Feature rifleman’s top 10 handguns

The editors—along
with Jim Supica and
Phil Schreier of the National
Firearms Museum—
count down the best, and
most significant, handguns
of the past century
and a half.
Did we make the right
choices? You decide.
BY AMERICAN RIFLEMAN Staff

American Rifleman’s

Top 10
Handguns www.americanrifleman.org
Handguns courtesy of the National Firearms
Museum. Photos by Hannele Lahti.
 HANDGUNS
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hat is a handgun? As defined by the U.S. Federal 10.“ Pistol shooting, whether with a vintage
Firearms Act, 15 U.S.C., Chapter 18: “Handgun. Woodsman in the backyard or Hammerli
(a) Any firearm which has a short stock and is free pistol in Olympic competition is about
designed to be held and fired by the use of a harnessing and channeling that power, HANDGUNS
single hand; and (b) any combination of parts about the discipline of both body and mind
from which a firearm described in paragraph (a) can be assem- in the attainment of perfection.
bled.” But a handgun is so much more than that. Handguns or There is an almost unhealthy fascination with “Top 10”
“hand-gonnes” have been a fabric of culture and society as long lists in our culture. In such rankings, something or someone
as “fire-arms” have been with us. Indeed, according to Pollard’s must win, someone or something must lose. “Top 10 Hand-
History Of Firearms, the first recorded use of “handgunnes” dates guns” is admittedly a pretty broad category, and there is no
to November 7, 1388. Another early appearance of the term in clear delineation between military and civilian arms—with
print dates to 1448 in Archaeologia XXII. 63. handguns they are one and the same with no line to even
In more modern terms, the allure and importance of the blur. Handgun technology through the past 600 or so years
handgun has increased. One of the best explanations for this spans from a tube in which rudimentary powder and a rock
comes from the late NRA Director Col. Jeff Cooper and his are stuffed down the front and ignited with a piece of smol-
insight from The Complete Book of Modern Handgunning. dering rope to the completely interchangeable, multi-caliber,
“The fascination of the pistol lies in the idea of controlling polymer-frame SIG P250 introduced last year. So we limited
power with one hand,” he wrote. “Aside from its value as a the voting to self-contained metallic-cartridge handguns,
fighting arm and a sporting instrument, the pis- meaning any cartridge gun after the Lefauch-
tol has other areas of utility. Fortunately, there “Top 10 Handguns” is eux Pinfire in 1835.
are still times and places in which a man may We looked for technological innovation
have need of a firearm and yet find a long gun admittedly a pretty (in my view the Modello 1889 System Bodeo
cumbersome or impractical.” And that sums up
the role of the handgun as well as may be done. broad category, and was a clear winner over the Colt Single
Action Army, but for reasons that escape me,
Cooper also wrote, “It is interesting to note
that the pistol went from a negligible, last-ditch
there is no clear cowboys and Hollywood never embraced the
Bodeo). Other critical areas included service
sort of gadget into its present form, almost
overnight, historically speaking.” The handgun
delineation between life, impact on contemporary and subsequent
designs, competition use, and military and
is a reliable, potent instrument of self-defense. military and civilian police use. How many were made and for
Although there are such anomalies as the how long? We placed high importance on
Heckler & Koch “Mk 23 Mod 0 Offensive Handgun arms—with hand- what step in the evolution of the handgun was
Weapons System,” the handgun remains primar- marked by a particular design.
ily defensive in nature. As Thunder Ranch’s Clint guns they are one and The panel was comprised of Brian C. Sheetz,
Smith says, “[H]andguns are truly at their best
when they are used to fight your way to a rifle.”
the same with no line senior executive editor; Glenn M. Gilbert,
shooting editor; Aaron Carter, managing editor;
The handgun’s chief advantage is that it is por-
table enough to always have with you. If you were
to even blur. Angus K. McClellan, assistant editor; Field
Editors Chad Adams, Wiley Clapp and Mike
going to a gunfight, unless you’re a Hollywood action hero, the Humphries; and National Firearms Museum Director Jim
last gun you’d take is a handgun. I hope never to be invited to a Supica, Senior Curator Phil Schreier and myself.
gunfight (it’s unlikely I’d attend, anyway), but belt-fed and 7.62 mm Each panelist listed his picks for the “Top 10” from one
would be elements in my choice of armament. No, it is the porta- to 10. A first-place vote received 10 points; a 10th place vote
bility of the handgun, the fact that it may be unobtrusively carried received one. With 10 panelists, the maximum score possible
on the person without undue burden—discreetly or openly—that was 100—the top gun received 92, an “A” in most school sys-
is the enduring appeal. Why do police officers carry handguns? tems. The 10 handguns receiving the most points were named
Because they can—all day every day. They are short, handy, to the list. In the event of a tie, the guns with the highest-
appropriately powerful, and easily and discreetly stored. placed votes received the lower ranking.
But handguns are not just about gunfights or personal Any such list is open to compliments or condemnation.
protection. They are arguably the most difficult of competition That’s kind of the point of such an exercise. Our votes are
arms to master. Try competing in NRA Bullseye or 2600, and listed on our website, and there is an online poll for members
you’ll know. World-class handgunners can turn in groups that to weigh in with their thoughts. There will also be a “Top 10”
even competent riflemen envy. Handy and compact, they have blog for staffers and members to post their thoughts. We will
been used effectively as hunting arms for centuries. Think publish the poll results along with comments and insights we
handguns are no good for dangerous game? You might want deem appropriate in a future issue. The whole point of such
to Google the word “Howdah.” Large, powerful revolvers in exercises is to provide entertainment, to encourage debate
major chamberings are just as appropriate for hunting as they and provide education. So were we right? You decide, and let
are for self-defense and plinking. The T/C Contender revolu- us know at www.americanrifleman.org.
tionized handgun hunting, but just missed being on our “Top —Mark A. Keefe, IV, Editor In Chief

