once when sombody touched off a 30 Carbine in IIRC a Ruger Blackhawk. The muzzle flash was spectacular and the blast was terrific.

 

[hso]

Did Smith & Wesson make any .45 autos back then?

No

S&W didn't make autos until loooooong after WWII and didn't make a "1911"-style handgun until very recently.

 

[TexasRifleman]

The Victory: