In the mid-1860s, the
Remington brothers, Philo, Samuel and Eliphalet III,
made a business decision to produce guns for both the
military and civilian markets. Remington percussion
pistols and revolvers were soon replaced in the
late-1860s by cartridge conversion pistols, as it was
only a matter of time until Rollin White's patent for a
bored-through cylinder expired in 1869. This meant that
there would be no impediment for Remington, and
numerous competitors, to legally produce conversion
revolvers or entirely new cartridge revolvers.
In the 1870s, E. Remington & Sons developed a
variety of pocket-sized and large-frame revolvers for
the commercial market. Then, just as now, men with the
foresight to design new weaponry were at a premium.
William S. Smoot was one such inventor who left his
position as an U.S. Army Ordnance officer to make his
mark in Ilion, eventually becoming superintendent of
Remington's manufacturing operation. Receiving full
support and seemingly unlimited resources from
Remington, Smoot developed a pocket-sized cartridge
revolver, and he was issued U.S. Patent #143,855 on
October 21, 1873, for what would soon become the
Remington No.1, New Model Revolver (Smoot's
Patent).
Smoot's 5-shot, spur-trigger, .30 caliber rimfire
cartridge revolver was eventually introduced by E.
Remington & Sons in January 1876. A distinguishing
feature of this revolver is that the barrel and frame
were forged out of one solid piece of steel. About
3,000 No.1 Smoot Revolvers were made over a ten-year
period, halted only by receivership in 1886.
In 1878, Remington introduced a nearly-identical,
spur-trigger revolver, chambered for .32 caliber
rimfire ammunition which would be called Remington's
No.2 New Model (Smoot's Patent) Revolver. It
differed in that it has a straight ejector rod (rather
than a stepped ejector rod, as on the No.1 Smoot), and
the rod is retained by a cross pin (rather than
screw-retained, as on the No.1 Smoot). About 3,000 No.2
Smoot Revolvers were manufactured by E. Remington &
Sons through 1886.
Concurrently with the introduction of the No.2 Smoot,
the factory brought out Remington's No.3 New Model
(Smoot's Patent) Revolver. This 5-shot,
spur-trigger handgun was chambered for the .38 caliber
centerfire cartridge, or the revolver could be ordered
for .38 caliber Short rimfire ammunition. The initial
revolvers were made with "Bird's-Head" style grips,
similar to those on the No.1 and No.2 Smoot
revolvers.
Late in production the grip was changed to a
Saw-Handle style. Finally Remington had a potent,
hard-hitting cartridge revolver that the public
wanted--and more than 28,000 of these handguns were
made over the next nine years.
In 1878, Remington brought out yet another
pocket-sized, spur-trigger handgun, which they dubbed
Remington's No.4 New Model Revolver. Not as
aesthetically pleasing as the No.1, No.2 or No.3 Smoot
Revolvers, this 5-shot handgun was chambered for either
.38 caliber rimfire or centerfire ammunition (not
interchangeable) or .41 caliber rimfire or centerfire
ammunition (also not interchangeable). This gun proved
nearly as popular as the No.3 Smoot, as more than
23,000 No.4 New Model Revolvers were made over a
nine-year period.