American Rifleman
 rifleman’s top 10 handguns

No. 1 The M1911, M1911A1 Pistols And Variants

92 Points

H
ow can this happen? The firearm in question is only two
years from its official 100th birthday. On March 29th,
1911, Col. John T. Thompson of Army Ordnance signed a
letter to Colt’s president in which he announced the adoption
of the Colt .45 automatic pistol as the official service handgun
of the U.S. Army. A joint effort of Colt engineers and dedicated
Army officers, working with gun genius John M. Browning, the
pistol had won out in test trials against a distinguished field—
including a damnably persistent Savage entry—to become
the official U.S. military sidearm. This is all well-documented
history and easy to summarize. It is harder to explain why the
gun is still with us almost a century later. It is a complex of
both objective and subjective reasons that combine to guar-
antee a happy centennial birthday for the pistol of the century,
the M1911 Government Model. and teach to students. I used to regularly detail strip mine in
In fact and fancy, there is much to be said for the M1911 Vietnam to ensure that immersion in rivers and rice pad-
pistol. Objectively, I cannot name a handgun that delivers dies had not deposited an unpleasant surprise in the gun’s
more mud-and-sand reliability than the Government Model. innards. No tools required. It is accurate enough for personal
All of the internal parts are solid chunks of steel, and they last defense at 25 long steps, often beyond. With the attention
longer than the sheet metal pressings and wire parts used of a qualified armorer with premium parts, the pistol shoots
on today’s competing designs. It is an easy gun to maintain under an inch at 25 yds. It is a credit to the basic design that
it has been shortened, lengthened, widened and otherwise
fooled with, for a host of perceived needs both good and bad,
National Archives photo

