Gun Types

GUNS DICTIONARY : PAGE S1
THE DIRECTORY: S–SYRETT

Last update: May 2018
s Associated with small arms ammunition components made in Germany after

1940 by →Dynamit AG of St. Lambrecht.
S beneath a crown, above a number. Applied by an Australian government arms
inspector working in the Sydney depot in New South Wales. See also “British
military inspectors’ marks”.
S Found stamped into the heel of British Lee-Enfield ‘Short’ rifle butts, which
were 2in shorter than the standard pattern.
S Stamped under the butt of British →Lee Enfield rifles, near the socket, made
for India Service with a spring washer on the stock retaining bolt.
S and a number. Found on components of many British military firearms made
during the Second World War, indicating a company operating in the ‘South’
(of Britain). The numbers identified individual companies.Typical examples
associated with small-arms include ‘S 3’, →Adams Bros. & Burnley; ‘S 7’,
→Auto Engineering (Croydon) Ltd; ‘S 30’, →Dashwood Engineering Ltd; ‘S
51’, →Holland & Holland Ltd; ‘S 54’, →Hydran Products Ltd; ‘S 63’, →Kork-
n-Seal Ltd; ‘S 64’, the →Lamson Engineering Co. Ltd; ‘S 66’, →Lee Beilin
Ltd; ‘S 67’, the →Lightfoot Refrigeration Co. Ltd; ‘S 68’, →Lines Bros. Ltd; ‘S
77’, the →Metal Box Company; ‘S 88’, the →National Cash Register Co. Ltd;
‘S 102’, the →Rolls Razor Co. Ltd; ‘S 103’, →Scoffin & Wilmot; ‘S 109’, the
→Sterling Engineering Co.; ‘S 114’, →Trevor Stampings Ltd; ‘S 121’, →Vickers-
Armstrongs Ltd, Bath; ‘S 123’, Howard →Wall Ltd; ‘S 125’, A. →Wells & Co.;
‘S 135’, →Air Ducts Ltd; ‘S 136’, the →Aircraft & General Engineering Co.; ‘S
144’, H. →Atkin; ‘S 156’, J. →Boss & Co.; ‘S 159’, →Bratt Colbran Ltd; ‘S 171’,
→Cogswell & Harrison; ‘S 173’, the →Cooden Engineering Co.; ‘S 202’, Stephen
→Grant & Lang Ltd; ‘S 223’, →E.S.S. (Signs) Ltd; ‘S 254’, the →Portadyne
Radio Co.; ‘S 292’, →Waygood Otis Ltd; ‘S 304’, F. →Liebtruth & Co.; ‘S 309’,
→Shannon Ltd; ‘S 311’, the →Art Metal Construction Co. Ltd; ‘S 355’, →Sharpe
& Wright; ‘S 365’, →Unity Heating Ltd; and ‘S 388’, James →Purdey & Sons.
S and two arrowheads. A sale mark used on surplus or obsolete British military
equipment.
S encircled, often in outline black-letter form. Associated with the products of the
→Sterling Engineering Co. Ltd of Dagenham, England.
S encircled. Found on miniature revolvers made in the U.S.A. by R.F. Sedgley,
Inc., in 1910B38.
S squared, often in a box border. Found on No. 4 →Lee-Enfield rifles made in the
former Stevens Arms Company (by then ‘Stevens Savage’) factory in Chicopee
Falls, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
S within a lozenge, generally taking a squared italic form. Associated with firearms,
airguns and gas-powered guns made in the U.S.A. by Sheridan Products, Inc.
PAGE S2 : GUNS DICTIONARY

SA or S.A. usually within a square or oval border. Found on a variety of military
stores: Suomen armija, ‘Finnish army’, used as a property mark. See also ‘Sk.
Y.’
SA superimposition-type monogram, sometimes encircled, with neither letter
prominent. On →Smith & Wesson-type swinging-cylinder revolvers made in
Eibar, Spain, by →Suinaga y Aramperri.
SA or S.A. These marks will be found on U.S. military stores—including many .45
M1911A1 →Government Model pistols—refurbished by the National Armory,
→Springfield, Massachusetts.
SAA: see ‘Single Action Army Revolver’.
SAB: see ‘Società Armi Bresciane SRL’. The designation is also applied specifically
to the SAB G90 Super Auto pistol, a modified form of the Czech CZ 75
chambering 9mm Parabellum or 9×21 IMI ammunition. Most guns are
intended for Practical Pistol competitions and have adjustable sights.
Sabatti Fabbrica Italiana Armi Sabatti SpA (‘FIAS’); Gardone Val Trompia,
Brescia, Italy. FIAS has made ‘Carabina →Rover’ sporting rifles on the basis of
a modified →Mauser action. Shotguns and combination guns have also been
offered.
Sabatti & Tanfoglio; Gardone Val Trompia, Brescia, Italy. In addition to rifles
and shotguns, this gunmaking business has offered 6.35mm calibre automatic
pistols under the brand name →Sata.
Sabot F. Sabot; 67 rue César Betholon, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a
gun barrel maker.
Sabot J. Sabot; 14 rue des Francs Maçons, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951
as a gunmaker.
SACM: see ‘Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques’.
Saco Systems, Inc. Saco, Maine, U.S.A. The failure of the heavy-barrel →Garand
derivations, the M15 and M14A2, was counterbalanced by the standardisation
of the M60 light machine gun in 1956. This had a gas system originating in
the →Lewis Gun, by way of Ruger’s T10 and T23, and a belt feed mechanism
provided by the MG.42/T24.
¶ Service showed that the M60 had severe faults of its own, including a bipod
fitted onto the barrel rather than the gas tube and a poor zeroing. The M60E1
made some of the obvious changes, by replacing the bipod on the gas tube and
moving the carrying handle, but the guns are still regarded as inferior to the
MAG and the Russian PK.
¶ Recently, Saco has produced a much lightened gun with a fore pistol grip in
an attempt to improve the M60 in a light support role. The M60C is a stripped
down M60 with an electric trigger and a hydraulic charger, widely used as a
fixed gun on helicopters, while the spade gripped M60D is widely used on
pintle mounts in helicopter or gunship doorways.
Sadler Arthur Sadler & Goold; Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. This
patent agency was a partnership of Arthur Sadler and Lewis William Goold,
with chambers at 44 Waterloo Street. It acted for John William →Fearn and

Douglas Vaughan →Johnstone. See British Patents 229,851 and 231,270 of
1924.
Saez Cosmé Garcia Saez of Madrid patented a rifle in the mid 1860s (U.S. no.
45,801 of 3rd January 1865), an ineffectual breech-loader tested extensively
by the Spanish army, converted from 1859 pattern short rifles (Carabina de
Cazadores M. 1857–59). The most distinctive feature was the disc-like breech
block, which rotated inside a two-piece housing. Pressing a latch to the right
released the clamp, allowing a small button projecting from the top of the
breech housing to retract the disc until the chamber-mouth was exposed.
Safari Made by Société Anonyme Continentale pour la Fabrication des Armes
à Feu →Lebeau Courally only in .470 Nitro Express, this Big Game rifle has
double back action side locks, double triggers, and a specially strengthened
frame. High relief matted ground Renaissance tracery is cut into the action,
barrels, rib and pistol grip cap, with finely detailed trophy heads in panels. An
Express-type sight lies on the quarter rib.
Safari This brand name was given to a British →Mauser type sporting rifle
introduced c. 1965 by →Parker Hale Ltd on the basis of a →Santa Barbara
action. Several versions have been made including a box magazine type
(1000C). Chamberings ranged from .243 Winchester to .30–06. An improved
‘Model 1100’ appeared in 1968, with a safety catch on the right side of the
receiver and the bolt handle swept downward.
Safari A series of →Mauser pattern sporting rifles made in the U.S.A. by →Rahn
Gun Works, with the choice of an elephant, a rhinoceros or a Cape Buffalo
head on the magazine floor plate. Chamberings ranged from .308 Norma
Magnum to 9.3×64.
Safari or ‘BDL Safari’. A ‘big-game’ version of the →Remington M700 bolt-action
rifle, introduced in 1962. Guns of this type have been offered in chamberings
ranging from 8mm Remington Magnum to .458 Winchester Magnum; they
have heavy barrels and stocks reinforced with two recoil bolts. Most guns
made since 1981 have straight comb butts instead of the earlier →Monte
Carlo type. A variant with a synthetic →Kevlar stock (‘M700 Safari KS’) was
introduced in 1989.
Safari or ‘Safari Grade’. A term applied by the →Browning Arms Company to the
plainest of the three grades of Mauser action sporting rifles made in the U.S.A.
See also →Medallion and →Olympian grades.
Safari Grade A bolt-action rifle announced by the →Dakota Arms Company in
1989. Built on a modified →Mauser /Winchester Model 70 action, chambered
for cartridges ranging from .300 Winchester Magnum to .458 Winchester
Magnum, it had a gloss-finish walnut stock. However, the original Monte
Carlo comb was replaced by a straight version within a year of introduction.
Safari Magnum This was a version of the →Parker Hale →Safari rifle, made only
in .375 H&H Magnum with an additional recoil bolt through the stock beneath
the chamber.
Safari Mark I Otherwise known as the ‘Model 86/70 Safari Mk 1’, this was a lever

action →Daisy BB gun, derived from the No. 102 →Cub, with a concealed lever
in the wrist and pistol grip. It was introduced in 1970.
Safety A brand name associated with Anciens Établissements →Pieper of
Herstal, near Liége. It is usually found on a shotgun introduced c. 1909.
Safety Automatic A brand name associated with a revolver made in the U.S.A.
by Iver Johnson’s Arms & Cycle Works from 1892 onward. It was replaced by
the ‘Automatic Safety’ or ‘Hammer-the-Hammer’ design (q.v.), though the
differences were minimal.
Safety Hammer This mark will be found on revolvers made in the U.S.A. by
→Harrington & Richardson of Worcester, Massachusetts, with a spurless ‘no
snag’ hammer. It was applied specifically to the →American and →Young
America patterns, but see also →Police Bicycle Model and →Police Premier.
Safety Hammerless Developed largely through the efforts of Joseph H.
→Wesson, these revolvers had their hammers within the frames, a spring
loaded safety plate in the back strap, and an inertia firing pin. The first .38
calibre guns were made in 1886. About 260,000 had been made (in five
versions) when the last batches were shipped in 1940, but it is unlikely
that much production had been done since 1920. Also known as the ‘New
Departure’ or ‘Lemon Squeezer’, the .32 Safety Hammerless was introduced in
1888. By the time the last guns were sold in 1937, 243,000 had been made in
the three major subvarieties.
Safety Hammerless Model This was a concealed hammer version of the Iver
→Johnson .32 or .38 →Safety Model revolver, dating from 1894.
Safety Model Subsequently known as the ‘Safety Hammer Model’. Introduced c.
1893, this double action .32 or .38 revolver was the first of the Iver →Johnson
products to embody what (after 1904) became known as the →Hammer the
Hammer system.
Safety Police Made in Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.A., by the →Hopkins & Allen
Arms Co. (in c. 1907–14), these revolver were chambered for .22, .32 and .38
rim- and centrefire ammunition. They were based on the →Automatic Model,
but introduced the →Triple Action Safety Lock patented in 1906 by John
→Murphy.
Safford P.T. Safford—sometimes listed as ‘R.T. Safford’ or identified individually
(the marks can be difficult to read)—working on behalf of the U.S.
government, inspected firearms and equipment marked ‘PTS’; the items date
from the Civil War and the early 1870s. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
SAFN: see ‘FN-Saive rifle’.
Saft Max Saft; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930–9 as a master
gunsmith.
Sage George W. Sage; Plymouth, Michigan, U.S.A. The designer of the
→Improved Challenger BB gun for the →Markham Air Rifle Company. See
U.S. Patent 477,385 of 21st June 1892, sought in 1891.
Sage Thomas C. Sage; Middletown, Connecticut. The marks of this cartridge-
maker, founded in 1862 and subsequently known as the ‘Sage Ammunition

Works’, will often be found on rimfire ammunition dating from the American
Civil War. They include ‘TCS’ and ‘SAW’.
SAGEM: see ‘Société d’Applications Générales, Électriques et Mecaniques’.
Saginaw Steering Gear A Division of →General Motors, maker of M1 Carbines,
machine-guns and components during the Second World War. See also
‘Winchester’.
SAI superimposition-type monogram without dominant letters. Correctly read as
‘SIA’ (q.v.); used by →Security Industries of America, Inc.
Saiga: See ‘Sayga’.
Saint Aubyn Gaston de Saint Aubyn. Listed as a member of the London gun
trade in 1894, this gunsmith—or more probably gunmakers’ agent—could be
found at 7 St Martin’s Lane, EC.
Saint Chamond; Compagnie des Forges et Acieries de la Marine; Saint Chamond,
France. See →Daudetau.
Saint-Étienne, or “Manufacture d’Armes de Saint-Étienne” (‘MAS’). One of the
principal French government arsenals, founded in 1669, this made arms
and equipment ranging from the machine-gun described below to 11mm
→Chassepot, 11mm →Gras, 8mm →Lebel, 8mm →Berthier and 7.5mm MAS
rifles. Among the handguns made in Saint-Étienne have been Mle. 1874, Mle
1874 and Mle 1892 revolvers; a series of experimental blowback pistols made in
the period between the wars (the 7.65mm MAS 1925 M No. 1 and 1932 A No. 4,
for example); and the Modèle 1935S service pistol of 1940, based on the SACM-
Petter Mle 35. A few MAC-50 pistols were assembled in the factory in 1963.
Among the semi-automatic rifles have been the 7.5mm MAS 49, 7.62mm MAS
62 and the 5.56mm →FAMAS. See also ‘Châtellerault’, ‘Tulle’.
Saint-Étienne machine-gun Introduced to the French army as the ‘Mle. 1907’,
this was an improved form of the French →Puteaux design, with a reversed
action. Though issued in substantial quantities, it was not entirely successful.
St. George’s Usually accompanied by ‘W’, ‘G’ and a knight-and-dragon mark, this
slogan identifies the guns made prior to the First World War by W. →Grah of
Liége.
St Louis Arms Company A brand name found on shotguns handled by the H. &
D. →Folsom Arms Co., possibly imported from Europe. Some guns have been
reported bearing Belgian proof marks.
Saint Nicholas gun See ‘Fusil Saint-Nicolas’.
Saive Dieudonné J. Saive (1888–1970). Designer of the →Fabrique Nationale
→FAL rifles.
Sakaba: see ‘SKB Firearms Company’.
Sako The Civil Guard of newly-independent Finland created its first workshop
in 1919, in the old Bastmann brewery in Helsinki, to repair and refurbish
ex-Russian smallarms. The name Suojeluskuntain Ase- ja Konepaya Osakeyhtio
(SAKO), ‘arms and engineering workshop of the civil guard’, was adopted
when a move to Riihimaki occurred in December 1927. However, the date of
foundation was accepted as 1st April 1921. The facilities in Helsinki and later

Riihimäki initially made m/24, m/28 and m/28-30 →Mosin-Nagant rifles
for the Protective Corps (Suojeluskuntain Ylieskunnen, ‘Sk.Y.’) until a a Sako-
developed m/39 rifle was adopted for universal service. About 71,000 m/39
rifles had been made when the Continuation War between Finland and the
U.S.SR ended in 1944. Sako was bizarrely sold to the Finnish Red Cross, and
the military arms-making facilities were speedily demolished.
¶ Sako engineer Niilo Talvenheimo began developing the L42 sporting rifle
when the Winter War with the U.S.SR ended in 1941, but the sale of Sako
brought work to an end. However, the success of the improved post-war
L46 sporter—particularly in the U.S.A.—subsequently allowed the firearms
business to be rebuilt. The perfected bolt-action rifles, customarily credited
to Eino Mäckinen, have been made on three much-modified actions: the short
Vixen (L461, introduced in 1961), medium Forester (L579, 1959, reintroduced
in 1962) and long Finnbear (L61, 1961). There are two variants of the L461, a
solid-floor single-shot pattern and a magazine-feed type; there are also two
L579 actions, the ‘Super Match’ version being pierced only by the ejection port;
and the L61 has been made in right- and left-hand versions. Chamberings
have ranged from .17 Remington to 6mm PPC (L461), from .22–250 to .308
Winchester (L579), and from .25–06 Remington to .375 H&H Magnum (L61).
¶ The names applied to the rifles have usually reflected their design instead of
the difference in action lengths. The Carbine, Deluxe, Hunter, Super Deluxe
and Target variants have been offered in all three guises: L461, L579 and
L61. The ‘Handy’ (L579, L61) is a short rifle with a half-length fore-end; the
‘Laminated’ variant (L461, L579, L61) has a multi-layer warp-resistant stock;
the ‘Super Match’ (L579) is a sophisticated target rifle; the ‘Varmint’ rifle
(L461) is essentially a Hunter with a heavy barrel. The ‘Fiberclass’ is an L61
action in a charcoal-grey synthetic stock, and the ‘Handy Fiber’ is a similar gun
with a short barrel and a half-length stock. The ‘Safari’ (L61 only) is a big-
game rifle with a straight-comb butt, transverse recoil bolts through the stock,
and an →Express-type back sight.
¶ The L61 replaced the high-power Sako rifles that had been made in 1950–61
on the basis of refurbished 1898-type →Mauser or new FN-Mauser actions
chambered for the .270 Winchester or .30–06 cartridges, and had →Monte
Carlo pattern half stocks. A Magnum version accepted .300 or .375 H&H
Magnum ammunition.
¶ Sako actions have been supplied to gunmaking business such as the
Browning Arms Company, Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co., Harrington &
Richardson and others. Consequently, Sako-type guns may be listed under
a variety of distributors’ names. The latest designs include the .22 rimfire
Finnfire series (1994), based on a bolt with a 50-degree throw, and the TRG
sporting-rifle series (1995) with a three-lug 60-degree bolt. The TRG is made
in sport and magnum forms, in chamberings from .243 Winchester to .30–06,
and also as the TRG-21 (7.62×51) or TRG-41 (.338 Lapua Magnum) sniper rifles.
¶ The M72 and M78 Finnscout series of .22 rimfire rifles (1973–84), which

included ‘HB’, ‘Magnum’, ‘Hornet’ and ‘Biathlon’ variants, replaced guns built
on the P46 and P54 actions. A solitary lever-action rifle design, the VL-63
Finnwolf, was made in small numbers in .243 Winchester and .308 Winchester
options from c. 1964 until replaced by the VL-73 (1973–5), with its magazine
flush with the stock.
¶ Sako made a few →Kalashnikov-type m/60 (1960–1) and m/62 (1963–6)
assault rifles for the Finnish army, but the →Valmet variant was preferred.
Sako then made parts for Valmet, until the two businesses became ‘Sako-
Valmet Oy’ on 1st January 1987. Work on assault rifles finally ceased in
1997, and it is assumed that the Finns will now simply buy-in weapons when
necessary.
¶ Sako has also made target pistols. The ‘22/32’ (1971–80) and the ‘Triace’
(1982–7) were distinguished by the ease with which they could be altered to
chamber .22 Short rimfire, .22 Long Rifle rimfire or .32 S&W wadcutter rimfire
ammunition. Conversion simply entailed changing the receiver/breech-block
unit and the magazine.
¶ Comparatively little has been written about Sako, the best source of
information being the company’s commemorative booklet, Sako 1921–1971,
which is written in Finnish with an English summary. A few details will
also be gleaned from John Walter, ‘David and Goliath: Sako and the Winter
War’ in Shooter’s Bible no. 74, 1983; John Walter, Rifles of the World (Krause
Publications, third edition, 2006) contains a concise-but-useful listing of
individual rifle models.
Salamon, 21 chemins des Acacias, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a
gunmaker.
Salter & Varge Ltd supplied →Winchester rifles and shotguns to the British
authorities, 1941B2.
Salvator-Dormus This was early Austro-Hungarian pistol, designed in 1892
by Archduke →Karl Salvator and Georg, Ritter von Dormus. A blowback
chambering a special 8mm cartridge, it had a cocking lever beneath the
barrel and an exposed hammer; the magazine, containing within the butt,
accepted a five-round clip that fell out of the gun after the last round had been
chambered. A few prototype Salvator-Dormus pistols were made c. 1894–5,
perhaps by Škoda, but found no lasting success.
Salvaje A 6.35mm Browning type automatic made in Spain by →Ojanguren y
Vidosa of Eibar; seven rounds, hammer fired.
Salaberrin Santiago Salaberrin; Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain. The →Etna, →Protector
and →Tisan pistols are usually attributed to this gunmaking business,
though the ‘Protector’ is also sometimes identified as a product of →Echave y
Arzimendi.
Salaverria Iraola Salaverria y Compañía; Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain. Maker of the
→Destructor pistol.
Salza: Domenico Salza, Italy. See ‘Garand’.
Salle system Incorporated in a few Belgian-made shotguns, this relied on a

dropping-block mechanism (undoubtedly inspired by the →Martini) which
was actuated by a spur-like cocking lever protruding from the top of the action
body. Pressing the spur forward dropped the blocks and often also ejected
spent cases; pulling it backward raised the block and cocked the strikers.
Saloon Gun, alternatively known in English as a ‘Parlour Gun’, or as
Zimmerstutzen in German, this was invariably a low-power firearm chambered
for →Flobert or primer-propelled ammunition. Quiet and surprisingly
accurate, cartridges of this type were ideally suited to ultra-short range target
shooting and were extremely popular in Europe prior to the First World War.
Lack of power enabled the guns to be built simply, often with breech-blocks
locked by nothing other than the fall of the hammer, but manufacturing
quality could be surprisingly good. See also ‘Gallery Gun’.
Samozhenkov. The designer of the original 7.2kg tripod mount for the Soviet
→Kalashnikov PKS machine-gun. It was replaced in 1969 by the lightweight
→Stepanov pattern.
San Cristobal arms factory, Dominican Republic. Created with Italian and
Hungarian assistance, this gunmaking plant made the distinctive .30 M1
‘Cristobal Carbine’ and 7.62×51 Model 62 assault rifles in small numbers. Its
current status is uncertain.
Sanders A. Sanders; Maidstone, Kent. A gunmaker, successor to John
→Swinfen, whose marks have been found on sporting guns and pin-, rim- and
centrefire ammunition sold in the period prior to the First World War. Among
the shotgun cartridges were ‘The →Allington’, ‘The →Invicta’, ‘The →Long
Tom’ and ‘The →Medway’.
Sanders Small Arms Ltd; London? Makers of auto loading shotguns in
accordance with patents granted to →Chevallier & Sanders. One gun—
‘Coronation Model No. 1’—was made for exhibition at the Coronation of King
George VI in 1937, but the Second World War put an end to development. An
‘SSA’ monogram trademark was used.
Sanderson. F.W. Sanderson, a government arms inspector working from the
American Civil War on into the early 1880s, accepted gun-stocks and other
military stores marked ‘FWS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Sandringham [‘The…’]. A mark applied by →Gallyon & Sons to shotgun
cartridges.
Sanner: ‘Ch. Sanner’. See ‘Charles →Marion’.
Santa Barbara, “Empresa Nacional de Industrias Militares ‘Santa Barbara’ SA”;
La Coruña, Spain. The state-owned small arms factory makes a variety of
firearms, including the →CETME series and other militarily-orinetated
products. It also makes the Santa Barbara →Mauser actions, with a radial
safety on the receiver behind the bolt handle. These have been supplied
to →Fajen, →Golden State, →Parker Hale and many other gunmaking
businesses.
Santa Fé Arms Company; Pasadena, California, U.S.A. Importer in the mid 1960s
of 1903-type →Springfield receivers made in Japan. These investment castings

lacked charger guides and did not offer the durability of the machined-steel
originals.
Santos Casimir Santos; Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain. This gunmaking business was
responsible for the pocket pistols bearing the brand names →El Cid and
→Venzedor.
Santos Modesto Santos; Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain. The compact automatic pistols
made under the names →Action and ‘MS’ have been identified with this
manufacturer. By way of ‘Les Ouvriers Reunis’, Santos made →Ruby-pattern
semi-automatic pistols for the French army during the First World War.
Sanvinet; 31 rue César Bertholon, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a
gunmaker.
SAR, S.A.R. A designation has been applied to a short-barelled, but otherwise
standard Israeli →Galil automatic rifle. It represents ‘Short Automatic Rifle’.
SAR Found on a few 5.6mm-calibre Japanese break barrel spring-air rifles, the
manufacturers of which remain untraced. The mark may simply have been a
misreading of →SKB.
Sarda et Gonon or ‘Sarda Gonon’; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933 as a
gunmaker.
Sarson & Roberts; New York City. Gunmakers operating in 1861–3.
Sata. A compact 6.35mm automatic pistol was made by →Sabatti & Tanfoglio.
Saturn. Associated with →Mauser type sporting rifles sold by Albrecht →Kind c.
1959–68. It was identical with the →Merkur, but usually had a single trigger.
Sauer Hans Sauer. Co-owner of J.P. Sauer & Sohn (q.v.), prior to 1945, and
probably also the recipient (of ‘Nürnberg, Germany’) of British Patent
17,150/14 of 1914 to protect ‘safety projectiles’: rubber balls with a wooden
insert to retain the flights.
Sauer J.P. Sauer & Sohn; Suhl, Thüringen. Claiming origins in 1751, Sauer &
Sohn were amongst the first gunmakers to favour the →Mauser action,
making sporting rifles from c. 1901 until the beginning of the First World
War. The rifles often had slim fore ends held to the barrel by a transverse key,
horn trigger guards, and ‘flats’ in the woodwork beneath the receiver. The
Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch for 1900 lists the proprietor as Franz Sauer, but he
had been joined by 1914 by his sons Hans & Rolf. Hans and Rolf Sauer were
still running the company in 1939. In addition to the Suhl factory, a smithy
(Schmeidewerk) was to be found in nearby Steinsfeld, and an office was being
maintained in Meiningen in 1941. Trading ceased at the end of the Second
World War, but a new business of the same name began trading in 1948 in
Eckenförde/Holstein.
Sauer J.P. Sauer & Son GmbH & Companie, founded in 1948 in Eckenförde/
Holstein, Germany, is a post war successor to J.P. →Sauer & Sohn of Suhl.
Now a division of SIG, it is best-known for the →SIG-Sauer pistols but also
once made revolvers. Dating from the 1970s, these included SR3 target,
TR6 personal-defence and VR4 sporting patterns, all with Smith & Wesson-
style swing-out cylinders, and a sturdy Peacemaker-style gun known as the

‘Western Six Shooter’.
Sauer Rolf Sauer; co-owner of J.P. Sauer & Sohn (q.v.), prior to 1945.
Sauer pistols included the →Bär and the →Roth-Sauer, but, by 1910, Sauer had
decided to make guns of its own. Inspired by the →Roth-Sauer pistol, the
‘Old’ or 1913-pattern Sauer was designed by Heinz →Zehner and patented
in 1912. Chambered for the 6.35mm or 7.65mm Browning cartridges, it had
a distinctive tubular-top frame and a separate reciprocating breech-block.
The return spring was concentric with the barrel, and a striker-type firing
mechanism was used. Minor variants differed in safety arrangements and
dismantling systems: the first guns, for example, had a separate magazine
safety system.
¶ At least 85,000 Sauers had been made by 1918, and production of
1913-pattern pistols continued until the 7.65mm →Behörden-Modell appeared
in 1930. Unfortunately for Sauer, the improvements were not enough to allow
the archaic-looking Behörden-Modell to compete with the Walther Polizei-
Pistole; in 1939, therefore, a new enclosed-hammer design appeared.
¶ Chambered for the 7.65mm Browning or 9mm Short cartridges, the Modell
38-H (‘H’, Hahn, ‘hammer’) offered a sophisticated double-action trigger and
a de-cocking system. It was made in large numbers during the Second World
War, proving popular with military and paramilitary authorities alike. Sauer
also made compact 6.35mm vest-pocket pistols, Westentaschenpistolsn, in the
1920s. The Model 1925 and Model 1928 were essentially similar, though the
slide of the earlier gun was less streamlined and had additional three-quarter
depth retraction grooves at the muzzle.
Sauerbrey Aug. Sauerbrey of Suhl in Thüringen, Germany, was listed in the
Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch as a gunsmith, 1930–9.
Sauerbrey Erich Sauerbrey; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939
as a gun stock maker.
Sauerbrey Valentin Sauerbrey; Switzerland. See ‘Vetterli’.
Saunders George E. Saunders. This Federal government arms inspector, working
in the early 1860s during the Civil War, accepted cap-lock revolvers marked
‘GES’.
Saunders G.G. Saunders, operating in the period immediately before the Civil
War, this government arms inspector accepted →Colt Dragoon revolvers
marked ‘GGS’.
Saunders H. Saunders, a U.S. government arms inspector operating in the
mid 1870s, accepted guns and equipment marked ‘HS’. Care is necessary to
distinguish his work from that of Horace →Scott, Harrison →Shaler, Harris
→Smith, Howard →Stockton and H. →Syrett; though the periods differ,
overlaps are to be expected. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks” for all
three entries.
Saunier; 3 rue Jules Vallès, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a gunmaker.
Sauvageon; rue de Lyon 47, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1892 as a gunmaker.
Savage The A.J. Savage Munitions Company of San Diego, California, contracted

to make 100,000 .45 M1911 →Colt-Browning pistols for the U.S. government
during the First World War. No complete guns are known to have been
made, though slides were made in some numbers; these bore a large ‘S’
within a ‘flaming bomb’ centrally on the left side directly behind the patent
acknowledgements. The remainder of the contract was cancelled immediately
after the Armistice of November 1918.
Savage Arthur William Savage. The first patent obtained by this gun designer
was granted in July 1887 to protect a tube-magazine variant of the →Peabody
Martini, but hinged block actions were unsuited to magazine feed. By 1889,
however, Savage had developed an improved lever action mechanism and, in
February 1893, received a patent protecting a magazine with each cartridge in
a separate cradle.
Savage Edward N. Savage. Co patentee with Henry →North of a ‘revolving
firearm’ protected by U.S. Patents 22,566 of 18th January 1859 and 28,331
of 15th May 1860. Both were assigned to the →Savage Revolving Fire Arms
Company. Savage also patented a shoulder stock for the revolver, protected by
U.S. Patent 32,003 of April 1861.
Savage Arms Company; Utica, New York State, U.S.A. The Savage Repeating
Arms Company was organised in Utica in 1893 to exploit the ideas of Arthur
W. →Savage. The Savage Arms Company followed in 1899, and incorporation
(forming the Savage Arms Corporation) occurred in 1917. The company is best
known for its automatic pistols and the thousands of Lewis machine guns
made during the First World War, but was also given an order for 300,000
.45 M1911 →Colt-Browning pistols in 1917. No guns are known to have been
made, as the contract was cancelled immediately after the 1918 Armistice.
Savage made Lee Enfield (q.v.) No. 4 Mk I* rifles during the Second World War,
the first being test fired in July 1941. By 22nd June 1944, when work ceased,
at least one million guns had been assembled in the former →Stevens Arms
& Tool factory. Alternative quantities as high as 1.24 million have been made,
the discrepancies apparently arising from the inclusion of many thousand
guns supplied to China under Lend Lease arrangements. By then trading from
Westfield in Massachusetts, the company was distributing the products of J.G.
→Anschütz in the U.S.A. in the 1970s.
Savage rifle, bolt-action. Renowned for the Model 99 lever-action rifle, the Savage
Arms Company—in a variety of guises!—has also made large numbers of bolt-
action rifles, including 1,236,000 No. 4 Mk I and I* (Lee-Enfield, q.v.) rifles for
the British and Canadian governments during the Second World War.
Though a selection of .22 rimfire patterns had been made prior to the First
World War, Savage, like Remington, began work on centrefire bolt-action
rifles only after hostilities has ceased. The Model 40 (1928–40) hard on the
heels of an unsuccessful adaptation of a classic 1898-type Mauser action. The
M40 relied on two lugs on a sleeve around the bolt to lock the breech, but was
strong enough to chamber cartridges ranging from .250 Savage to .30–06. The
Model 45 was a deluxe version, but the Savages were unable to compete with

the Winchester M54 and M70.
¶ The Model 340 (1957–85) originated in 1947 as the ultra-plain Stevens 320
series, Savage having purchased the J. →Stevens Arms Company in 1920. The
Savage-brand guns, chambered for cartridges ranging from .22 Hornet to
.30–30 Winchester, were locked by a single lug on the bolt head and another
on the back of the bolt body.
¶ The most interesting of the post-war designs is undoubtedly the Model
110, made in accordance with patents granted in the 1950s to Nicholas
Brewer. This gun has never been regarded in the same way as the legendary
U.S. designs, the →Remington Model 700 and the →Winchester Model 70;
however, as these are both essentially slightly modified Mausers, the Savage
is much more interesting mechanically than either. The barrel is retained by
a collar, the tip of the sear/bolt-stop doubles as an indicator, protruding from
the right side of the stock alongside the receiver bridge when the trigger is
cocked, and a sliding safety lies on the tang behind the bolt. The most obvious
feature, however, is the unusually short cocking-piece shroud.
¶ Introduced commercially in 1958, the M110 has been made in a stupefying
variety, partly due to the changing fortunes of its manufacturer. The initial
chamberings were .243, .270 and .308 Winchester, plus .30–06. Medium
and long actions were made in right- and left-hand versions, at a time when
left-handers were often ignored; a ‘Magnum’ action appeared c. 1963; and
detachable box magazines were offered for the first time in 1966.
¶ A renaissance has led to the Model 111 Classic Hunter (introduced in 1994),
the Model 112 (1994), the Model 114 (1996, though retrospectively applied to
an existing ‘Classic Ultra’ pattern), the Model 116 (1992) and the Model 118
(1999), though all of these embody the same action. Though guns are often
sold under names such as ‘Weather Warrior’, Savage habitually designates
them alphanumerically, ranging, in the case of the basic rifle, from the Model
100B—originally with a select →Monte Carlo stock—to the 110XP3 shooting-
outfit guns (introduced in 1991) with 3–9× optical sights and Kwik Site
mounts.
¶ Savage rifles were made in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, until a move
to Westfield occurred in 1959. The original Savage Arms Company was
superseded by Savage Arms, Inc., and continues to trade under this particular
name. A list of pre-1998 variants will be found in John Walter, Rifles of the
World (Krause Publications, third edition, 2006); surprisingly, there is as yet
no authorititative history of Savage.
Savage rifle, lever-action. Made by →Marlin, the original 1895-pattern military
musket chambered .30–40 Krag cartridges and had an eight round magazine;
the carbine was similar, excepting for its short barrel and half stock. These
guns were also made in sporting guise.
¶ The perfected 1899-pattern rifle, made until 1908 in Utica by the Savage
Arms Company, was offered in .303 Savage and .30B30 Winchester. There
was also a half-stocked carbine and a sporting rifle, made until 1917, which

