The Smith & Wesson Model 3: The Other Frontier Sixgun

I admit that I'm constantly surprised by the Gun Tales community. Not too long ago Jim mentioned he was working on an article about Smith & Wesson break-tops, and asked if he could use my Cimarron No. 3 for the photos. But since my cylinder is currently on vacation at the custom shop, I wasn't able to help him. Fortunately, I decided to make the request on our Facebook page and asked for photos of anyone's Smith & Wesson break-top. Almost immediately, subscriber Steve Tracy answered the call and offered up the beautiful photos that accompany this article. Steve, we thank you for your quick response and are thrilled to feature such an important piece of history. —Matt Covert

by Jim Wilson

My guess is that when most of us imagine the old-time gun toters of the frontier we unconsciously assume that they were packing Colt single actions. And, while that might have been true for a slim majority, the Smith & Wesson Model 3 single action was always running a close second to the venerable Colt. The guns had a reputation for accuracy and a lot of shooters liked the fact that, being a break-top, you could pop it open and throw out all of your empties at once...made it a little faster to reload...which was a good thing.   

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