but with no measurable deterioration of reliability. Since the

gun was intended for personal defense by service members
whose duties precluded carrying rifles or carbines, one must
look closely at what the Government Model has delivered in
the way of performance. Beyond a doubt, there is no other
service handgun made in the lifespan of the Colt .45 that can
equal—or even approach—that of the M1911 Government
Model when it comes to resolving conflicts, stopping fights,
and keeping Americans alive and fighting.
As Americans, we have come to love this marvelous fire-
arm. Surprisingly, much of that affection is fairly recent. Glanc-
ing at the Gun Digest for 1970, we see that there was only one
maker of the Government Model: Colt. Today, there are more
than I can count. The guns are available in an array of finishes
and features, but just about every current maker produces a
model similar to the basic gun first fired in anger before World
War I. Although part of this recent love affair turns on wide
availability, there would be no supply of the guns if there were
no demand for them. A good bit of the demand comes from
an objective appreciation of the inherent worth of the design,
and some of it may be pure nostalgia. More is based on the
development of a style of shooting, developed in the late 20th
century, which represents the highest and best use of this
superb firearm. It is the handgun of the century, made by doz-
ens of makers and in millions of numbers. The late Jeff Cooper
best nicknamed the gun when he called it “The Yankee Fist.” It
is the “Pistol, Caliber .45, Model 1911A1.”
—Wiley Clapp, Field Editor

62 www.americanrifleman.org
No. 2 Smith & Wesson Hand Ejector Revolvers
HANDGUNS
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53 Points
and .44s in 1907. A different designation
system called these four basic frame sizes
I, K, M and N, respectively. The I-frame HANDGUNS
morphed into the J-frame in the early 1950s
and the L-frame evolved out of the K-frame in the ’70s. Then
there is the massive X-frame. All are derived from designs of
the late 19th century. They all work the same way and handle
with the same simplicity and safety.
That’s a considerable tribute to the basic mechanism, which
might seem delicate but is remarkably durable. With rare
exceptions, these double-action/single-action revolvers come
with excellent trigger pulls in both modes. For precise shooting,
the crisp single-action pull can’t be beat, and the double-action
smoothness is legendary. Above all other virtues of the Hand
Ejectors comes the versatility of the system. It was the platform
for the police revolver of the century—the K-frame .38—and
National Archives photo the foundation for many magnum cartridges.
For police service, plinking, competition, hunting and per-

F
irst, we need to straighten out this “Hand Ejector” termi- sonal defense, where revolver is the question, Smith & Wes-
nology. It comes from when S&W also made hinged-frame son is the answer. Thus it has been for more than a century.
revolvers that ejected fired cases automatically when the —Wiley Clapp, Field Editor
gun was opened. To differentiate from that style, S&W called its
new models “Hand Ejectors” in that the fired cases had to be
ejected by hand from the opened, swing-out cylinder.
The system was developed in the early 1890s and was first
used on the .32 Hand Ejector series in 1896. Basically, any mod-
ern S&W revolver is a Hand Ejector. That takes in many millions
of wheelguns, but there are multiple virtues to the system. In
1899, there came the .38 Hand Ejectors, followed by .22s in 1902

No. 3 Glock 17 Pistol

41 Points

T
he Glock 17 earned its third-place ranking for innovation which a polymer lever projected through the face of the trig-
and manufacture numbers, among other things, rather than ger shoe and served as the gun’s only manual safety—three
service life or “coolness,” though some would boldly argue safeties are deactivated by the trigger pull. It was simple, yet
the latter. Regardless, the pistol has proven reliable, durable, effective, and for every shot the trigger pull was consistent.
accurate and easy to maintain. To date, more than 4 million Although the polymer-frame, delayed-blowback H&K VP
Glocks—the 17 and its variations—have been manufactured. 70Z predated the Model 17, Glock proved that polymer-frame
Named for Austrian mechanical engineer Gaston Glock’s handguns not only work, but they do so very well. It is a pistol
17th patent, the Model 17 was designed and built in less than that forever changed the handgun landscape.
six months, and a second version shortly thereafter, to vie for —Aaron Carter, Managing Editor
the Austrian military contract, which Glock G.m.b.H. hand-
ily earned. Foreign militaries and law enforcement agencies
alike soon flocked to Glock. Functionally, the 17 was a locked-
breech, striker-fired, semi-automatic pistol in 9 mm Luger. The
similarities to most prior designs, however, stopped there.
Glock—with a background in synthetic materials—
designed the 17 with an injection-molded polymer frame,
which not only reduced overall weight and manufacturing
costs, but also added corrosion-, weather- and impact-
resistance. And the polymer frame held a 17-round-capacity
double-stack magazine without an unduly thick grip.
Another noteworthy feature of the 17 was “Safe Action,” in