could be chambered for cartridges ranging from . 22 High Velocity to .38–55
Winchester. Magazine capacity was reduced to five rounds (a sixth round
could be carried in the breech if required), and changes were made in the
action.a cocking indicator was set into the top surface of the bolt, and a firing
pin retractor.
¶ Barrels were round, half octagon or fully octagonal. Simple and sturdy,
the basic Savage action could handle most of the cartridges available prior to
1917, though, as the Savage breech block compressed fractionally on firing,
ultra-high power rounds were unsuitable. The standard chambering was .303
Savage, always been known in Britain and the British Empire as ‘.301 Savage’
to avoid confusion with the standard service cartridge.
¶ The 1899-pattern rifle laid the basis for the sporting guns that lasted until
the 1980s. These included the Model 99A (1920–42), with a straight-wrist butt
and a schnabel tip fore end; the ‘take-down’ Model 99B (1920–36); the carbine-
length Model 99E (1920–36); the ‘featherweight’ Model 99F (1920–42); the
Model 99G (1920–42), with chequered woodwork; the Model 99H (1931–42),
a military-style solid-frame carbine wth a straight-wrist butt; and the Model
99K (1931–42), a deluxe variant with an engraved receiver.
¶ The Model 99EG of 1936 was an improved solid-frame gun designed to
replace all its predecessors. Other guns in this group included the Model 99R,
with chequering on the pistol grip butt and round tip fore end; the Model
99RS, identical to the 99R excepting for an additional Lyman peep sight on
the upper tang; and the Model 99T, a lightweight solid-frame gun. Work on all
three ceased in 1942 to allow Savage to concentrate on war-work.
¶ Production of the Models 99EG (1946–60), 99R (1946–60) and 99RS (with
a Redfield tang sight, 1946–57) began again after the Second World War, after
a few minor changes had been made. Work moved from Chicopee Falls to
Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1959, and the millionth Model 99 was presented
to the National Rifle Association in March 1960. Post-war patterns include the
Model 99F (‘Featherweight’, 1955–73), with a solid frame; the 99DL (1960–73),
basically an ‘F’ with a →Monte Carlo butt; the short-barrelled carbine-
style Model 99E (1960–85) with skip-line chequering on the woodwork; the
Model 99C (1965 to date), with a detachable box magazine holding three .284
Winchester or four .243 and .308 Winchester rounds.
¶ The Model 99CD (1965–81) was a deluxe form of the 99C, but the high-
qualty Models 99DE ‘Citation Grade’ and 99PE ‘Presentation Grade’,
introduced in 1968, sold so badly that they had been abandoned within two
years. A special ‘Model 1895 commemorative’ was made in 1970 to mark the
rifle’s 75th anniversary, but was little more than a perfected Model 99.
¶ The modernised Model 99A of 1971, abandoned in 1982, had a sliding safety
catch on the tang and could be obtained in chamberings ranging from .243
Winchester, to .300 Savage. The short-lived Model 99–358 (1977–81), with
a straight-comb butt and a ventilated recoil pad, was made only for the .358
Winchester round. This left only the Model 99C to celebrate the design’s

centenary.
Savage rifle, slide-action. The centrefire 1903-pattern rifle lasted until 1921. It
was a ‘take-down’ design with a round-back receiver, a pistol-grip butt and a
ribbed slide handle. Barrels could measure as much as 30in, and a decorative
‘Gold Medal Model’ could be obtained. The 1909-pattern rifle, made until 1915,
had an angular receiver and a plain cylindrical slide handle lacked decoration.
The 1914 pattern, a ‘take down’ design, was a rimfire derivative of the basic
action designed to chamber Short, Long and Long Rifle .22 rimfire round
interchangeably, but was made only in comparatively small numbers until
1924. It had a tube magazine beneath the barrel, a round-backed receiver, a
ribbed slide handle, and an octagonal barrel. The Model 25 of 1925–9 and the
Model 29 (1929–57 with a gap for the war years) were similar, but had minor
changes in the action. Pre-war guns had octagonal barrels; post-war examples
were usually round and a safety catch was added in the rear web of the trigger
guard. The last slide-action Savage was the Model 170, made in Westfield in
1970–81 in .30–30 Winchester or .35 Remington. Locked by rotating lugs on
the bolt into the receiver walls, it had a three-round tube magazine beneath
the barrel and a →Monte Carlo butt with an impressed chequer-panel on
the pistol grip. The safety catch lay on the upper tang behind the receiver. A
short-barrel .30–30 carbine version, with a straight comb butt, appeared in
1974.
Savage-Stevens. Made 1,196,700 →Lee-Enfield .303 No. 4 Mk 1* rifles for the
British government during the Second World War, together with about 40,000
suipplied to China under Lend-Lease.
Savage Revolving Fire Arms Company; Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A. The
assignee of the ‘revolving firearm’ patents granted to Henry →Savage and
Edward →North in 1859B60, this gunmaking business succeeded →Savage &
North in 1861. The trigger guard of the improved .36 calibre ‘navy’ or ‘heart
guard’ revolver extended back to the base of the butt. The first sales of the
new .36 calibre ‘navy’ gun were made to the Federal government in August
1861, and 11,284 had been acquired by the end of the American Civil War. A
few guns were made for shoulder stocks patented by Charles Alsop in May
1860 (US no. 28433) or Edward Savage in April 1861 (no. 32003). Operations
ceased in 1867.
Savage & North; Middletown, Connecticut, U.S.A. This business made the
distinctive .36 calibre ‘8 Guard’ revolvers patented by Henry →North in June
1856. The U.S. Navy ordered three hundred in July 1858 and the army took
five hundred, but neither order was completed until 1860. Total production of
all the ‘8 Guard’ Savages scarcely exceeded two thousand when work finished
in 1861.
Savin Ivan Vasilyevitch Savin was born in 1892 in Zaytzevo, a village in the
→Tula district. His father had worked for many years in the Tula cartridge
factory; and so, after completing his elementary schooling, Savin began work
as an apprentice in the Tula machine manufactory, moving to Moscow district

when he had completed his training. Returning to Tula in 1914, he joined the
workforce of the local small-arms factory. Moving back to Moscow in 1932 on
the instructions of the People’s Commissariat of Military and Naval Affairs,
Savin and A.K. →Norov began working on an way of adapting the →ShKAS
aircraft gun for synchronisation or wing-mounting in the I-15 and I-16 fighters
respectively. Work also began on the high-speed Savin-Norov or ‘SN’ aircraft
gun. This project was moved to the Kovrov machine-gun factory in 1936,
where linmited production was undertaken. Savin returned to Moscow in
1941 to work on large-calibre cannon, retired at the end of the Second World
War, and died in 1956.
Savin-Norov, also known as the ‘SN’, this was an aircraft machine-gun designed
by →Savin and →Norov. See preceding entry.
Savoye. P. Savoye; rue d’Annonay 28, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1879 as a
distributor of and agent for arms and ammunition.
‘SAW’, ‘S.A.W.’, ‘S…A…W’ A series of →headstamps found on rimfire
ammunition made by the Sage Ammunition Works of Middletown,
Connecticut. See ‘T.C. →Sage’.
Sayga A semi-automatic shotgun, Samozaryadnyi gladkostvolnyi karabin Sayga,
based on the →Kalashnikov assault rifle, was introduced by →Izhmash A/O
in 1994 in .410 and 20-Bore. The Sayga-20 was not particularly successful,
and was replaced in 1996 by a more effective 12-Bore ‘Sayga-12’ variant. The
standard guns have conventional wooden butts and fore-ends, though pistol-
grips can be fitted instead of the butt when appropriate. The ‘K’- and ‘S’-suffix
versions have assault-rifle type pistol grips and folding butts, and short and
long barrels respectively.
Saxonia A brand name found on shotgun cartridges made by →Munitionswerke
Schönebeck prior to 1914.
SB, S B, S. & B. Marks associated with the products of →Sellier & Bellot of
Prague, often found on Austro-Hungarian (pre-1918) and Czechoslovakian
(post-1918) ammunition.
S.C. Found on the barrels of British →Lee Enfield rifles with a ‘Small Cone’,
an abbreviated lead from the chamber to the rifling suited to Mk VII ball
ammunition.
S.C.A.T.S.: possibly used as a headstamp on shotgun ammunition. See ‘Southern
Counties Agricultural Trading Society’.
S.C.C., or S.C.Co. Marks used in the headstamps of ammunition made by the
→Strong Cartridge Co. of New Haven. Dates to resolve.
S.C.C. Found in the headstamps of cartridges made by the Standard Cartridge
Company of Pasadena, California.
Schäfer Th. Schäfer; Erfurt, Regierungstrasse 13, Germany. Listed in 1941 as a
retailer of sporting guns and ammunition.
Schaller H. Schaller; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunsmith known to have
been trading in 1920.
Schamal Franz Schamal; Prague, Bohemia. An air pistol made by this gunsmith

was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. Gardner dates his
activities as 1847–51, but trading continued into the 1870s possibly under the
supervision of a son of the same name.
Scharf & Son, St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Little is known about this business,
which may only have been a retailer of spring air gallery guns. One surviving
example is known to have been made in St. Louis by →Basler & Denk.
Scharfenberg Heinrich Scharfenberg; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany.
Listed in 1939 as a master gunsmith.
Schaum Hans Schaum; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. See ‘Franken &
Lünenschloss’.
Schedetal Zieh- und Stanzwerk Schedetal AG of Hannover Munden, Germany,
was founded in the 1880s and has since made ball-shot and diabolo pattern
airgun pellets. It was acquired by →Haendler & Natermann in 1927, and
finally ceased trading as a separate entity on 12th March 1974. The distinctive
‘Z & S’ mark has been retained by the present owners for use on export lines.
Scheintod guns Among the most popular non lethal ‘disabling guns’ have been
Scheintod or ‘simulated death’ patterns, often originating in Germany—Adolf
→Niemeyer of Suhl was among the most prominent participants—at the end
of the nineteenth century, accompanying the rise of bicycling. Cyclists in
urban and rural areas alike soon realised that they needed some protection
against dogs and wolves. One result was the small calibre →Puppy and →Velo
Dog revolvers, but the use of firearms of this type was increasingly restricted.
¶ Scheintod guns were one of the alternatives, firing blanks, flares, tear gas,
pepper or even sand. Calibre was customarily 12mm prior to the First World
War, though 10mm versions were also made; post 1918 guns may chamber
cartridges as small as 6mm. At their crudest, Scheintod pistols consisted of a
barrel which either screwed into the breech face or was attached by a bayonet
joint. More sophisticated designs could have sliding barrels locked by radial
levers, but almost all had simple single action lockwork and sheath triggers.
¶ Flare pistols marked Entlarvt (‘flash’) are generally comparable. The earliest
examples, usually made prior to the First World War, had steel barrels and
gutta percha grips; post war guns often had zinc barrels and bakelite grips.
Aditional details will be found in Lewis Winant, Firearms Curiosa (Ray Riling,
1961), and John Walter, Secret Firearms (Arms & Armour Press, 1995).
Schemann, U.S.A.: see ‘Wirsing & Schemann’.
Schenk C. (or possibly G.) Schenk; Berne, Switzerland. Maker of a crank wound
volute spring gallery pistol, probably about 1875B80.
Schenkl John Schenkl of Boston, Massachusetts, patented a needle rifle in June
1857 and offered it commercially prior to the Civil War without success. It had
a half-octagon barrel and a case-hardened receiver. The trigger guard could be
turned to the right to move the barrel away from the standing breech, tip it
forward, and expose the chamber.
Scheufler Bernhard Scheufler; Berlin, Germany. This man was granted a German
patent on 10th August 1881, protecting a push in barrel airgun very similar to

the contemporary →Quackenbush.
Scheiler Oskar Schieler & Sohn; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunmaking
business trading in the 1920s.
Schiesse mit Luft A brand name—‘shooting with air’—registered by →Mayer &
Grammelspacher of Rastatt/Baden in 1904.
Schilling A. Schilling; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930 as a
master gunsmith.
Schilling Bernhard Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Hügel 1, in 1940. Listed as a
gunmaker (Büchsenmacher) in the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch and other
German trade directories in 1930B45.
Schilling Charles Schilling; St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Son of Frederick
→Schilling, working until the late 1870s.
Schilling Ed. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen. Listed in the 1920 edition of the
Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch as a gunsmith, 1920.
Schilling Ernst Friedr. Schilling, Suhler Waffen- u. Fahhrad-schmiede; Suhl in
Thüringen, Schneid 11. Listed in 1914 as a gunmaker, and again in 1939B41
as a maker of sporting guns and accessories under the proprietorship of
Friedrich Paul Schilling.
Schilling F. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Trading in 1939 as a specialist
gun part maker.
Schilling Frederick Schilling; St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. Schilling may originally
have come from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a gunamith of the same
name was active in the 1850s. He joined →Blickensdorfer in 1865, becoming
a partner in the business in 1869. Gallery guns were being made by 1870, but
by 1873 Schilling was operating alone. The 1875 city directory lists Charles F.
→Schilling at 12 Third Street in St. Louis, and Frederick Schilling apparently
in Columbus, Ohio. (NB: Robert E. Gardner, in Small Arms Makers confusing
listed the proprietor of Blickensdorfer & Schilling as ‘J. Schilling’.)
Schilling Friedr. Paul Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen. The owner of ‘Ernst Friedr.
Schilling’ (above) from c. 1930 until the end of the Second World War.
Schilling G. Schilling; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939 as a
master gunsmith.
Schilling Gottlieb Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1920B39 as a
gunsmith.
Schilling H. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A specialist gun barrel maker
trading in Suhl in 1930.
Schilling Hugo Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930 and 1939 as
a gunsmith.
Schilling Paul Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen. Proprietor of Schilling & Kramer
(below) prior to 1945.
Schilling Rob. L. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A ‘weapons maker’
operating in 1939.
Schilling Str. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed as a specialist barrel
blank maker in the Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch for 1939.

Schilling Val. Chris. Schilling; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Founded in 1816, this
business became one of Germany’s leading nineteenth century gunmakers.
Schilling made revolvers as part of a combine with →Hanel and →Sauer in
the late nineteenth century, and may have made airguns for →Bergmann or
Eisenwerke Gaggenau. Schilling made semi automatic pistols for Bergmann,
until the facilities were allegedly acquired in 1904 by Henrich Krieghoff.
However, the Deutsches Reichs Adressbücher list the owners in 1900 as Albert
& Moritz Schilling, who had been joined by 1914 by Walter Schilling. Fortunes
declined considerably in the immediate post 1918 period, and the 1920
directories record the sole propietor as Ludwig Bornhöft. Schilling completed
1898-pattern →Mauser rifle actions in half stocked sporting guise, offering
them in chamberings ranging from 6×58 Förster to 8×75. Most will bear a
discreet ‘V.C.S.’ mark. A trade directory entry dating from the mid 1920s
offered ‘hunting and practice weapons of all types, optical sights, ammunition,
and the ability to ‘offer catalogues and handle correspondenceYin all
languages’. Deutsches Reichs Adressbucher continued to list Schilling
as a ‘weapons maker and sales agency’ in 1930 and a ‘weapons maker’
(Waffenfabrik) in 1939. Premises were occupied in Suhl at ‘Strasse de Sturm-
Abteilung 10’ (1938–41), but the once-renowned business had lost much of its
impetus when the Second World War began and had regained very little when
work finally ceased in 1945. Trademark: ‘VCS’ or ‘V.C.S.’
Schilling & Kramer; Suhl in Thüringen, Strasse der Sturm-Abteilung 21. A maker
of guns and gun-parts listed in the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch for 1940.
Schimel Arms Company. This business was formed in 1952 to make the Schimel
gas operated pistol, known as the ‘GP 22’. The fixtures were acquired by the
→American Weapons Corporation in 1955 and manufacture continued as the
→American Luger (later ‘Carbo Jet’).
Schindler Christian Ludwig Schindler Sohn; Zella St Blasii in Thüringen,
Germany. Listed in 1900 as a gunmaker.
Schleenstein Ernst Schleenstein; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939 as
a gunsmith.
Schlegelmilch Caspar Schlegelmilch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Trading
in 1914–20 as a specialist gun barrel maker, under the ownership of Ernst
Wilhelm Schlegelmilch.
Schlegelmilch Franz Schlegelmilch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A barrel blank
maker listed in the 1939 edition of the Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch.
Schlegelmilch H. Schlegelmilch; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1939 as a master gunsmith.
Schlegelmilch Hermann Schlegelmilch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Registered
as a gun stocker shortly before 1939.
Schlegelmilch Hermann Schlegelmilch; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany.
Listed in 1939 as a gun barrel drawer.
Schlegelmilch H. & K. Schlegelmilch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1900 as a gunmaker, 1900.

