Whether that's true or not.can be argued elsewhere. Since the initial focus was on military and police sales, the new gun was dubbed the 'Smith & Wesson M&P,' just like the Model 10 was all them years ago. They cooked up a new striker-fired design, which was released in 2005. The pistols retained the name VE, but S&W stopped calling them 'Sigma' and just called them 'SD' instead. Barrel length was clipped to 4 inches, the DAO trigger became the only option, magazine capacity returned to 17/15 and the frame was given a sprucing up. Improved models, the VE series, came out in 1999 with ergonomic and other improvements.Īt the dawn of the 21st century, the Sigma line was given a refresh and new nomenclature. The 1994 Assault Weapon Ban precluded magazine capacity beyond 10 rounds, so civilian models had reduced-capacity magazines after it went into effect.

The reason, and this is actually kind of ingenious, was to market the guns to police departments that were switching to semi-autos (that was happening at the time) without having to re-train anyone on trigger operation. The product line went through some evolutions, including the addition of a Double Action Only trigger in the mid-1990s. The Glock vs Smith and Wesson suit was settled out of court in 1997, with S&W having to cut Glock a huge check and pay them royalties for every Sigma they sold afterward. Glock thought so too, and they sued Smith and Wesson like it was going out of style. It should, because it reads like they basically created a carbon copy of a Glock to cash in on the new trendy thing. 38 Special, which remains the case today. 38 Special models, however, were most popular with the civilian market, and eventually the Model 10 was only offered in. 38-200 found adoption in Canada and the UK in the Enfield Number 2 Mark IV, a variant of the Webley revolver. 38 caliber round (first released in 1877) also known as. 38 LC, but was changed soon after to S&W's new round of the day, the.

38 caliber bullet (the 1896 was chambered in. S&W created the Model 10 by sizing up their 1896 Hand Ejector for a. The version sold to the military was stamped 'M&P' and those sold to the public received the name 'Hand Ejector.' The genesis of the pistol was to basically replicate the Colt M1892, which likewise featured a swing-out cylinder, and that initial production run was chambered for the (then) US Army's standard handgun round, the. Initially it was called the Hand Ejector, as it featured a swing-out cylinder design. The Model 10 wasn't called the Model 10 until 1957, when S&W changed their nomenclature. The first Smith & Wesson M&P was in fact the Smith and Wesson Model 10, first released in 1899.

Smith and wesson model 10-5 holster