American Rifleman
 rifleman’s top 10 handguns

No. 4 Smith & Wesson Model One Revolver

33 Points
system, which required that loose powder, a lead bullet and a
primer all be loaded into a firearm to render it ready to fire.
Daniel B. Wesson and Horace Smith had taken one swing
at the conundrum with a lever-action repeating pistol, which
came to be known as the Volcanic (see No. 5), and it proved to
be far from satisfactory. They sold the design to a shirt manu-
facturer who saw some promise in the lever-action concept.
His name was Oliver Winchester.
Undaunted, Smith and Wesson found a winner
in their second partnership. They introduced the
first widely successful American repeating handgun
chambered for a self-contained metallic cartridge
in 1857, and named this first S&W revolver, logically
enough, the Model One.
It was chambered for a cartridge that is
essentially the blackpowder twin to

T
o the modern eye, the Smith & Wesson Model One looks like today’s .22 rimfire short, and it found
more of an ugly duckling curiosity than a “Top 10” handgun. immediate success. The era of the
It’s a diminutive single-action chambered for an anemic .22 modern handgun had begun. All
rimfire cartridge. The hinged barrel has to be tipped up, and the of today’s modern cartridge
bored-through cylinder removed, to load or unload the revolver. handguns can trace their
This little seven-shooter, however, is arguably the grand- lineage to the little
daddy of all modern handguns. After the development of Colt’s Model One.
repeating revolver in the late 1830s, the next technological —Jim Supica, Director,
challenge was the development of self-contained ammunition National Firearms
to replace the cumbersome and weather-sensitive percussion Museum

No. 5 Volcanic Volitional Repeater

31 Points

T
he story of the Volcanic is also the combined stories of
Smith & Wesson, the self-contained cartridge and the
Winchester Repeating Arms Co. Only the genius of John
Browning surpasses the influence of this gun in future firearm
development. Prior to 1848, almost all firearms were loaded
with loose or packaged powder, a ball and a separate primer.
Walter Hunt changed all that in August 1848 with his inven-
tion of a hollow-based, conical-shaped bullet that held the
propellant in the base cavity of the round. Hunt employed the
services of a noted New York gunsmith by the name of Lewis
Jennings to manufacture a rifle suitable to fire his self-con-
tained cartridge. Unable to successfully market the new gun,

www.americanrifleman.org
 HANDGUNS
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Hunt and Jennings sought a partnership with Cortland Palmer, 1854. Large- and small-frame pistols in
who invested heavily in the manufacture of the gun and who .31 and .41 calibers were manufactured,
also sought out the help and advice of Horace Smith to make yet problems persisted with the feed and
improvements to the gun and assist in marketing the rifle. extraction systems. Palmer, feeling that the HANDGUNS
More than 5,000 Jennings rifles were completed by 1851 endeavor was a bottomless money pit with
at the Robbins & Lawrence Co. in Windsor, Vt. At the Rob- no hope of success, bowed out of the partnership and was
bins & Lawrence factory, Smith made the acquaintance of replaced with a wealthy New Haven, Conn., haberdasher by
another noted gunmaker, Daniel B. Wesson who was also the name of Oliver Winchester. Smith and Wesson sold their
employed at Robbins & Lawrence. Wesson was working interest to Winchester, who reorganized the company first
on a project to make a pistol that fired the newly developed under the name Volcanic Arms and then as New Haven Arms
self-contained metallic Flobert cartridge. It was there, at Co. Later, with the help of shop foreman and inventor Benja-
Robbins & Lawrence, that Smith and Wesson figured that the min Tyler Henry, Winchester was able to develop and market
magazine repeating rifle of Jennings could be improved if it Henry’s progression of the Volcanic into the famed Henry
used a self-contained cartridge. In 1852 the two men formed Repeating Rifle. That eventually led to another reorganization
a partnership that today stands as one of the most successful of the company, which became known as The Winchester
icons of firearm manufacture and development in the history Repeating Arms Co. in 1866.
of the world. Smith & Wesson formed a second partnership in Novem-
In 1853 they took out a patent on an improved metal- ber 1856 and began producing revolvers on the Rollin White
lic cartridge that is today the single most produced round bored-through-cylinder patent (the S&W Model One, No. 4),
ever, the .22 rimfire. Adapting this round to a magazine-fed and the rest is, as they say, history.
pistol resulted in the introduction of the Volcanic pistol in —Phil Schreier, Senior Curator, National Firearms Museum