Schlegelmilch Louis Schlegelmilch. A gunmaker associated with the German
→Reichsgewehr, and also with a primitive semi automatic pistol.
Schlegelmilch Reinhard Schlegelmilch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. This gun
stocker was listed in the 1939 directories, but had ceased operations by 1945.
Schlegelmilch Robert Schlegelmilch; Meiningen an der Ower. Listed in pre-1914
directories as a maker of sporting guns.
Schlesinger Joseph Schlesinger. An English-based gunmaker listed in 1856 at
Albion Place, London Wall.
Schlütter Alfred Schlütter; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen. Listed in 1920 as a
wholesaler of guns, accessories and ammunition. Listed in the Deutsches
Reichs Adressbuch for 1930 (as ‘Alfred Schlüter’) as a retailer of guns and
ammunition, but possibly also maintaining repair facilities.
Schlütter Herbert Schlütter; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930
as a gunmaker.
Schlütter Robert Schlütter; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939
Schmaltzern, New York City. Recorded by Eldon Wolff, in Air Guns (1958) as a
maker of volute spring →Gallery Guns, operating in the 1870s. The name has
ocasionally been listed as ‘Schmalzlar’.
Schmalz & Decker; Zella St Blasii in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1900 as a gun
and weapon maker.
Schmeisser, Schmeißer Hans Schmeisser; Suhl, Thüringen, Germany. The co
patentee with his brother Hugo of the pan magazine for the →Haenel air rifle:
British Patent 302,279.
Schmeisser, Schmeißer Hugo Schmeisser; Suhl. The son of the gunmaker Louis
→Schmeisser, Hugo Schmeisser is best remembered for the sub machine
guns and assault rifles designed for C.G. →Haenel, but he also patented the
→Sportmodell bolt action airgun. Among the patents granted to Schmeisser
were the following, most listing his address at 5 Philosophenwerg, Suhl.
British Patent 277,265, accepted on 15th September 1927, protected the
cocking mechanism of the Haenel Models 26 and 28 pistols. The action
resembles the →Improved Britannia rifle. British Patent 302,279 (with Hans
Schmeisser) was accepted on 30th January 1930 to protect an automatic pan
magazine used on the Haenel IVR and VR rifles. British Patent 391,695 of
4th May 1933 allowed claims for a means of latching cheap children’s type
airguns, using a spring steel bar above the receiver. British Patents 422,231
of 1934 (for the detachable box magazine) and 422,638 of 1934 protected the
perfected →Sportmodell bolt action. British Patent 472,854, accepted on 1st
October 1937, was a combination of the two German patents—21st May 1935
and 8th October 1936—granted for a revised version of the →Sportmodell
with a multiple spring assembly to provide greater power. There was also an
automatic loading port for diabolo pellets. British Patent 499,543 allowed
improvements to 472,854. Schmeisser’s name is also mistakenly attached
to the German MP. 38 and MP. 40 submachine-guns, and, with little more

justification, to the Mkb. 42 (H) that developed into the MP. 43/Stg. 44 series.
Schmeisser, Schmeißer Louis Schmeisser (1848-1917), father of Hugo
Schmeisser, worked first for →Bergmann and then with →Rheinische
Metallwaaren- & Maschinenfabrik. He is remembered as the designer of the
→Dreyse pistols and machine-gun.
Schmidl Eduard Schmidl, one of the leading gunmakers established in →Weipert,
Bohemia (part of Austria-Hungary prior to 1918), was one of the principal
members of a co-operative formed in 1887 to produce components for the
straight-pull →Mannlicher service rifle that had been adopted for the Austro-
Hungarian army.
Schmidt Franz Schmidt; Zella-Mehlis and Suhl, Thüringen, Germany. Listed
in 1930 as a gunmaker; in 1939 as a gunsmith; and in 1941 as a maker of
‘weapons’ (Waffenfabrik).
Schmidt Franz & Herbert Schmidt; Zella-Mehlis in Thüringen. Founded in 1919,
this partnership made sporting guns and accessories, often marked ‘FHS’,
before moving to Suhl in the 1920s. See also ‘Franz Schmidt’.
Schmidt Herbert Schmidt; Ostheim an der Rhön, Germany. In addition to good-
quality revolvers and an array of blank-firers, made since 1963, Schmidt makes
a small 6.35mm ‘Model 5’ semi-automatic pistol with a six-round box magazine
in the butt. These may be marked simply ‘HS’.
Schmidt Moritz Schmidt; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930B9
as a master gunsmith.
Schmidt Paul Schmidt; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939 as a
maker of guns and weapons.
Schmidt Rob. Schmidt; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Trading in 1930 as a
gunsmith.
Schmidt Rudolf Schmidt was born in Basel in June 1832, the son of a water-
colourist. Joining the army in 1853, he obtained a commission two years later,
was eventually promoted to the rank of colonel (Oberst) in 1887, retired in
1894 and died in 1898. He is remembered principally for a series of revolvers,
culminating in the 1882-pattern 7.5mm army pattern, and the →Schmidt
Rubin rifle of 1889. However, he was also responsible for the modernisation
of the Swiss arms industry and the foundation of the →Eidgenössische
Waffenfabrik in Bern.
Schmidt Theodor Schmidt; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930
as a maker of guns and weapons.
Schmidt E. Schmidt & Habermann; Suhl in Thüringen, Roschstrasse 1 (in
1940B1). Founded in 1886? This gunmaking business was owned in 1900 and
1914 by Richard, Franz and Paul Stadelmann; by ‘Franz & Paul Stadelmann’ in
1920B30; and by Paul Stadelmann alone in 1939. Schmidt & Habermann were
responsible for a unique short action →Mauser pattern rifle known as the
‘Model 21’. Offered only in 6.5×54, 8×51 and .250–3000 Savage chamberings, it
had a special knurled cocking piece knob and a simplified safety system. The
company also offered Mauser pattern sporting rifles, often identified only by a

small ‘S & H’ mark (cf., ‘S & K’).
Schmitt Listed in 1892 at rue Gambette 32, Saint Étienne, France, this gunmaker
was one half of Schmitt et Freyssinet. Still trading in 1933 as ‘Schmitt frères’.
Schmitt et Freyssinet; place de l’Hôtel de Ville 5 and rue du Treuil 9, Saint
Étienne, France. Listed in 1879 as a gunmaker.
Schnabel tip See also ‘fore end’. Occasionally rendered colloquially as ‘snobble’.
Schneider Alfred Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939
as a master gunsmith.
Schneider Edmund Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1920–30 as a gunmaker.
Schneider Eduard Schneider; Zella St Blasii in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1900 as a gunmaker.
Schneider Ernst Hugo Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1920–30 as a gunmaker and in 1939 as a distributor of guns and ammunition.
Schneider François Eugène Schneider; France. See ‘Snider’.
Schneider Gustav Schneider; Zella St Blasii and Zella Mehlis in Thüringen,
Germany. Listed in 1900B20 as a gunmaker and engineering workshop, when
owned by Rudolf Schneider. Listed as a gunmaker until 1945.
Schneider Hermann Schneider; Zella St Blasii and Zella Mehlis in Thüringen,
Germany. This gunmaker was listed in 1914–39, but ceased trading at the end
of the Second World War.
Schneider Max Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930 as
a gunmaker.
Schneider M. & R. Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1930 as a master gunsmith.
Schneider R. Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930 as a
gun stock maker.
Schneider Rudolf Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in
1930–2 as a maker of guns and weapons. Possibly the same as ‘R. Schneider’,
above.
Schneider Rudolf Schneider; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939
Schnell George C. Schnell, sometimes listed as ‘Snell’, was a U.S. government
arms inspector. Working in the first decade of the twentieth centrury, he
accepted equipment marked ‘GCS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Schnellfeuerpistole—‘rapid-fire pistol’. This term was applied to two selective-
fire pistols made in the 1930s by Mauser-Werke AG, largely as a result of the
introduction of similar →Astra, →Azul and →Royal patterns in Spain. The
original Mauser pattern was credited to Josef Nickl (1933), but the perfected
version was the work of Karl Westinger (1936); the former had a plain bar
selector, whereas the latter had an oval plate. Production was comparatively
small, as the modified ‘Model 712’ C/96-type pistols were inaccurately when
the selector was set to fire automatically. They were, however, popular in
China and the Far East! Guns of this type could be identified by the selector

on the left side of the frame above the trigger aperture.
Schnorrenberg Wilh. Schnorrenberg; Suhl in Thüringen. A wholesaler of guns
and ammunition active in Suhl in the 1890s.
Schobbert Henry Albert Charles Schobbert. Listed as a ‘merchant’ and possibly
an importer of European made guns, this patentee (British Patent 20,578/07
of 1907) developed a repeating airgun. His address was then listed as ‘59
Darenth Hill, Stamford Hill, London N.’
Schoch Edward J. Schoch. A U.S. government arms inspector, working early in
the twentieth century, Scoch accepted weapons and equipment marked ‘EJS’.
See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Schoettlin Anna Barbara Belzner Schoettlin; 121 Richardson Avenue, Jefferson,
Alabama, U.S.A. This ‘Gentlewoman’ was the co-patentee of an airgun with
her brother Nathan →Price.
Schofield Frank H. Schofield, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy working c. 1895–1905,
accepted →Gatling Guns and →Colt and →Smith & Wesson revolvers marked
‘FHS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Schofield George W. Schofield. A major in the U.S. Army, Schofield obtained U.S.
Patents 116,225 of 20th June 1871 and 138,047 of 22nd April 1873 to protect
improvements in revolver design. The guns were made in substantial numbers
by Smith & Wesson as the →Schofield Model. Schofield committed suicide
with one of his own revolvers in 1882.
Schofield Model Made by →Smith & Wesson in accordance with patents
obtained by Major George Schofield of the U.S. Army, this revolver had a
simplified extractor and a latch on the standing frame instead of the barrel
extension. The U.S. Army had purchased more than eight thousand Schofield
Smith & Wessons by the end of 1879, but these were unable to challenge the
Colt →Single Action Army revolvers and nothing more was done.
Schön A. Schön; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1920 as a gunsmith, and
in 1930 as a gunmaker.
Schönauer Otto Schönauer. Born in 1844 in Reichraming, in Austria-Hungary,
Schönauer underwent a gunsmithing apprenticeship before working for
→Vetterli in Switzerland. In 1868, he was invited by Josef →Werndl to
join Waffenfabrik Steyr; his subsequent career included promotion to head
of the inspectorate (1889) and factory manager (1896). Though renowned
most for his skills as an administrator, Otto Schönauer also designed bolt-
action rifles and the rotary or ‘spool’ magazine associated with the perfected
→Mannlicher-Schönauer. He died in Steyr on 17th September 1913.
Schönberger pistol Among the earliest auto-loading handguns, though still the
subject of controversy, this was tested by the military authorities in c. 1895.
The name appears to have been provided by the promoters, the Schönberger
brothers of Vienna, though the design was due to Josef →Laumann. The
operating system has been debated on many occasions, as some writers
have identified it as a delayed blowback while others have claimed it to be
an example of primer actuation. In addition, the date of introduction is also

vigorously contested. Though Austro-Hungarian authorities were happy to
test handguns such as the Schönberger, the →Kromar and the →Salvator-
Dormus, few were efficient enough. Better designs eventually prevailed, such
as the →Borchardt, the →Mauser-Feederle, and the →Mannlichers.
Schorn Gunsmith Josef Schorn (1909-69) of Koblenz Lützel, Germany, was
granted DRP 763786 of March 1943 to protect a selective fire modification of
the →Parabellum pistol. Alterations were made to the sear bar, and a pivoting
selector lever was added in the trigger plate.
Schouboe Danish inventor Jens Theodor Suhr Schouboe (sometimes mistakenly
identified as ‘Jens Tørring Schouboe’) was responsible for the →Madsen
self-loading rifle and machine-gun, and for the idiosyncratic blowback pistol
with which his name is most commonly associated. The machine-gun was the
subject of British Patent 17877/02, sought on 14th August 1902 and accepted
on 2nd June 1903; Austo-Hungarian Privilegium 14857, accepted on 1st
September 1903, was just one of many conparable grants. The pistol relied on
an ultra-lightweight bullet attaining high velocity (and hence good theoretical
striking energy) to overcome the reluctance of many military authorities to
test guns which lacked mechanical breech-locks. Protedction granted to the
handgun included British Patent 28490/02 (sought on 31st December 1902,
acepted on 12th February 1903); Austro-Hungarian Privilegium 13950; and
French patent 326927.
Schoverling & Daly, subsequently ‘Schoverling, Daly & Gales’, of New York
City, distributed guns and ammunition in the second half of the nineteenth
century. In 1888 the partnership, which then included Gales, purchased the
gunsmithing and distributing business of John P. Moore of Broadway, New
York (established in 1823).
Schroeder, Salewski & Schmidt were the grantees of a U.S. patent (December
1856) protecting a needle gun. Immigrant German gunmakers Herman
Schroeder, Louis →Salewski and William →Schmidt are credited as the
designers, the guns being made in Schmidt’s workshop in New York. Turning
a lever on the right side of the fore-end simultaneously down and back allowed
a rack-and-pinion mechanism to move the barrel away from the breech and
cocked the needle mechanism. Prototypes tested by the U.S. Army performed
as badly as the few that were sold as sporting guns. Schroeder patented
an improved version in June 1861, but the project was overtaken by better
designs.
Schubarth Caspar D. Schubarth or ‘Schuberth’; Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
A gunsmith active in 1855B68.
Schuch Paul Schuch; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunsmith trading in Suhl in
1939.
Schuetzen, Schützen This term, which means ‘marksmen’ in German, is
applied to a particular type of target shooting (and, by extension, target
rifle) originating in central Europe and then popularised in the U.S.A. in the
nineteenth century. The rifles usually have elaborate set triggers, palm rests

beneath the fore ends, exaggerated cheek pieces and combs, hooked butt
plates, and fully adjustable sights.
Schuetzen Junior Model Offered only for the .32–40 or .38–55 Ballard cartridges,
the 1884 vintage No. 10 →Ballard target rifle was essentially the same as the
No. 8 →Union Hill pattern, but had a heavy octagonal barrel and an 800 yard
vernier back sight.
Schuetzen Model Known as the ‘Off Hand Model’ when it was introduced in
the U.S.A. in 1876, the heavyweight No. 6 →Ballard rifle was intended for
→Schuetzen style target shooting. Most guns had a double set trigger system,
Marlin’s short or mid range vernier peep back sights, and hand made straight
wrist ‘German’ style butts with a nickel plated hook pattern shoulder plate.
Chamberings ranged from .32–40 Ballard to .44–75 Ballard.
Schuetzen Match Rifle Built on the →Remington-Hepburn or →Hepburn-
Walker action, the ‘No. 3 Schuetzen Match Rifle’ (1904B7) had a scrolled
trigger guard, a vernier wind gauge peep sight on the tang, and straight-wrist
butt with a shallow cheek piece. It chambered cartridges ranging from .32–40
Ballard to .40–65 Remington.
Schüler August Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in the 1900 edition
of the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch as a gunmaking business, owned by
Friedrich Schüler and his son Oskar. Friedrich retired in 1912, to be succeeded
by his son Oscar and grandson Richard. Some products will be found marked
‘ASS’.
Schüler August Gottlieb Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen. A gunmaking business
claiming a foundation date of 1850.
Schüler Friedrich Wilhelm Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen. A gunmaking business
claiming to have begun operations in 1835.
Schüler Oscar Schüler & Sohn; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Trading in 1930 as a
gunmaker and sales agency.
Schüler Oscar & August Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen. Founded in 1880; usually
listed as a weapon-maker (Waffenfabrik). It was superseded c. 1900 by August
Schuler (above).
Schüler Oscar & Richard Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. This gunmaking
partnership, perhaps only active in 1912–13, offered →Mauser action sporting
rifles made by →Sempert & Krieghoff. Richard Schüler (below) succeeded his
father, though the original trading name may have been retained until the end
of the First World War.
Schüler O. & F. Schüler Söhne; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed as a
gunmaker, 1900.
Schüler Richard Schüler; Suhl in Thüringen, Schillingstrasse 1 (1941). Claiming
to have been founded in 1913, succeeding Oscar u. Richard Schuler (q.v.),
the activities of this mechanised weapon- and ammunition-making factory
at Roschstrasse 13 continued until the end of the Second World War.
Richard Schüler specialised in →Mauser-action rifles chambering a variety
of proprietary cartridges—beginning with an 11.2×60 dating from 1913

and progressing to a huge 12.7×70 in the early 1920s. Made for Schüler by
→Sempert & Krieghoff, these rifles were large and heavy, with the magazine
box protruding from the fore end ahead of the trigger. The last Schüler round,
6.5×68, appeared in the early 1930s.
Schulhof Josef Schulhof, born in Dolní Kalná in 1824, had an interesting
career. The son of a tenant farmer on the great Esterhazy estates in Hungary,
Schulhof exhibited considerable repairing agricultural equipment. This
encouraged him to relinquish his farming tenancy in 1870 and move to
Vienna. Schulhof is remembered for a series of extraordinary repeating rifles
with magazines in their butts, originally adapted from →Vetterli actions but
later specially built in Austria and Belgium.
¶ The 1882 pattern rifle had a thumb trigger on the stock wrist and a multiple
tandem column magazine encased in the butt. This was improved in 1883,
retaining the basic principles of its predecessor, but with a simpler ‘5+4+1’
magazine, an interrupted thread locking system and a conventional trigger.
The failure of the butt magazine system discouraged Schulhof sufficiently
to substitute a five round rotary pattern adapted from Spitalsky’s. The 1887
pattern gun was made in Liége—possibly by →Pieper—and had a turning bolt
action with two locking lugs. Tested several times in Austria-Hungary, but
rejected each time of grounds of needless complexity and expense, the guns
were never successful; a target pistol, however, was good enough to sell in
quantity. Schulhof died in Heitzing on 11th June 1890.
Schüller A. Schüller; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1930 as a gun
stock maker.
Schüller Otto Schüller; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Founded in 1884;
listed in 1920 as a gun stock maker, and in 1930B9 as a master gunsmith and
gun stocker.
Schulte Al. Schulte, Herbrüggen-Gewehrfabrik; Zella St Blasii and Zella-Mehlis in
Thüringen. The Zella manufactory supplied a gun-distributing business based
in the Ruhr, in a small town close to Essen. The business was listed in the 1914
edition of the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch as a ‘gunmaker’ and lasted until the
end of the Second World War.
Schulte Charles Schulte. A member of the London gun trade, operating from 25
Moorgate Street in 1871–2.
Schultze Gunpowder Company; 28 Gresham Street and 254a Gray’s Inn Road,
London, and Eyeworth Lodge, Hampshire. This business was registered
in July 1868 at 3 Bucklersbury, London, to perfect a semi smokeless wood
base propellant invented by a Prussian army officer, Hauptmann (Captain)
Johannes Eduard Schultze. The directors were C. Dale, R.W.S. Griffith,
V.T. Mitchell and H.T. Withers. Schultze had visited Britain in 1864, at the
suggestion of the gunmaker James D. →Dougall the Elder, but negotiations
took some years for the project to become a commercial relality. Even
then, it took many years of research and the substitution of wood fibres
for cubes before the propellant was stable enough to be used in small arms

