#Smith&Wesson

Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. is a publicly traded company listed on the USA’s second-largest stock exchange, the Nasdaq, under the ticker symbol SWBI. After they announced their split from American Outdoor Brands in 2020, and following the massive uptick in firearms sales over the last year or so, the company appears to be doing well. They employ more than 2000 people, and last reports put their revenue at $678.39MM. At the time of this writing, shares of SWBI are up a staggering amount from one year ago – over 160%! In addition to the storied Smith & Wesson firearms brand, the company owns a number of subsidiary entities. One of these, since Smith & Wesson’s purchase of them in 2007, has been Thompson/Center Arms.

Fans of the original Smith and Wesson M&P Shield are getting a bit of sad news today as Smith & Wesson has opted to discontinue the original Shield design effective immediately which includes existing orders. According to the discontinuation notice, this decision was reached in an effort to contend with the demand for the new M&P Shield Plus that was released just last month.

Smith & Wesson believes that their recent boost in gun sales can be attributed to first-time gun buyers according to an earnings release on Thursday, March 4th, 2021. In addition to the impressive sales increase, it also seems that Smith & Wesson has been able to keep up with the demand of the market by delivering over 1.8 million units in the first three quarters of their fiscal year.

The CAA MCK has been a popular handgun conversion kit that has seen pretty frequent updates and additions to its lineup over the years. This year CAA has announced new conversion kits that are now compatible with Smith & Wesson pistols.

The micro-compact striker-fired pistol market just received its latest contender! Joining the ranks of Glock, SIG Sauer, and Springfield, the new Smith & Wesson M&P Shield Plus is the latest double-stack 9mm micro-compact pistol to put its name in the ring. Although Smith & Wesson is a little bit late to the game, I was more than excited when they sent me out one for testing and review as I have been impatiently anticipating the release of this pistol since the introduction of the M&P Shield 9EZ back in 2019. So is the M&P Shield Plus going to sink or swim in the waters of the micro-compact 9mm carry pistol arena? Let’s find out.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves has the privilege of unveiling the S&W M&P Shield Plus to YouTube. The Shield Plus is a 9mm micro-compact double-stack handgun. It’s almost the same size as the original M&P Shield, which has an 8 round total capacity, but holds nearly double the capacity and, incredibly, *it weighs less than the original single stack Shield.* There are a few other changes to the frame, trigger, and mags. Check out today’s video for the whole scoop.

For this week on Wheelgun Wednesday, let’s jump down the rabbit hole of the .500 S&W Magnum cartridge. For most gun owners, it is the living personification of a meme. Simply, a huge flippin’ round that most people don’t know what to do with. For the longest time, the .44 Magnum was the greatest round in existence because of one of the most iconic lines ever delivered in cinema:

In this #GunFest2021 special episode, James is at Smith & Wesson headquarters in Springfield, MA to talk with Gemtech’s in-house guru, Anthony Proto, about the new Gemtech and Smith & Wesson collaboration: The Integra-15. This is an integrally suppressed M&P 15-22 upper for the S&W M&P-15-22 series of carbines fine tuned by Gemtech. Check out the video and stay tuned for more #GunFest2021 content.

After the crushing news that the NSSF ( National Shooting Sports Foundation) had cancelled SHOT Show 2021 ( Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show), Smith & Wesson decided to step up in a big way by donating $500,000 to their organization. While SHOT Show is obviously a huge event for the NSSF, they are still working year-round to support firearm efforts on behalf of gun owners. Smith & Wesson understands this as well and that is what motivated their end-of-the-year generosity. They elaborate on the donation in the press release statement below:

Revolvers can be deployed for a multitude of applications from self-defense, target shooting, hunting, and simply for the pure enjoyment of firing them. A smaller niche that some sportsmen/sportswomen might be shopping for is pest control. We are swiftly approaching the colder winter months where squirrels, mice, and even larger furry, nuisance-makers like beavers are getting to be really busy (and invasive). So, if you need to dispatch some intruders on your property, or ones that are attempting to burrow, gnaw, and/or ruin your house or shed… what do you want to look for? Let’s take a look at different attributes you should be eyeing if you are digging into your personal stash or contemplating a new purchase entirely.

Smith & Wesson have announced that they have provided their hometown police department, Springfield PD, with over 600 new duty pistols. Springfield PD will be receiving new M&P M2.0s to replace their current M&P40 pistols, it’s unclear if the department will be moving to 9x19mm or whether the M2.0s will be in .40S&W.

Today, Smith & Wesson Issued a pistol recall notice for their M&P Shield EZ Pistols manufactured between the dates of March 1st, 2020, and October 31st, 2020. Smith & Wesson has identified cracked hammers that fail to fully engage the sear which subsequently caused multiple successive discharges of the firearm without depressing the trigger. If you have an M&P Shield manufactured between these dates and want to know if your serial number is included in the recall you can enter your serial number in the form at the bottom of this linked page. Full recall details from Smith & Wesson have been posted below:

Each year we are gifted with further advancements in firearms technology. Sometimes these come in the way of improved materials and construction, and sometimes they come by mating two existing technologies together to create something new. While red dot optics on pistols isn’t exactly a new concept, a concealed carry weapon with a compact red dot optic has only more recently come to the fore of concealed carry methods. With the growing popularity of carrying optics, Smith & Wesson has updated its popular 2.0 series Compact pistols to the Compact Optics Ready pistol.

In this episode of TFBTV, James Reeves reviews the Smith & Wesson Model 327 and explains why he thinks it is the best carry revolver today. Yes, it’s expensive, but this high tech .357 Magnum wheelgun is so unique and well thought out that it’s well worth the cost of admission. Lightweight, with an S&W Performance Center tuned trigger and action, the ability to accept moonclips – OH YEAH – and it holds EIGHT ROUNDS of .357 Magnum or .38 Special +P.

The interest for mounting optics on handguns continues to increase, and as a result,  Smith & Wesson is expanding their line of M&P M2.0 Compact pistols to include optics-ready versions. Chambered in 9x19mm the two models feature a slide cut for optics and co-witnessed white-dot front and rear sights. There are also enlarged forward slide serrations.