No. 6 Colt’s Single Action Army Revolver

31 Points

F
ew revolvers, if any, are as revered or recognizable as the standard-issue. The then-new self-
Colt Single Action Army, also known as the “Colt Peace- contained cartridge revolver, in its
maker” or Model of 1873, given its acceptance into the U.S. original Cavalry guise, came in .45 Colt, had a 7½"
military in that same year. Although Samuel Colt died in 1862, barrel, solid-frame construction and a blued, color-
his idea of a revolving-cylinder firearm culminated in what is casehardened finish and walnut grips. By the end of
known today as “The Gun that Won the West”—along with the the First Generation production (1873-1941), it had been available
Winchester 1873, of course. It became legendary in Buffalo Bill’s in at least 30 different chamberings, production exceeded more
Wild West Show in the early 20th century and has been immor- than 350,000, and they were available engraved or in custom
talized in countless Western movies and television shows. configurations. Add in the Second Generation, the Third Genera-
Colt’s Mfg. Co. built and delivered more than 37,000 SAAs for tion, then the replicas and clones, and we’re talking millions of
the U.S. military from 1873-91, the period during which it was Single Action Armys.
Servicemen of the day considered it rugged, sturdy and
dependable, and the SAA withstood months and years of
abuse on the Western Frontier and around the world. Cow-
boys, soldiers, hunters, frontiersmen, outlaws, sheriffs and
shopkeepers were attracted to its power and well-designed
simplicity. It bore witness to some of the most historically
significant events of the past 140 years. George A. Custer’s 7th
Cavalry carried them at Little Bighorn; Theodore Roosevelt’s
Rough Riders carried them at the Battle of San Juan Hill; T.E.
Lawrence carried one in Arabia; and Gen. George S. Patton
carried his famous ivory-gripped Sin-
gle Actions from 1916 until his death
in 1945. Colt continued manufacturing
versions of the gun periodically, and
today still offers a number of models
for sale, as do other manufacturers. It
truly is an American legend.
—Angus K. McClellan, Assistant Editor

American Rifleman
National Archives photo
 rifleman’s top 10 handguns

No. 7 Walther PP, PPK, PPK/S Pistols

31 Points

T
he PP, or Polizei Pistole or “police pistol” is not a single From 1929 to 1945, they were made
model, but really a series of blowback-operated semi- exclusively by Walther in Zehla Mehlis,
automatic pistols developed by Walther that includes Thuringia, Germany. After the war
the PP, PPK, PPK/S and PPK/E. Their common features include Walther set up shop in Ulm, Germany.
an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism, a By combining efforts with Manurhin just
single-column magazine and a fixed barrel that doubles as the across the border in Strasbourg, France,
guide rod for the recoil spring. Walther was able to resume production of
The PP was released in 1929 and the PPK in 1931. The the PP-series pistols. For years they were imported by Interarms
PP and the PPK were among the world’s first successful of Alexandria, Va., but like other Walther pistols, they are currently
double-action semi-automatic pis- distributed by Smith & Wesson. All production has been under
tols. Instead of having to manually license from Walther, including U.S. manufacture of the PPK/S.
cock the hammer on a PP, a single The PP was made in both 7.65 mm (.32 ACP) and 9 mm Kurz
long pull of the trigger cocked the (.380 ACP), and the smaller PPK was available only in 7.65 mm.
hammer then released it to fire. Before and during World War II they were sold commercially
The slide’s movement cocked the in Germany and produced for the German police and military,
hammer for single-action opera- including the Luftwaffe and Nazi Party officials.
tion for subsequent shots. There The PP is beautiful in appearance, innovative in design and
was also a safety on the slide that smooth in operation. It has inspired numerous copies, includ-
safely dropped the hammer when ing the Soviet Makarov, the Hungarian FEG PA-63 and the
depressed—a device better known Czech CZ50, but none of them hold a candle to the original.
today as a decocker. —Glenn M. Gilbert, Shooting Editor