ammunition. From 1880, however, business grew steadily. Improved forms of
the propellant were introduced in the early 1900s—’Imperial’ in 1902, ‘Cube’
in 1908, ‘Popular’ and ‘Lightning’ in 1912B13. Prior to 1909, Schultze seems to
have relied greatly on cases provided by →Eley Brothers, but the short-lived
→Cogschultze Ammunition & Powder Co. Ltd (active c. 1909–11 only) changed
the source of components until Schultze was acquired by →Eley Brothers in
c. 1912. However, a vestige of independence was retained by the formation of
the ‘Schultze Co. Ltd’ (below). Among the many shotgun cartridges loaded
under the Schultze banner from 1899 onward were ‘The Albion’, ‘The Bomo’,
‘The Captain’, ‘The Caro’, ‘The Conqueror’, ‘The Eyeworth’, ‘Grand Prix’,
‘The Pickaxe’, ‘The Torro’, ‘The Westminster’ and ‘The Yeoman’. Most also
bore a Registered Trademark in the form of a clenched fist holding a bolt of
lightning. Though these often bore ‘S.G. Co.’ in the headstamps, most had
been made with components supplied by →Eley Brothers.
Schultze Co. Ltd [‘The…’]; 28 Gresham Street, London, and Eyeworth, Hampshire
(?). This was the post-1912 incarnation of the Schultze Gunpowder Company
(above), owned by →Eley Brothers. Among the new products introduced in
the ‘post-Eley’ period were the Popular and Lightning propellants, dating from
1912 and 1913 respectively. Trading continued independently throughout
the First World War—a change of name to ‘The Schultze Gunpowder Co.
Ltd’ occurred in 1916 to emphasise British origins—until the formation of
→Explosive Trades Ltd and →Nobel Industries. It has been claimed that
Schultze-branded cartridges were being made as late as 1923, and some of
the names were ultimately perpetuated by →Eley-Kynoch to heighten the
confusion.
Schultz & Larsen; Otterup, Denmark. This gunsmithing business, specialising in
custom-made sporting rifles (often built on wartime Czechoslvakian M24 or
German Kar. 98k →Mauser actions), also supplied 8×58R bolt-action carbines
or Rigspolitikarabiner m/42 to the Danish state police during the German
occupation of Denmark in the Second World War. These had tubular receivers
with large oval ejection ports, and one-piece stocks that extended to the
muzzle. Some post-war sporting and target rifles were built on an improved
form of this same action.
Schuman, Schumann George W. Schuman(n), U.S. arms inspector. See ‘George
W. →Sherman’.
Schütt: Hans Schütt oHG. See ‘Bayerische Sportwaffenfabrik’.
Schutzmann A brand name and trademark associated with Albrecht →Kind,
often accompanied by a three-quarter perspective view of a moustachioed
pistoleer.
Schuyler, Hartley & Graham; Maiden Lane, New York, U.S.A. These wholesalers
advertised themselves in 1871 as distributors of ‘Every description of Sporting
Guns, imported on Reasonable Terms; Powder Flasks, Shot Pouches, Washing
Rods, and Implements of every description requisite for the Sporting Field;
Agents for Caps, Wads, Metallic Cartridges, &c., manufactured by the Union

Metallic Cartridge Company, Bridgeport, ConnecticutY’ Schuyler, Hartley &
Graham were sole U.S. Agents for several British and European gunmakers,
including W.W. →Greener of Birmingham, and sold large numbers of Smith
& Wesson →Russian Model revolvers in the 1870s. It was succeeded by
→Hartley & Graham c. 1877.
Schwab Elias Schwab, one of the leading gunmakers established in →Weipert in
Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary), was one of the principal members
of a co-operative formed in 1887 to produce components for the straight-pull
→Mannlicher service rifle that had been adopted for the Austro-Hungarian
army. Little else is known of his operations.
Schwarte & Hammer This gunmaking partnership traded from 6 Lime Street,
London, from 1885 until 1900 or later.
Schwarzlose Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose, born in Altmärkisches Wust on
31st July 1867, is one of the more interesting of the pre-1914 German firearms
inventors. Unlike contemporaries such as →Mannlicher and →Mauser,
whose reputation depended largely on the perfection of a single design—
and then often with the help of others—Schwarzlose was always prepared
to try something different. The son of a farmer, Schwarzlose served in the
Austro-Hungarian artillery in the 1890s, graduating from the army ordnance
school and then, after leaving military service, from the technical college in
Suhl. Testimony to the fertility of Schwarzlose’s mind is provided by a range
of pistols produced in the 1890s, culminating in a military or ‘1898’ pattern
which was so nearly a great success. He also developed the only blow-forward
design to find commercial favour, selling several thousand in Europe before
rights were hawked to North American interests prior to the First World War.
The inventor died on 18th April 1936.
Schwarzlose A.W. Schwarzlose GmbH. Formed in Berlin early in the twentieth
century, this gunmaking business made the blow-forward pistols patented by
Andreas →Schwarzlose in 1907. It is also believed to have made the prototype
Schwarzlose machine-guns, though volume production was licensed to
→Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft. The factory was closed soon
after the end of the First World War, though machine-guns and machine-gun
parts were still being made in Sweden and Czechoslovakia as late as 1930.
Schwarzlose machine-gun This had been perfected by 1902. Compared with the
recoil-operated →Maxim, the delayed blowback mechanism was extremely
simple. It was easy to make and proved to be reliable once the rapid opening
of the breech had been delayed sufficiently. The experimental 1905-type
gun was superseded by the perfected short-barrelled Maschinengewehr M.
07. Made under licence by →Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft,
the Schwarzlose M. 07 and M. 07/12 machine-guns not only survived the
Austro-Hungarians until the end of the First World War, but also equipped the
postwar Austrian, Hungarian, Czechoslovakian and Yugoslav armies. Large
numbers had been made under licence in Sweden and the Netherlands even
before the First World War began, and a few ‘M1912’ guns in 6.5×54 had been

supplied to Greece prior to 1914.
Schwarzlose pistols Andreas Schwarzlose obtained a variety of patents
protecting his earliest handgun designs, including British Patents 23,881/92 of
27th December 1892 and 9490/95 of 1895. The former protected what has been
described as an automatic form of the Remington →Rolling Block, with the
cartridges contained in the frame, whereas the latter was a more conventional
long-recoil design locked by a rotating bolt.
¶ The first Schwarzlose to encounter success was the ‘Standart’ or ‘Military
Model’, patented on 25th January 1898 (no. 1934/98), which chambered the
7.63mm Mauser cartridge and was apparently made in Suhl c. 1898–1900
(perhaps by Waffenfabrik von →Dreyse). Locking lugs on the bolt were
disengaged when the barrel recoiled, allowing the bolt and its tubular
housing to reciprocate alone. The principle was efficient, but sales were poor;
remaining stocks are said to have been sold to Russian revolutionaries in 1905.
¶ An unsuccessful toggle-locked gun ptented in 1900 was followed by the
7.65mm Schwarzlose of 1908, the only →blow-forward pistol ever to achieve
commercial success. Several thousand were made by A.W. Schwarzlose GmbH
in Berlin before the project was transferred to the →Warner Arms Corporation
in 1911 to allow the Berlin facilities to concentrate on machine-guns. The
earliest guns have grooved-breech barrel blocks and a grip-safety mechanism;
later ones, often bearing the patent dates (13th April and 24th August 1908),
have diced barrel-blocks and radial safety levers.
Schwarzwalder Jagd und Sportwaffenfabrik: see →Voetter & Co.
Schweizer Karl August Schweizer of Stuttgart, Germany, trading from Werra
strasse 81 in 1925, advertised his services as a wholesaler of guns and
ammunition (particularly the products of →Simson & Co. of Suhl) and an
ability to supply to order ‘all kinds of guns and accessories’.
Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) was founded in Neuhausen am
Rheinfalls in 1853, to make railway rolling stock and signalling equipment.
The first guns were single-shot →cap-lock muzzle loaders, but these were
soon followed by bolt-action →Vetterli M1869 rifles, M1870 cadet rifles and
M1871 short rifles for the Swiss federal army, production of the 1869-pattern
Vetterli alone totalling nearly sixty thousand. A ‘Neuhausen’ straight-pull
bolt action rifle was developed to compete with the Schmidt-Rubin in the
late 1880s, but failed to convince the authorities of its merits. However,
SIG subsequently made components for the Schmidt-Rubin rifles and
→Parabellum (Luger) 06/29 W+F pistols, though these guns were assembled
by the →Eidgenossische Waffenfabrik in Bern. SIG made a few 6.35mm one-
hand cocking automatic pistols in accordance with the →Chylewski patents.
¶ SIG has been involved in the development of many weapons, including the
→Mondragon bolt-action and semi-automatic rifles designed prior to the
First World War, and has also made Fürrer-type submachine-guns. Among
the most successful of co-operative venture was that undertaken with Charles
Petter, best known for an adaptation of the →Browning dropping-barrel lock

(patented in France and Switzerland in 1934–7). The experimental SP44/8 and
SP44/16 was refined into the SP47/8, adopted as the Swiss Ordonnanzpistole
49 SIG in 1949. Sold commercially as the SP 210, in a variety of guises, this
pistol has been a great success. However, it was so expensive to make that SIG
progressed to the P220—the Swiss Ordonnanzpistole 75—in 1975. Developed
in collusion with J.P. →Sauer & Sohn, to evade strict Swiss arms-exporting
laws, this gun has evolved into a series of improved guns: the compact 9mm
P225; the P226 of 1980, made for trials in the U.S.A., with ambidextrous
controls; the ultra-compact 9mm P228 (1988); the .40 S&W P229; and the
deep-framed P239, available in .357 SIG, 9mm Parabellum or .40 S&W. The
P230 (and a modernised substitute known as the P232) is a blowback personal
defence pistol inspired by the Walther PP; once available additionally in .22 LR
rimfire and 6.35mm Auto, the guns are now available only in 7.65mm Auto and
9mm Short. The P240, developed with Hämmerli (which SIG now owns) was
a short-lived target-shooting adaptation of the P220, chambered for .32 S&W
Wadcutter or .38 Special ammunition.
¶ SIG has also made large numbers of automatic rifles, including the SG 46, a
gas-operated adaptation of the Schmidt-Rubin, and the extraordinary →blow-
forward AK 53. Success awaited the perfection of the AM-55, customarily
credited to Rudolf Amsler and now better known as the Sturmgewehr
Modell 57 (‘Stgw. 57’, its Swiss army designation) or SG510. The SG510 series
contained the 510-1, a commercial variant of the Stgw. 57 chambered for the
Swiss 7.5×55 cartridge; the 510-2, a lightened variant of the 510-1; the 510-3,
chambered for the Soviet 7.62×39 round; and the perfected 510-4, introduced
in 1963/4 in 7.6×51 NATO. A semi-automatic sporting version of the SG 510-4,
the AMT, was also made in small numbers.
¶ An attempt to adapt the basic mechanism to become a gas-operated locked-
breech chambering the 5.56×45 cartridge, the SG530 (1967–71), proved to be
a failure. Far more effectual was the SG540 series (1972), offered in 5.56mm
and 7.62mm, which incorporated a rotating bolt. The SG543 was licensed to
→Manurhin of Mulhouse, the first guns being made for the French special
forces and export to French colonies in 1978.
¶ After several years of trials, including competitions against a rival design
promoted by the Eidgenössische Waffenfabrik, the SG550 (1984) was accepted
for service as the 5.56mm Sturmgewehr 90, re-equipment stretching from
1986 to 1995. This gun has since been offered in a variety of guises, including
the PSG550 sniper rifle, the SG551 carbine, and the ultra-compact SG552
Commando. Bolt-action sniper rifles have been offered on the basis of the
→Sauer Model 80 wedge-lug and Model 200 turning-lug actions, as the
SSG2000 and SSG3000 respectively; these have been chambered exclusively
for the 7.62×51 NATO round or its commercial .308 Winchester equivalent.
The basic flap or roller-locking system has also been incorporated in a variety
of machine guns, beginning with the MG55 and culminating in the MG710.
However, production of these has ceased.

¶ SIG continues to prosper, making a variety of packaging machinery and
rolling stock. The company has controlling interests in both Hämmerli and
Sauer. However, comparatively little has been written about its affairs.
Schweinsruckenschaft: see ‘Stock’.
Schwertanker (‘sword-anchor’). A description of the central component of a
trademark granted in 1928 to Heinrich →Krieghoff Waffenfabrik of Suhl. See
‘H K’.
Scoffin & Wilmot; Ironcrete Works, Barking By-Pass. A maker of magazines for
the British 9mm →Sten Gun during the Second World War. The regional code
‘S 103’ may have been used instead of the company name. See also “British
military manufacturers’ marks”.
Scolaire: see ‘Buffalo-Scolaire’, ‘Gras-Scolarie, ‘Populaire-Scolaire’.
Scope Gun A lever action →Daisy BB gun, introduced in 1961. Basically a No. 102
with a ‘lightning loader’, it also had a permanently attached 2× telescope sight.
Scoremaster or ‘Model 511A Scoremaster’ Made by the →Remington Arms
Company in 1940B1 and 1945B62, this was a repeating version of the Model
510 with a detachable five-round box magazine.
Scoremaster, usually as ‘Score Master’: a variant of the →Government Model
Colt-Browning M1911A1 pistol made by →Detonics. Inc., of Bellevue,
Washington. An essentially standard gun, it features an extended grip safety,
adjustable sights, a refined trigger and stainless-steel construction. See also
‘Service Master’.
Scorpio This six-shot .38-calibre personal-defence revolver was made in Spain by
→Llama–Gabilondo SA. It was simply a heavier version of the →Piccolo with
chequered grips and a rounded trigger guard.
Scorpion A break barrel .177 or .22 spring air pistol made in Britain by →BSA
Guns Ltd. Designed in 1973B5, it was introduced commercially in 1977.
Scotcher John A. Scotcher & Son; Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The marks of this
gunsmithing business, claiming origins as early as 1803, have been reported
on shotgun ammunition made by →Eley Brothers prior to the First World
War, including ‘The →Invincible’. John Adam Scotcher was listed at 17 Meat
Market from 1863, expanding the business to include his son by 1885, but
work ceased when the stock and goodwill was acquired by Henry →Hodgson
in 1913.
Scotia [‘The…’]. A mark found on shotgun ammunition sold by Alex →Martin
of Glasgow; the manufacturer seems to have been →Eley-Kynoch, dating the
products later than 1920.
Scott A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Hopkins & Allen
Arms Company of Norwich, Connecticut, in the late nineteenth century.
Scott Alfred Scott; London. The marks of this English gunmaker have been
reported on self cocking →pepperboxes dating from the middle of the
nineteenth century.
Scott Gustavus H. Scott, a commander in the U.S. Navy, accepted →Colt cap-lock
revolvers marked ‘GHS’. His work seems to have lasted from 1858 until the

1870s, its date and navy connotations distinguishing it from that of Gilbert H.
→Steward. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Scott Horace Scott, a government arms inspector operating c. 1879–90, accepted
guns and equipment marked ‘HS’. Care is necessary to distinguish his work
from that of H. →Saunders, Harrison →Shaler, Harris →Smith, Howard
→Stockton and H. →Syrett; though the periods differ, overlaps are to be
expected. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Scott Walter Scott, or ‘W.W. Scott’. Trading from 47a Princip Street,
Birmingham, Warwickshire, in 1871–80, where he was best known as a
merchant of →Smith & Wesson and de →Mouncie revolvers, Scott was a
licensee of the →Carter & Edwards bolt action breech loader. He received
British Patent 1691/71 of 28th June 1871 for a hinged breech block and a
proprietary recoil pad for shotguns; and was also the co designer, with W.J.
→Matthews, of a breech system protected by British Patent 138/73 of 13th
January 1873 and U.S. Patent 144,870 of 25th November 1873. This consisted
of a screwed plug which could move laterally to expose the chamber. A later
patent—British no. 3079/73 of 1873, jointly with A.E. →Bruno—protected a
rifle sight.
Scott William Scott. This English gunmaker was listed in the census of 1841 at
Henry Street, Stepney, London. He traded from 27 Leman Street, London
E, in 1843–9 and then from 33 Leman Street (probably the same premises,
renumbered by the post-office authorities) from 1851 until 1853. It is
suspected that he then moved to Birmingham, where a ‘William Scott’ was
listed at 14 Whittall Street from 1855. This business became ‘William Scott &
Son’ in 1859, when a move to 47 Princip Street took place, and then ‘William
Scott & Sons’ in 1869. Trading ceased in 1875.
Scott William Middleditch Scott, a partner in W. & C. Scott of Birmingham, was
granted patents protecting a broad range of improvements in firearms. They
included British Patent 2752/65 of 25th October 1865, protecting cocking
indicators and a locking mechanism for drop barrel breechloaders; 452/70 of
1870 for a drop barrel action; and 1268/70 of 1870 for drop down barrel and
gun stock construction; 2052/74 and 3424/74 of 1874 for drop barrel actions;
186/75 and 1902/75 of 1875 for drop barrel actions; and 3223/75 of 1875 for
loaded chamber indicators. British Patent 615/76 of 1876 was granted to W.M.
& M. Scott for a drop-barrel action, and 761/78 of 1878, to W.M. Scott & T.
→Baker, was similar. Patent 617/82 of 1882 (also with Baker) allowed claims
for vent design; 3859/83 of 1883, granted in partnership with C. Proctor, and
5564/84 of 1884 (sought alone) also protected drop barrel actions. Among the
protection granted in U.S.A. were U.S. Patent 108,942 of 1st November 1870,
for a drop-barrel gun; 157,699 of 15th December 1874 for a fore-end attachment
system; 161,559 of of 30th March 1875 for a drop barrel gun; 264,773 of 19th
September 1882 (with T. →Baker) and 288,670 of 20th November 1883 (with C.
→Proctor), also for drop-barrel guns.
Scott William & Charles Scott. Based in Birmingham, these gunmakers were

eventually absorbed into →Webley & Scott. They began trading from 11 Lench
Street in 1840, then moved successively to 33 Lench Street and 21 Loveday
Street (1842–8), 4 Shadwell Street (1849–54), 94 Bath Street (1855–63) and
Bagot Street (1864–97). An office was also maintained for some years from
1873 at 10 Great Castle Street, London. W. & C. Scott were best known for
their good-quality shotguns, many being exported in the second half of the
nineteenth century. They often incorporated features designed by William M.
Scott (q.v.). In 1897, however, the business was acquired by P. Webley & Son to
form the →Webley & Scott Revolver & Arms Co. Ltd, and lost its autonomy.
Scott & Sargeant; East Street, Horsham, Sussex, England. The marks of this
ironmongery business have been reported on sporting guns and shotgun
ammunition marketed shortly after the end of the Second World War as ‘The
→Horsham Special’ or ‘The →Ironmonger’.
Scotti Alfredo Scotti—the son of Luigi Scotti [Douglas], Conte della Scala di San
Giorgio, once chief technician in the Pirotecnico di Bologna—built a number
of experimental rifles in a small factory in Brescia, Italy, relying on a short-
stroke piston gas system to operate a rotating bolt. They included a range of
auto-loading rifles of which the Modelo X of 1931 was the most successful.
It was made either as a rifle, stocked in the fashion of the clip-loading Mo.
1891 Mannlicher Carcano; as a carbine with a separate pistol grip behind the
trigger; or as a ‘naval anti aircraft rifle’, with a detachable box magazine and a
pistol grip on the fore-end.
Scottie [‘The…’]. A mark found on shotgun cartridges distributed by J.S.
→Sharpe of Aberdeen, usually accompanied by an illustration of a Scots
Terrier.
Scout A British push in barrel air pistol, marketed by Lincoln →Jeffries & Co. Ltd
early in the twentieth century.
Scout An airgun pellet made in Britain by →Eley Brothers, introduced prior to
1910.
Scout A push-in barrel spring air pistol made by →Millard Brothers of
Motherwell, Scotland.
Scout A break-barrel spring air rifle in 4.5mm calibre, made by Maschinen und
Apparatebau →‘Wagria’ of Ascheberg in Holstein, Germany.
Scout A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Hood Firearms
Company of Norwich, Connecticut, in the late nineteenth century.
Scout An airgun made by the →Crosman Arms Company of Fairport, New York
State, U.S.A., as the ‘Model 788 BB Scout’.
Scout The old type Model 75 →Daisy spring-air BB gun, a lever-action design
made in the 1950s.
Scout A 500-shot lever action →Daisy BB gun made in 1955–61, basically a No.
102 →Cub fitted with sling swivels and a plastic butt and fore end.
Scout, or ‘Model 1300C Scout’ was a →Parker Hale type Mauser rifle introduced
by the →Gibbs Rifle Company in 1992. Offered only in .243 and .308
Winchester, it had a short barrel, a laminated stock and a detachable box

magazine.
SCR A superimposition-type monogram with the ‘R’ dominant. Correctly ‘SRC’
(q.v.); associated with →Sears, Roebuck & Company.
SCR Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Stephen C. →Rowen’.
SCS A superimposition-type monogram with ‘S’ dominant. See ‘CSS’; used by
C.S. →Shatuck.
S. & D. Found on a range of →Record-brand shotguns being promoted in 1911 by
A.L. →Frank, these initials have yet to be identified.
SE A superimposition-type monogram, ‘S’ slightly dominant. See ‘ES’; found on
a Belgian or Spanish-made revolver.
Sealed Pattern Unique to the British armed forces and their colonial
counterparts, this term denotes government acceptance. It has been used
since 1631 to describe military stores deposited in the Tower of London and
subsequently the Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield, to ensure that equipment
was manufactured to a standard pattern.
¶ A method of regulating a chaotic system which allowed individual
gunmakers to supply weapons of their own design, instead of complying
with government demands, took the form of a wax seal—in the form of the
Royal Arms—applied to guns and other stores approved or ‘sealed’ to guide
manufacture. As a ‘Sealed Pattern’ gun was deemed to be dimensionally
correct, all manufacturing patterns and gauges had to comply with it.
¶ The wax seals were often set into gun butts, which could also bear additional
information stamped into the woodwork; after the 1870s, however, the seals
were customarily attached to wax and calico tags. No deviations were allowed
from the Sealed Pattern unless agreed by the Board of Ordnance or the War
Department, and the British inspectorate ensured that the rules were applied
with unbending strictness.
SEAM or S.E.A.M.: a Browning type pistol made by or more probably for
→Sociedad Española de Armas y Municiones of Eibar; 6.35mm or 7.65mm, six
rounds, hammer fired.
Sear An intermediate component or series of components (‘sear train’) linking
the trigger with the hammer or firing pin, holding the latter back until
released by trigger pressure.
Searle Elbert Hamilton Searle; Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Searle is
better known as the designer of the →Savage semi-automatic pistol, but was
also responsible for the →Bull’s Eye Pistol—an airgun with a special ratchet
cocking system. See U.S. Patent 959,889 of 1910 and British Patent 12,723/10
of 1910.
Searle Thomas Searle. This member of the London gun trade was listed at 23
Jermyn Street in 1869B71.
Sears Henry Sears & Company; 88 Lake Street, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. A dealer
in sporting guns and ammunition, Sears also loaded shotgun cartridges for a
few years in the late ninteenth century.
Sears Robert Sears, a colonel in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps, accepted a

variety of .22 and .45 →Colt-made pistols during the Second World War. They
bore ‘RS’ marks. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Sears Ranger: see ‘Ranger’.
Sears, Roebuck & Company; Chicago, Illinois. This retailing business had
its origins in the Sears Watch Company, formed in 1886 in Minneapolis,
Minnesota, by Richard Warren Sears (1863–1914). A move to Chicago occurred
in 1887, when Alvah Roebuck was hired as a watch-repairer. A mail-order
catalogue promoting watches and jewellery soon followed. Sears sold-out
to Roebuck in 1889, intending to farm land purchased in Iowa, but then,
in partnership with Roebuck, formed ‘Sears, Roebuck & Company’ in 1893;
Julius Rosenwald and Aaron Nusbaum bought Roebuck’s shares in 1895, and
Rosenwald assumed control when Sears left the business in 1909. General
Robert E. Wood was elected to the Board in 1924, marking a move towards
retail operations that, byt the 1970s, had grown to more than eight hundred
stores. Sears Roebuck has handled a wide variety of guns amd ammunition.
Brand names have included ‘A.J. →Aubrey’, ‘J.C. Higgins’ and ‘Ted Williams’;
‘X-R’ has been found in →headstamps, and ‘Sta-Clean’ has been reported on
cartridge-boxes.
SEB Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Stanhope English
→Blunt’.
Section Technique de l’Artillerie: see ‘STA’.
Securitas This strange little 6.35mm →blowback pistol, made in France prior
to 1914 (?), had a finger-rest instead of a trigger guard. Fired by a lever set
into the back strap, it is believed to have been made by →Société Française
d’ Armes Automatiques de Saint-Étienne. See also ‘Hermetic’ and ‘Wegria-
Charlier’.
Sedgley Reginald F. Sedgley, Inc., of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., made
and patented some remarkably compact revolvers. He also converted
thousands of Krag-Jørgensen rifles to sporting use, and made flare pistols.
Seeber August Seeber; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in directories for
1930–9 as a gunmaker.
Seecamp Louis Seecamp: see ‘Mossberg’.
Seecamp L.W. Seecamp & Co. Inc.; New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. Makers of a
range of automatic pistols, including the LWS 32 (7×65mm).
Seelig Georg Seelig; Weimar. A minor retailer of sporting guns and ammunition,
active in Germany in 1941.
Seidenzahl Richard Seidenzahl; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in the
Deutsches Reichs Adressbuch as a gunsmith, 1930 and 1939.
Seitzinger Robert Seitzinger; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunsmith known to
have been operating in 1939.
Selecta Made by Echave y Arizmendi of Eibar, this Browning type pocket pistol
had a seven round box magazine and was hammer fired. The slide may be
marked ‘Model 1918’, and a grip safety mechanism is sometimes present.
Select Armes; 3 rue de Roubaix, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a

gunmaker.
Selecter (sic) A semi-automatic pistol made by →Echave y Arizmendi of Eibar
prior to the Spanish Civil War of 1936–9. See also ‘Selecta’.
Selective fire A term applied to any gun which may, when required, be set (with
the ‘selector’) to fire single shots, multi-shot bursts or fully automatically. The
selector is often combined with the manual safety catch.
Selector: see ‘selective fire’.
Self-cocking A firing mechanism in which the action of cocking the hammer
or firing pin is performed automatically either by the breech mechanism or
by pulling back the trigger (cf., ‘double action’). Note that it is not released
automatically, but instead requires an additional stimulus.
Self-loading See ‘auto loading’.
Self-Protector [‘The…’] A twin barrel pistol knife made by →Unwin & Rodgers
of Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, with as many as four blades. These generally
had twin triggers. A few guns had a distinctive false breech, which had to be
lifted before the extractor could be activated.
Sellier & Bellot; Prague (Austria-Hungary prior to 1918, Czechoslovakia
thereafter). This partnership of emigrant Parisian chemist Jean Bellot and
merchant Louis Sellier began making percussion caps in Prague in 1825. By
the 1860s, Sellier & Bellot were making metal case cartridges, and by 1914
had risen to become one of Austria Hungary’s most powerful munitions
makers. Cartridges were customarily distinguished by ‘S.B.’ or ‘S. & B.’ in their
headstamps. Work continued until 1945, small arms ammunition being made
during the Second World War in factories in Vlasim (coded →ak), Schönebeck
an der Elbe (→ad), and the Veitsberg district of Prague (→lkm).
Selly Cartridge Company, U.S.A.: details needed.
Semi automatic This term is customarily applied to a gun which fires once for
each pull on the trigger and reloads automatically, but requires the firer to
release the trigger lever before another shot can be fired (cf., ‘automatic’).
Semin Co-designer with →Elizarov of the Soviet 7.62×39 intermediate or ‘M43’
cartridge chambered in the →Simonov carbine (SKS), →Kalashnikov assault
rifle (AK) and light automatic weapons such as the →RPD and →RPK.
Semi-rimmed case: see ‘cartridge case’.
Sempert This German gunsmith/engineer was a partner in →Sempert &
Krieghoff.
Sempert & Krieghoff began trading in Suhl in 1886, intending to make firearms
and electrical components. The founders were Ludwig Krieghoff the Elder
(q.v.) and an otherwise obscure Germano-American who had worked with
Thomas Edison. Listed in the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch for 1900 as a
gunmaking business, owned by Ludwig Krieghoff alone. Sempert & Krieghoff
acquired V.C. →Schilling & Co. of Suhl in 1904, gaining an interest in the
production of German Mauser service rifles, but Heinrich Krieghoff left the
business in 1916 to begin trading on his own. Sempert & Kreighoff traded
independently until 1924, when the death of Ludwig Krieghoff brought work

to an end. However, Heinrich Krieghoff (q.v.) perpetuated the use of the
‘S.u.K.’ or ‘S & K’ marks on sporting rifles and shotguns. →Mauser action
sporting rifles were stocked for general sale, and also for supply to August
→Schüler of Suhl. An ‘S. & K.’ mark customarily identified them (cf., ‘S. & H.’).
Sempert & Krieghoff were still being listed in 1941 at Rimbachstrasse 37 in
Suhl, but ceased trading at the end of the Second World War.
Senator A →Suicide Special revolver made by the →Meriden Arms Company of
Meriden, Connecticut, in the late nineteenth century.
Sendero A version of the →Remington M700 bolt-action rifle, introduced in
1994, with a heavy 26in barrel and a stright-comb composite half-stock with a
grey./black mottle finish. Chamberings have included .25–06, .270 Winchester,
7mm Remington Magnum and .300 Winchester Magnum. Introduced in 1996,
the Sendero SF has a non-reflecting ‘Satin Finish’ on its fluted barrel and
stainless-steel action.
Seneca Green A name applied to a short-lived version of the →Remington
→Nylon 66 auto-loading rifle with leaf-green synthetic butts and fore-ends.
See also ‘Apache Black’ and ‘Mohawk Brown’.
Senior A barrel cocking spring air pistol made (in two ‘Marks’) by →Webley &
Scott in .177 and .22; the former dates from c. 1964. An essentially similar
pistol was made by →Mahely Industria y Compania in Buenos Aires, c.
1953–65.
Senn Heinrich Senn (1871–1958) of Bern, Switzerland, then a government arms
inspector, was granted German Patent 310,499 of 31st October 1916 to protect
a modification of the →Parabellum pistol which could fire automatically
when required. A bipod, a water cooled barrel sleeve, and a large capacity box
magazine were amongst the optional features.
Sentinel A break-open BB gun made in the U.S.A. in 1909–15 by the →Markham
Air Rifle Company, with a →Polley type frame and a sheet metal trigger guard.
The ‘Sentinel Repeater’ was similar, but had a repeating device controlled by
the muzzle cap.
Serdyukov Co-designer with →Kraskov of the silenced submachine-gun and
rifle—often known as the →ASS and →VSS respectively.
Serre; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933 as a gunmaker.
Serrifile, Inc., U.S.A.: see ‘Browning’.
Service, usually as ‘The Service’: found on shotgun ammunition handled by
Charles →Hellis & Sons of London and →Norman → Son of Woodbridge and
Framlingham. Made by →Eley-Kynoch, they will bear ‘ICI’ headstamps.
Service Kit Gun, or Model 650. Dating from 1982–7, this →Smith & Wesson
swing-cylinder revolver derived from the standard →Kit Gun, but chambered
.22 Magnum rimfire ammunition instead of the Long Rifle pattern. A heavy
3in barrel, fixed sights and a round-heel butt were standard. See also ‘Target
Kit Gun’.
Service Mark 2: associated with a lifting barrel spring air rifle made by →Webley
& Scott Ltd of Birmingham in 1929–40 (though a few were assembled from pre

war parts in 1945–6.) It was marketed in .177, .22 and .25, often in cased sets
with interchangeable barrels.
Service Master: a variant of the →Government Model Colt-Browning M1911A1
pistol made by →Detonics. Inc., of Bellevue, Washington. It has an extended
grip safety and a refined trigger; construction is usually in stainless steel. See
also ‘Score Master’.
Service Model Ace Chambered for .22 rimfire ammunition, this served as
a trainer for the .45 M1911A1 →Government Model pistol. It was made
from 1937 by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co., work ceasing in 1945. The
minimal recoil of the .22 cartridge was magnified by a →floating chamber to
approximate to that of the .45 ACP round.
Sesquicentennial Guns made by the →Remington Arms Company made in 1966
to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Eliphalet →Remington’s
business. The ‘Model 552 Sesquicentennial’ was a version of the auto-
loading M552 →Speedmaster with an appropriate logo on the left side of the
receiver. The ‘Model 572 Sesquicentennial’ was a →Fieldmaster slide-action
rifle with an inscription lay on the left side of the receiver. The ‘Model 760
Sesquicentennial’ was a variant of the centrefire Model 760 →Gamemaster,
made in small numbers in .30–06 only. These guns had engraved receivers.
The ‘Nylon 66 Sesquicentennial’ was a variant of the standard .22 rimfire
→Nylon 66 auto-loader, with an appropriate inscription on the left side of the
receiver. See also ‘Bicentennial’.
Sestroretsk arms factory, Russia/U.S.SR. Though small-scale facilities had
existed on this particular site for many years, Sestroretsk did not participate
in the mass-production of military weapons until a production-line installed
to make →Mosin-Nagant rifles began operating in 1894 under the supervision
of Sergey Mosin himself. The factory thereafter made millions of weapons,
including the pre-Revolutionary →Fedorov Avtomaty. Its importance declined
under Bolshevik control.
Setra A pneumatic rifle similar to the U.S. made →Sheridan, but made in Spain.
They were brought into Britain in small numbers by →Salter & Varge and may
be found with appropriate marks.
Setter, usually found, as ‘The Setter’, on 12-bore shotgun cartridges supplied by
→Eley Brothers or →Kynoch Ltd prior to the First World War to W.R. →Pape
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Setter A 28-bore pneumatic shotgun made by →Armibrescia in the late 1930s. A
pneumatic rifle of the same type may also exist.
Set trigger A mechanism, commonly used on target guns, in which a lever or
button ‘sets’ the trigger by taking up all the slack in the system; thereafter,
a very slight pressure on the trigger is sufficient to fire. Set triggers come in
many differing designs, some of which combine the function of the setting
and trigger levers in a single component.
Sevart Lambert Sevart; 16 rue Grandgagnage, Liége. A gunmaker working in
Belgium from the 1880s until the First World War.