No. 8 C96 Mauser “Broomhandle” Pistol

27 Points
traveled within its upper receiver and a thin, awkward grip
that gave it its “Broomhandle” nickname. These features
made the C96 unduly large and unbalanced.
Despite these limitations, the Broomhandle was popular
and remained in service for decades. There were a number of
reasons for its success. To start with, it was the first semi-
automatic pistol reliable and powerful enough for military
service. Second, because it was compatible with the pro-
duction methods and technology of the time, Mauser could
deliver them, so it was always available. Last, it was supplied
with a detachable buttstock that doubled as a holster. The
necessity for a proper grip and precise sight alignment make
handgun marksmanship a skill with a steep learning curve. The
Broomhandle’s long sight radius and detachable shoulder stock

D
esigned for Mauser by a trio of Swiss brothers, the meant that inexperienced troops were free to shoot it from the
Federles, the C96 was state-of-the-art at the time it shoulder. Although technically a handgun, the Broomhandle
appeared at the turn of the century. Mauser produced was arguably a compact semi-automatic carbine in disguise.
and sold more than a million C96 pistols between 1896 and This quality is lost on many today because purpose-built
1937. In addition, vast numbers of unlicensed copies contin- military carbines and submachine guns have been available for
ued to be made in Spain and China until the 1950s. It has a decades. In sum, the Mauser C96 (Construktion 96) was not the
number of unique features that set it apart from later semi- first, nor was it the best, but it was the first commercially and
automatic pistols, including a fixed, 10-round box magazine militarily successful semi-automatic pistol.
forward of the trigger guard fed by stripper clips, a bolt that —Glenn M. Gilbert, Shooting Editor

www.americanrifleman.org
No. 9 Browning Hi Power Pistol
HANDGUNS
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earning the trust of groups as diverse as
the German Wehrmacht, the armies of
Britain, Canada, Greece and Nationalist
China, and countless law enforcement
10
HANDGUNS

agencies and civilian shooters worldwide. It remains in pro-

duction today by Fabrique Nationale.
In the retrospective of the “wondernine wars” of the 1980s
and the following advent of polymer-frame pistols, many have
relegated the steel-frame and walnut-stocked Hi Power to
the category of quaint but outmoded designs. Although there
may be an element of truth in that sentiment, the Browning
Hi Power nonetheless possesses a quality of design, feel
and workmanship that compel some individuals to trust it as
the best nine a man can carry and to cherish it as one of the
world’s truly great handguns.

J
—Brian C. Sheetz, Senior Executive Editor
ohn M. Browning began development of the Hi Power, his
final pistol design, at the request of Fabrique Nationale,
which was motivated by the prospect of fulfilling a French
military request for a service sidearm. Variously known as the
GP, for Grande Puissance, which is French for high power, or
Grand Rendement, for “high yield,” the pistol is more commonly
referred to simply as the Hi Power or P-35—the latter referring
to the year that it was adopted by the Belgian military after the
French passed on it in favor of a similar, inferior design.
For its day, the Hi Power was indeed capacious, holding
13 rounds of 9 mm Luger in its staggered, double-column The Browning Hi Power, in addition
to being the primary sidearm of most
magazine. Yet the Hi Power still managed to present a grip
NATO countries, was used by both the
frame that allowed a comfortable grasp by all but the smallest Germans (below) and the Allies during
hands. It also possessed a natural pointability exhibited by World War II. This sectioned Hi Power
few handguns before or since that time. (above) was made by Inglis in Canada.
Although Browning’s first prototype was of blowback
design, the second was a simplification of his already well-
regarded locked-breech M1911 concept. But the Hi Power
eliminated the M1911’s swinging link in favor of a frame-
mounted cam bar and corresponding cut in the barrel’s
underside. It was typical Browning design: pioneering, simple
and foolproof. Operationally, though, the Hi Power was still
the familiar locked-breech, single-action semi-automatic that
could be carried with the hammer cocked and locked by the
manual, frame-mounted safety. John Browning died in his FN
office in 1926 before the gun was finalized, and it was FN’s
Dieudonné Saive (best known for the Fusil Automatique Leger)
who finished the design and shepherded it into production.
Changes to the gun’s original design have been relatively
few. The internal extractor gave way to an external type fairly
early on, and the safety eventually became more generous in
dimension and ambidextrous. Also, investment cast frames,
said to be stronger for the later .40 S&W versions of the pistol,
replaced the forged and machined frames used in earlier
guns. Variations, some rare, have included tangent-sighted
models that accept detachable shoulder stocks, experimental
aluminum-frame and large-caliber models and licensed cop-
ies with shortened slide/barrel assemblies.
But, overall, as with most true classics, the Hi Power sim-
ply soldiered on as Browning originally conceived it,
National Archives photo American Rifleman 67
 rifleman’s top 10 handguns
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No. 10 Smith & Wesson Registered Magnum Revolver 10
18 Points
HANDGUNS