Severn [‘The…’]. A mark associated with shotgun cartridges handled by Aubrey
→Lewis of Luton.
Seydel & Company Probably merchants and gunmakers’ agents, this business
was recorded at 72 St Mary’s Row, Birmingham, in 1877–9.
Seyffarth Fritz Seyffarth; Zella-Mehlis in Thüringen. A gun- and gun-barrel
making business (Gewehrlaufzieherei) operating in Germany in 1920–45.
Seytre M. Seytre; Saint Étienne, France. Known to have been trading in 1933,
this gunmaker was basically a distributor of sporting guns, including the
6.35mm →Union or ‘Union–France’ automatic pistols purchased in Spain.
Seytre Montagny or ‘Seytre et Montagny’; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933
as gunmakers; still trading in the early 1950s from 68 rue Mulatière.
SFAP: ‘Société Française des Armes Portatives’—see ‘Hotchkiss’.
SFB Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘S.F. →Bugbee’.
SFM, S F M or S.F.M. Marks found in the headstamps of cartridges made by
→Société Française des Munitions.
SFM A mark found on the grips of a 7.65mm five-shot revolver with a folding
trigger and a swing-out cylinder, credited to →Société Française des
Munitions but probably made either in Liége or Saint-Étienne.
S.F.R.J., usually accompanied by a five-point star. ‘Socialist Federal Republic of
Jugoslavia’, found on the grips of M48 →Tokarev pistols made for export to
English-speaking countries.
SG, also known as the ‘SG-43’, this is an abbreviated form of Stankoviy
Goryunova—‘heavy Goryunov’. This identified the 7.62mm SG machine-gun
designed by Petr →Goryunov and his associates during the Second World War,
and used in large numbers by the Soviet armed forces. See also ‘SGM’.
S.G. Co. A mark found on shotgun cartridges loaded with propellant supplied by
the →Schultze Gunpowder Company.
SGM, SGM… An improved or ‘modernised’ form of the →Goryunov machine-
gun (SG or SG-43), this appeared in the 1950s. It was eventually replaced by
the PK, but showed itself to be sturdy and reliable. The SGMB was a flexibly-
mounted vehicle gun derived from the →SGM, with spade grips, and the
SGMT was a fixed-mount tank variant.
sgx This code is said to have been used by E. & F. →Hörster of Solingen on
bayonets and small arms components made in Germany in 1945.
SH superimposition-type monogram, with neither of the letters dominant. Correctly
interpreted as ‘HS’ (q.v.); used by C.G. →Haenel of Suhl.
SH sometimes in the form of a superimposition-type monogram. Correctly read as
‘HS’ (q.v.); used by Herbert →Schmidt of Ostheim an der Rhön, Germany.
SH usually in a diamond. A trademark associated with →Schuyler, Hartley &
Graham of New York City.
SH Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel →Hawkins’.
S&H or S. & H. Trademarks associated with →Schmidt & Habermann of Suhl, but
readily confused with ‘S&K’ (q.v.).
Shaler Harrison Shaler, a U.S. government arms inspector, accepted .45

M1911A1 →Colt-Browning pistols made at the end of the Second World
War by →Remington Rand. The guns were marked ‘HS’, but are easily
distinguished—by their date—from those accepted by H. →Saunders, Horace
→Scott, Harris →Smith, Howard →Stockton and H. →Syrett. See also “U.S.
arms inspectors’ marks”.
Shamrock This trademark was used on shotgun cartridges and →Mayer &
Grammelspacher ‘Diana’ spring-air rifles handled by Frank →Dyke & Co. Ltd
of London in the mid 1920s.
Shannon, Ltd; Shannon Corner, New Malden, Surrey. A maker of magazines for
the British 9mm →Sten Gun during the Second World War. The regional code
‘S 309’ may have been used instead of the company name. See also “British
military manufacturers’ marks”.
Sharp Frank A. Sharp & Son; Poole, Dorset. This ironmongery business sold
shotgun cartridges as ASharp’s Express”. Their origins are unknown.
Sharp William Lacy Sharp. An English gunmaker listed in East London at 7 Little
Alie Street in 1839B50. Subsequent directory entries list ‘Mrs H. Sharp’ at the
same address until 1856, suggesting that her husband had died in 1850 or 1851.
Sharp Rifle Company; Tokyo, Japan. Maker of a modified →Crosman pattern
pneumatic rifle known as the ‘Sharp Innova’. The loading system, consisting
of an automatic plunger or bolt and a side mounted operating catch, differs
radically from its prototype. Sharp has been owned by SKB (q.v.) since the
1980s.
Sharp’s Express See ‘Frank A. →Sharp & Son’.
Sharpe James S. Sharpe; Belmont Street, Aberdeen. The marks of this gun-
and fishing-tackle maker have been found on sporting guns and shotgun
ammunition, made by →Eley-Kynoch, which was distributed under the
tradename ‘The →Scottie’.
Sharpe & Wright; Diamond Buildings, Coombe Road, Brighton 7, Sussex. A
maker of British rifle-type ‘Projectors, Grenade, No. 5 Mk 1/L’, 1944, allotted
the code ‘S 355’. See also “British military manufacturers’ marks”.
Sharps C. Sharps Rifle Company; Big Timber, Montana. This manufacturer
offered a range of Sharps type rifles from 1987 onward. Since 1992, they have
been distributed under the ‘Montana Armory’ name. The Model 1874 has been
offered in chamberings from .40–40 to .40–90, in the guise of Military Rifles,
Military Carbines, Business Rifles, Sporting Rifles No. 1 and No. 1½, or Long
Range Express Sporting Rifles. Announced in 1986, the Model 1875, patterned
on the improved Sharps rifle, has a greatly simplified slab sided receiver and
a shorter operating lever. Chambered for cartridges ranging from .22 Stevens
to .45–90, it had a case hardened receiver, a round or octagonal barrel, and a
straight wrist butt with a shotgun style shoulder plate. Individual patterns
have included a Sporting Rifle, with a 30in octagonal barrel; a Saddle Gun with
a 26in octagon barrel; a Carbine with a 24in round barrel and a half length fore
end retained by a single barrel band; a Business Rifle with a 28in round barrel;
and a 1991-vintage Target & Long Range Model with a long range vernier sight

on the tang, an oval cheek piece, and a checkered steel shoulder plate.
Sharps Christian Sharps was the designer of a dropping-block mechanism reliant
on a breech block which slid downward within a sturdy frame, protected by
U.S. Patent no. 5763 of 12th September 1848 (‘gun with sliding breech pin and
self capping’); combustible cartridges were fired with a side-hammer →cap
lock. The rifles attained undying fame in the hands of the United States
Sharpshooters, who were issued with two thousand double-trigger guns in
1862.
Sharps John Brown Sharps: see under ‘J’.
Sharps Arms Company Formed in 1967 to promote a much modernised
→Sharps-Borchardt action, then acquired by →Colt. Unfortunately,
the project was abandoned in the mid 1970s after less than five hundred
actions had been made by →Bellmore Johnson. These were used to make
presentation grade guns in chamberings ranging from .17 Remington to .458
Winchester.
Sharps-Borchardt rifle A sophisticated hammerless dropping-block breechloader,
this was derived from the familiar Sharps system of 1848 by Hugo
→Borchardt. It was protected by U.S. Patents 185,721 of September 1876 and
206,217 of 23rd July 1878, both being assigned to the Sharps Rifle Company.
The action was designed to cock the striker automatically as the breech-block
descended. A safety lever behind the trigger was applied as the breech was
opened; when the action had been reloaded and closed, the firer could override
the safety by pressing the projecting catch. Sharps made about 23,000 rifles,
beginning in 1878, but the failure of the manufacturer in September 1881
brought work to an end. The guns were sold as the ‘New Model Hammerless’
Business Rifle, Express Rifle, Military Rifle and Carbines, Hunter’s Rifle, Long
Range Rifle, Officer’s Rifle, Short & Mid Range Rifle, Short Range Rifle, and
Sporting Rifle (qq.v.).
Sharps & Hankins; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Relations between the inventor
Christian →Sharps and the manufacturer Richard →Lawrence were never
particularly cordial and, eventually, the inventor sold his shares in the Sharps
Rifle Mfg Co. and entered a partnership with William →Hankins. The new
business intended to make sliding barrel rifles and four barrel .22, .30 or
.32 rimfire sheath-trigger derringers, work continuing in Philadelphia until
Sharps died in 1874. The carbine was protected by U.S. Patent 32,790, granted
in July 1861 to protect a firearm loaded by sliding the barrel forward when
the trigger guard lever was pressed. Production began in 1862, shortly before
receipt of a U.S. Navy order for five hundred fully-stocked rifles chambering
the ‘.52 Sharps & Hankins No. 56’ rimfire cartridge and accompanied by
sword bayonets. These were followed by the army or ‘Old Model Carbine’,
chambering the same ammunition but with a short barrel and a half-length
fore-end. The firing pin was fixed in in the hammer face. Post 1863 ‘New
Model’ carbines had a floating pin in the standing breech, and a safety slider
on the rear of the frame. Guns of this type were used by the army and the

navy, the latter being issued with a leather barrel-sleeve to prevent corrosion.
Federal government acquisitions during the Civil War eventually acquired
7804 Sharps & Hankins carbines, 1468 for the army and 6336 for the navy, but
many others were sold privately.
Sharps rifle The earliest designs, made to the 1848 patent by gunsmith Daniel
→Nippes of Mill Creek, Pennsylvania, had a breech-block that moved
obliquely. A primer-wheel in the frame ahead of the breech block, which could
be removed once the cover had been opened. The guns had →back action
locks and breech levers forged separately from the trigger guard. Octagonal
barrels were retained by a lateral key, and a brass ‘patch box’ appeared in the
butt.
¶ Later guns, made by →Robbins & Lawrence from 1850 onward, substituted
the →Maynard Tape Primer. Most had iron mounts, an adjustable chamber
bushing, and a special platinum alloy sealing ring in the breech block face
to prevent gas leaks. Next came the 1851-pattern rifle, the first to have the
breech lever combined with the trigger guard and the hammer inside the lock
plate. The Maynard Tape Primer was retained, but the receiver was rounded.
¶ The 1852-pattern, made in rifle and carbine forms (sporting and military)
in 1853–4, was essentially similar to the contemporaneous military issue, with
the Sharps-patent disc primer system, with a tube of priming discs in a hole
bored vertically in the lock plate. The guns incorporated the platinum ring
gas check and adjustable chamber bushing, but had a angular receiver and a
conventional outside hammer. Production, though meagre, included a few
large-bore shotguns.
¶ The 1853-pattern rifle was also scarce, but may be found with barrels
ranging from merely 14in to a stupendous 39in. Made by →Robbins &
Lawrence prior to 1855 and then by the Sharps Rifle Company, the M1853
carbine had an improved breech lever pivot pin retainer. Production in
Windsor and Hartford amounted to about 13000 1853-type guns. Two
hundred guns rifles of this type were purchased by the U.S. Navy and the
Marine Corps with half stocks, brass furniture, a single barrel band, and a
bayonet-fitting tenon beneath the muzzle.
¶ The 1855-type carbine was made in asnwer to request fom Britain, though
several hundred .52-calibre examples were delivered to the U.S. Army. They
had the →Maynard-patent tape priming mechanism on the right side of the
receiver, and straight-necked hammers. Other guns of this type were the
1855-type Army Rifle, with full-length stocks, three bands and provision for
a socket bayonet, and the essentially similar but half-stocked Navy Rifle.
Fifty of the latter had an unsuccessful self–cocking system designed by Rollin
→White, linking the hammer with the breech lever.
¶ Trials had often showed that they leaked gas too badly to be acceptable;
though the problems were eased when Sharps inserted a platinum ring in
the breech block face, the first answer was provided by an expandable gas
check ring patented on 1st April 1856 by Hezekiah →Conant of Hartford,

Connecticut, and the final solution was an improved seal patented by Richard
→Lawrence in December 1859.
¶ The perfected 1859-pattern or ‘New Model’ Sharps rifle had the improved
Lawrence-type obturator, changes in the lock work, and a breech block that
moved vertically. The U.S. Navy ordered the first of its .56 calibre rifles in
1859, with full length stocks, two barrel bands, and a bayonet-fitting tenon.
Ordered by the Federal army from C.C. →Bean of New York in June 1861,
‘Sharps Long Range Rifle with bayonets’ was similar, but had three bands and
customarily accepted socket bayonets locking around the base of the front
sight. There was also an essentially similar →Sharpshooters’ Rifle and a short-
barrelled carbine with a tapering half-length fore end, held to the barrel by a
single band.
¶ Revised New Model guns, marked MODEL 1863 on the barrel, can be
identified by the sturdy bed of the back sight replacing the flimsy ‘spring
bed’ of their predecessors. The patch box was abandoned in 1864, the
remaining furniture being iron. The Civil War (1861-5) prevented Sharps from
making sporting rifles in quantity, though more than 80,000 carbines and
nine thousand rifles were purchased by the Federal government. The army
inventory was nearly fifty thousand by the end of 1866, many being converted
for metal case ammunition in the late 1860s.
¶ A few full length rifles were converted to fire metal-case ammunition, and
others were remodelled to half stock design, but the Improved Breech Loading
Sporting Rifle was the first purpose-built metallic-cartridge gun to offered
by the Sharps Rifle Mfg. Co. Guns of this type, dating from 1866–71, were
based on the 1863 type cap lock. An improved half-stock gun appeared in
1869, a cranked firing pin that allowed the side mounted hammer to ignite a
centerfire cartridge, and a new extractor shared the axis pin of the operating
lever. Chamberings ranged from .44 Berdan Short to .52–70.
¶ The U.S. Army trials of 1865 included two dropping block Sharps carbines
with an auxiliary reciprocating extractor bolt protected by a patent granted in
February 1867. In the autumn of 1867, therefore, the U.S. authorities signed
a contract with Sharps to convert cap lock guns to take the standard .50–70
centrefire cartridge. Some guns had already been converted to accept a special
rimfire round, based on the .56–50 Spencer pattern, but problems were solved
only when Richard Lawrence perfected an ‘S’ shape striker that could be fitted
within the existing breech block.
¶ The Model 1870 rifles, used in U.S. Army field trials, mated the barrels of
1863-type →cap lock rifle muskets, lined down from .58, with ‘New Model’
(1863 type) Sharps actions taken from existing carbines. The work was done
in →Springfield Armory in 1870–1. Most of the guns had fore ends held by
two bands, though a few three band examples were also made, but there were
also a few short-barrelled .56–50 carbines with half length fore-ends held by
a single band. Essentially similar ‘Military Model’ rifles and carbines were
offered by the Sharps Rifle Mfg Co. (1870–4) and the Sharps Rifle Company

(1874–6 in Hartford, 1876–8 in Bridgeport). They could be based on the
original (1869) or perfected (1871) sporting rifles.
¶ The 1871-pattern New Model Sporting Rifle could handle the most powerful
sporting cartridges. The receiver was lengthened to form a loading tray, the
firing-pin assembly was modified, the straightened hammer nose to strike
the head of a firing pin set into the breech-block, and the breech-lever spring
assembly was revised. About 25,000 were made by the Sharps Rifle Mfg Co.
(1871–4). Chamberings ranged from .40 Berdan Short to .50–90 ‘Big Fifty’.
¶ The Model 1874 Sporting Rifle was identical with its predecessor, excepting
for the new ‘Sharps Rifle Company’ name. Barrels could be round, half
octagon or fully octagonal, double set triggers were common, and vernier
sights could be supplied on request; pewter fore-end tips were characteristic.
Production continued until 1881, many post-1875 examples chambering new
straight-case cartridges designed specifically to help reloading. Rifles leaving
the Bridgeport factory from 1876 onward had barrels marked OLD RELIABLE.
¶ Perfected sporting rifles were made in a variety of styles, the ‘Business
Rifle’, the ‘English Model’, the ‘Hunter Rifle’, the ‘Long Range Rifle’ and the
‘Mid Range Rifle’. The standard Sharps-action guns were superseded by
the hammerless Sharps-Borchardt (q.v.), but the original exposed-hammer
patterns have proved very popular in recent years with manufacturers such as
Pedersoli, the →Sharps Arms Company, and the →Shiloh Mfg Co.
Sharps Rifle Company; Hartford (1874–6) and Bridgeport (1876–81), Connecticut,
U.S.A. In addition to the better known dropping block rifles, Sharps also made
a few smooth-bore shotguns on the same basic action. A few ‘Old Reliable’
double-barrel hammer shotguns were sold from 1879 until business collapsed
in 1881. Most of them seem to have been purchased from P. →Webley & Sons.
Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company [‘The…’]; Hartford, Connecticut. The great
success of the first Sharps firearms led to the formation of a manufacturing
company in the autumn of 1851, production being subcontracted to →Robbins
& Lawrence. Trading continued until 1874, when the original company was
superseded by the Sharps Rifle Company (above).
Sharpshooter, usually as ‘The Sharpshooter’. A brand name found shotgun
cartridges sold by W.J. →Jeffrey of London and Herbert →Lee of Bishop’s
Stortford, usually made by the Midland Gun Company (headstamped ‘MG’
and ‘B’).
Sharpshooter or ‘Sharp-Shooter’. A name applied to a semi-automatic pistol
made by Hijos de Calixto →Arrizabalaga. Protected by Spanish patent 68,027
(1917), the gun originally had an unprotected trigger and a barrel that could be
tipped at the breech when the safety lever was rotated past the ‘safe’ position.
This allowed the bore to be inspected, or single rounds to be loaded. The first
Sharp-Shooter lacked an extractor, spent cases being expelled by residual
gas pressure; however, as this prevented the expulsion of unfired rounds, a
conventional extractor was added in 1919. See also ‘Jo-Lo-Ar’.
Sharpshooter A spring powered pistol, subsequently known as →Topscore, made