on the revolver. Consumers could choose between stocks,

hammer, sights, trigger, finish and barrel length.
Smith & Wesson expected the Registered Magnum to be
more of a niche offering, which is reflected in its price and
craftsmanship. The topstrap and barrel rib exhibit checkering
that is proof of a master engraver’s touch. The wood-to-metal
fit is meticulous; the bluing is unmatched, deep and rich;
the timing boarders on perfection. These qualities, present
throughout the entire S&W line during this era, are rendered
to their fullest measure in the Registered Magnum.
The revolver was nothing short of exquisite, and the car-
tridge itself was truly revolutionary. With performance that well
exceeded the .38 Spl., the .357 S&W Magnum became the most
significant challenge in law enforcement to the decades-long
dominance of the medium-frame .38s until the advent of the
9 mm Glock 17. With higher velocities and more downrange

T
he post-World War I era, through Prohibition, the energy, the .357 Mag. revolutionized handgun hunting. A hit
Depression and other trials, saw the rise of a new class with lawmen, hunters and shooters, the .357 Mag. launched
of criminal in American society. Well-armed villains, the magnum age—one that has yet to dissipate.
such as Dillinger and Capone’s henchmen, used firepower and With demand drastically outpacing production capability,
V-8 Fords on their crime sprees. At the time, most federal and approximately 5,500 Registered Magnums were produced
local law enforcement agencies issued medium-frame .38 Spl. from 1935 to 1938; in 1939 production was standardized, and
revolvers. A quest for more firepower ensued, and by the early the process of registration was eliminated, forever setting a
1930s luminaries such as Elmer Keith and Philip Sharpe influ- finite production amount for this pivotal revolver.
enced Smith & Wesson leadership, and—with Winchester The Registered Magnum—and its .357 Mag. cartridge—
cooperating in ammunition development—went to work on a forever ushered in the magnum era. The big N-frame went
new platform. on to house even more powerful cartridges, including the .41
The result was what many firearm experts consider Mag. and the most famous big-bore handgun cartridge of all
the high-water mark for American revolver-making when time, the .44 Rem. Mag. In contemporary times, S&W has once
in 1935 S&W ushered in the magnum era with the remark- again reclaimed its perch atop the magnum mountain with
able Registered Magnum. Making its debut amid the Great the blistering .460 and the massive .500 S&W Mag. But the
Depression at $60, this was an immensely expensive gun. genesis of it all, the original spark in the proliferation of big-
But it was unique, as each purchaser was issued a cer- bore magnum chamberings, forever belongs to the Registered
tificate of registration that matched a number engraved Magnum and its .357 S&W Mag. cartridge.
—Chad Adams, Field Editor

Blame Elmer Keith, Phil

Sharpe and Smith &
Wesson for handgun
“magnumitis.” The first
“Magnum” revolver
was the Registered
Magnum introduced
in the then-new .357
S&W Mag. cartridge.
Each gun came with
a certificate, and the
registration number
was stamped on the
frame. Yes, we know it’s
a Hand Ejector.

American Rifleman