in the U.S.A. for →Healthways, Inc. The Sharpshooter name was retained in
Britain in the mid 1970s, when →Parker Hale was still distributing the gun.
Sharpshooter or ‘Sharpshooter Cadet Rifle’. A name associated with the small
calibre →Martini action training rifles supplied to Australia prior to 1914.
Sharpshooter, or “Sharpshooter’s rifle”. A variant of the 1859-pattern rifle made
by the →Sharps Rifle Mfg Co., these issued to the regiments of United States
Sharpshooters raised in 1861 by Colonel Hiram →Berdan. They had distinctive
double triggers, and all bore the ‘JT’ in cartouche mark of Federal government
arms inspector John Taylor.
Sharpsooter: see ‘Sharpshooter’.
Shatuck Charles S. Shatuck; Hatfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. This gunmaker
received U.S. Patent 210,677 of 4th November 1879 to protect a revolver with a
cylinder which swung out horizontally and then slid forward on its axis pin to
eject spent cartridges. The name is often wrongly listed as ‘Shattuck’.
Shatuck C.S. Shatuck [& Company]; Hatfield, Massachusetts. This gunmaking
and engineering business made →Shatuck patent revolvers, and single barrel
‘The →American’ shotguns from 1880—in succession to →Hyde & Shatuck—
until about 1908. It also made the multi barrel →Unique pistol, patented in
1906 by Oscar →Mossberg.
Shattuck George D. Shattuck. A Federal government arms inspector working
during the American Civil War, Shattuck accepted cap-lock →Colt revolvers
marked ‘GDS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Shatterer. A brand name associated with a revolver made in Belgium prior to
1914 by A. →Bertrand.
Shaul William Shaul. This English gunsmithing business was listed at 3 King
Street, Tower Hill, London E., from 1890 to 1900 and possibly later.
Shaw George Shaw & Company, working from chambers at 35 Temple Row,
Birmingham, Warwickshire, acted as a patent agent for inventors including
Charles →Gardner, Arthur Henry →Hill, Edward Henry →Parsons, Leslie
Bown →Taylor and Frederick →Williams—see British Patents 5495/06 and
2863/06 of 1906, 19,519/07 of 1907 and 19,445/08 of 1908.
Shaw George Shaw, Bowker & Folkes. This patent agency succeeded George
Shaw (above) and moved from 35 Temple Row, Birmingham, to 8 Waterloo
Street, Birmingham, in 1935. See British Patents 425,555 and 425,755, granted
to Arthur Henry →Hill.
Shaw John Shaw; Glossop, Derbyshire, England. Listed in trade directories as a
musical instrument maker, Shaw patented an elastic-band powered airgun in
1849 (English Patent 12728 of 1st August). A few guns were made by Henry
→Holland in the early 1850s, though they used springs rather than elastic
bands to compress the air.
SHB Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘S.H. →Broughton’.
Shearing F. Shearing & Company. This business, a member of the English gun
trade, was listed at 21 Water Lane, London E.C., in 1899–1900.
Sheldon Henry Newton Sheldon; Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. An inventor

and/or patent agent, this man was involved in British Patent 23/76 of 1876
granted to Augustus →Bedford with the collusion of Allison Owen →Scott and
James Rollin Marble →Squire.
Shelvoke George Edward Shelvoke; Britain. See ‘Accles and Shelvoke’.
Shepherd Reginald V. Shepherd [Major]; co-designer with Harold Turpin of the
British →Sten Gun.
Sheridan A multi-stroke pneumatic rifle, designed by Edward →Wackerhagen
and Irwin →Krause, and made by →Sheridan Products, Inc., from 1949
onward. See also →Bimoco Sheridan Torpedo, →Blue Streak and →Silver
Streak.
Sheridan Products, Inc.; Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A. This company was formed by
Edward R. →Wackerhagen in 1947, to exploit a high quality pump up airgun
designed in 1946 in collusion with Irwin R. →Krause. The business was named
after a prominent street in Racine. A large range of 5mm (0.2in) calibre
rifles—pneumatic and gas powered—has been marketed under the brand
names →Blue Streak and →Silver Streak, though a wide variety of models
has been offered under each banner. Super Grade and Sporter rifles have also
been made, as has the →Knocabout cartridge pistol. A solitary carbon dioxide
powered pistol, designated ‘EB’, has also appeared in recent years.
Sheriff’s Model Used generically for almost any short-barrelled ‘Western style
revolver’, particularly a short-barrel version of the Colt →Single Action Army
revolver, lacking an ejector, which was introduced about 1880.
Sheriff’s Model Based on the →Single Action Army Model, about a thousand of
these .45-calibre guns were made in 1961 by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co.,
with ‘SM’-suffix numbers and 3-inch barrels lacking ejector-rod cases. They
were followed by 4560 ‘Third Model’ examples, made by the Firearms Division
of →Colt Industries in 1980–5 for the .44–40 WCF or .45 Long Colt cartridges.
Sherman Charles E. Sherman. This government arms inspector, working in
1842-7 and possibly later, accepted military equipment marked ‘CES’. A
similar mark was used by Clarence →Simpson, but in a much later era.
Sherman George W. Sherman, sometimes listed as ‘Schuman(n)’, accepted →Colt
Dragoon revolves for the U.S. Army shortly before the Civil War began in 1861.
They were marked ‘GWS’.
Sherman Maurice Sherman, a government arms inspector working in the early
1940s, accepted .45 M1911A1 →Colt-Browning pistols marked ‘MS’. See also
“U.S. arms inspectors’ marks” for all three entries.
Shield Cartridge [‘The…’] or “Page-Wood’s Shield Cartridge”. Associated with
shotgun ammunition loaded from →Eley-Kynoch components by T. →Page-
Wood of Bristol. The mark was accompanied by a shield containing the name
and a drawing of a cartridge.
Shilen Edward ‘Ed’ Shilen and Shilen Rifles, Inc.; Ennis, Texas, U.S.A. This
business was formed in 1961 to make gun barrels, progressing to rifles in the
mid 1970s. Built on the proprietary DGA (‘Damn Good Action’) turn-bolt
system, these have been offered in a variety of styles, such as ‘Bench-Rest’,

‘Silhouette’, ’Single Shot’, ‘Sporter’ and ‘Varminter’. More than seventy
chamberings were being listed in 1988, ranging from .17 Remington to .458
Winchester.
Shiloh Sharps Originally known as ‘Shiloh Products’, trading in Farmingdale,
New York, from 1976, this division of the Drovel Tool Company expanded to
become the ‘Shiloh Rifle Mfg. Co., Inc.’ and moved to Big Timber, Montana, in
1983. It is now renowned for high-quality reproductions of →Sharps pattern
dropping block rifles. These range from a re-creation of the →Business Rifle
to a .45-70 ‘Montana Model’ introduced in 1989 to commemorate the state
centennial. A brief summary of the individual guns will be found in John
Walter, Rifles of the World (Krause Publications, third edition, 2005).
ShKAS This was an aircraft machine-gun with an unusually high rate of fire,
designed by Boris →Shpitalny and Irnakhr →Komaritsky in the early 1930s. It
was accepted for service in 1933 and rapidly improved; most authorities now
recognise several separate variants of the basic design. The 20mm →ShVAK
was basically an enlarged version of the ShKAS, developed by →Voronkov
from the basic design.
SHT.L.E. An abbreviated form of →Short Lee Enfield, encountered in designation
marks.
Shillito Thomas R. Shillito. This Brirish patent agency, which occupied chambers
at 89 Chancery Lane, London, acted for Theodor →Hornhauer; see British
Patents 7,932/95 and 23,188/95.
Shipley W.R. Shipley, a government arms inspector, working in the 1890s,
accepted weapons and equipment marked ‘WRS’. See also “U.S. arms
inspectors’ marks”.
Short & Mid Range Rifle (Sharps): see ‘New Model Hammerless Short & Mid
Range Rifle’.
Short Range Rifle (Sharps): see ‘New Model Hammerless Short Range Rifle’.
Short Range Target Rifle (c. 1876–90). This was similar to the Mid Range
pattern, but had a short barrel chambered for cartridges ranging from 38
Extra Long to 46 Rimfire. An aperture sight was normally mounted on the
barrel. See also ‘Remington rifles, rolling-block action’.
Short recoil: see ‘recoil operation’.
Shorty Also known as the ‘Model 9404 →Plainsman Shorty’, this gas-powered
pistol was marketed by →Healthways, Inc.
Shotgun This term has been used to describe any long arm—customarily smooth
bored—used to fire a charge of shot instead of a single heavyweight projectile.
By the 1840s, the development of rudimentary self-contained cartridges and
the earliest breechloaders (e.g., the pinfire →Lefaucheux) allowed the first real
steps to be taken towards the modern shotgun. However, though the origins
of their cartridges lay in France, most of the early advances towards the
modern shotgun were made in Britain.
¶ The top lever is said to have been invented c. 1857 by Samuel →Matthews of
Birmingham, who received a British Patent in October 1863. However, credit

is usually given to Westley →Richards—whose British Patent 2149/58 of 24th
September 1858 ante-dated Matthews’ by some years.
¶ There was considerable variety among the earliest double barrelled guns.
Some had barrels which slid forward (→Bastin system), others tipped
downward (→Lefaucheux), a few moved laterally at the breech (→Jeffries),
and guns such as the →Bacon relied on fixed barrels and sliding bolts. The
biggest problem with the first moving barrel guns lay in the weak ‘single bite’
methods of locking the breech. The locking components were usually placed
in the ‘bar’ or foward extension of the action ahead of the standing breech
(or ‘action face’). When the gun was fired, however, elasticity in the material
allowed the breech to spring briefly and very slightly open. This problem grew
steadily worse as the gun aged, even though gunmakers often incorporated
self adjusting systems to reduce the effects of wear.
¶ Many methods were tried in an attempt to improve the locking system,
including rotary underlevers and barrels which could be moved forward away
from supporting discs on the action face before they were dropped—e.g.,
Dougall →Lock Fast breech. Eventually, in September 1862, Westley Richards
patented the “Doll’s Head”, a small round headed tenon projecting backward
from the top of the barrel block or ‘lump’. When the action was closed, the
doll’s head was locked in a recess in the standing breech to additional support
for the ‘bites’ in the action bar.
¶ The classical under bolt locking mechanism was added by James Purdey
in 1863, while the ‘Wedge Fast’ system was perfected by William Greener in
1873 (British Patent 3084/73). Hundreds of proprietary variations had been
patented by 1900, and treble-, quadruple- and even quintuple-bite locking
systems were being touted by 1914. The →Greener Cross-bolt was particularly
favoured.
¶ The earliest double barrel shotguns were fired by external hammers
inspired by their cap lock predecessors, and often retained—in a debased
form—the fences that had once enveloped the nipples. Some hammers
rebounded, others hit spring loaded →inertia strikers set in the action face,
and a few automatically retracted to half cock when the barrels were dropped.
Attempts were soon made to eliminate the hammers in favour of modernised
‘hammerless’ locks, though these are often properly described as ‘enclosed
hammer’.
¶ The first truly successful hammerless shotgun, patented in 1871 by London
gunmaker Theophilus →Murcott, was made in considerable numbers prior
to about 1876; by 1900, the hammerless gun had largely overhauled hammer
patterns. The earliest hammer guns were usually →back locks. Though a
few →side-lock examples had been made in cap-lock days, locks of this type
became popular only when hammerless shotguns were introduced and barrel-
locking systems had been greatly refined.
¶ The →Anson & Deeley gun, patented in 1875, introduced the ‘Body Action’
or →box lock with the mechanism mounted directly into the breech housing

instead of being carried on separate detachable plates. The earliest shotguns
were ‘inert’ or ‘passive’, requiring the firer to hold the components of the
breech closed whilst he activated the locking mechanism. This wasted effort
inspired gunmakers to produce →snap-action systems with breeches which
shut automatically as the barrels were returned to battery. Shotguns of this
type may also be →assisted opening or →self opening.
¶ Some guns (‘ejectors’) expel spent cases automatically and others can be set
to do so when required, though many guns (‘non ejectors’) leave the firer to
remove spent cases and unfired shells. Efficient single trigger systems capable
of firing barrels sequentially or selectively, safety devices, and cocking/loading
indicators have all been patented in large numbers.
¶ Most of the shotguns made prior to 1914 were drop barrel-designs with
their barrels placed side by side. There were exceptions such as the fixed barrel
French →Darne, which had a sliding breech, and the development of multi-
shot →combination weapons encouraged the introduction of the →over/
under (or ‘superimposed’) style. Though the majority of over/under guns
are drop-barrel designs, exceptions such as the side-opening →Britte and the
sliding-barrel →Bretton have been made. Single barrel guns have taken drop-
barrel forms (hammer or hammerless, ejecting or non ejector) or the study
fixed-barrel bolt action form which has found special favour in North America
since the First World War. The multi-shot pump or →slide action gun was
established by the Spencer-Roper guns, patented in the U.S.A. in 1882, or in
the form of the first truly successful auto-loading shotgun patented by John
Browning in 1900–4.
¶ Among the finest sources of information about shotguns are W.W.
Greener’s The Gun and Its Development (particularly the ninth edition of
1910); The Modern Shotgun by Major Sir Gerald Burrard (1931); and The British
Shotgun, in two volumes, by David Baker & Ian Crudgington (1981).
Shot sizes The complexity of the system applied to →bore sizes (‘gauge’) is
matched by the quirky method of classifying the diameters of shot, which
apparently originated in the mesh sizes of the grading sieves. The standard
sizes range from No. 12 Shot—with a diameter of merely .05in—up to No.
1 (.16), then to ‘B’ (.17), ‘Air Rifle’ (.175), ‘BB’ (.18) and ‘BBB’ (.19). The next
series extends from ‘T’ (.20) to ‘TTTT’ (.23), followed by No. 4 Buck (.24) to
No. 00 Buck (.33). ‘TTT’ and ‘TTTT’ sizes have also been known as ‘F’ and
‘FF’ respectively, and the most commonly encountered ‘numbered sizes’ are
regarded as 2, 4–6, 7½, 8 and 9.
Shpagin Georgiy Semyenovitch Shpagin is now best known as the designer of the
Soviet →PPSh, a submachine-gun introduced (and made in huge quantities)
during the Second World War. Shpagin, born in 1897 in Klyushnikovo, near
Kovrov, was drafted into the tsarist army in 1916 as a regimental armourer—
skills he used to advantage as a gunsmith attached to a Red Army infantry
regiment immediately after the 1917 Revolution. Discharged from military
service in 1920, Shpagin joined the experimental workshop of the →Kovrov

ordnance factory, where Vladimir →Federov and Vasiliy →Degtyarev were
already employed. Georgiy Shpagin was involved in the creation of the
12.7mm →DShK machine-gun, perfected in 1938, before developing the PPSh.
Much of his wartime service was devoted to developing mass-production
techniques for his submachine-gun in the factory to which he and many of his
colleagues had been evacuated after the German invasion of the Soviet Union
in 1941. Shpagin also designed signal pistols; much decorated, he died in 1952.
Shpital’nyy Boris Gabrielovich Shpital’niyy, born in Rostov-on-Don in 1907,
graduated from the Moscow Mechanical Institute in 1927, specialising in the
manufacture of machinery and tools for the aviation industry. Working in the
Scientific Automotor Institute (NAMI), he created the →ShKAS 7.62mm high-
speed aircraft machine-gun in collaboration with Irnakhr →Komaritskiy. This
then laid the basis for the 12.7mm ShVAK. In 1934, Shpital’nyy was reassigned
to head a Special Design Bureau studying the problems of fitting effectual
large-calibre cannon in aircraft. He eventually became a professor in the
Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Photography and Cartography, where he
remained until 1953. Greatly honoured for his contributions to Soviet small-
arms design, Shpital’nyy also experimented with submachine-guns. He died
in 1972.
Shue Earl V. Shue; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Patentee of a spring air break
open BB gun on 30th June 1914 (U.S. Patent 1,102,904), very similar to the
→Daisy of 1892.
Shue Air Rifle [Manufacturing] Company; Milwaukee and Neceeda, Wisconsin,
U.S.A. This business was formed in 1914 to exploit the BB gun designed by
Earl →Shue, though few (if any) survive. It reappeared in Neceeda in the early
1920s, claiming to have developed a powerful airgun and to have perfected a
BB shot making machine, but disappeared for good in 1923.
Shue’s Special A brand name associated with shotguns made by the →Crescent
Gun Company.
Shuffreys Ltd, Wallsall, Staffordshire. The marks of this gun- and fishing-tackle
distributor have been found on shotgun ammunition loaded by →Kynoch Ltd
of Birmingham prior to 1914, including ‘The →Beacon’.
Shuttleworth. S. Shuttleworth, a London-based gunmaker, was recorded in 1877
at 51 Bishopsgate Street Within, E.C.
SHW Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Sheffield H.
→Wright’.
SIA A superimposition-type monogram without dominant letters. Found on
revolvers made (or perhaps simply distributed) in the U.S.A. by →Security
Industries of America, Inc.
S.I.C.Co. This mark is found in the headstamps of ammunition made by (or
perhaps for) the →Sportsman’s International Cartridge Co. of Kansas City.
Sickels Arms Company A name found on shotguns handled by the H. & D.
→Folsom Arms Co., possibly imported from Europe.
Side lock This term refers to a method of construction—originating in

snaphance and flint lock days—where the main spring lay on the attachment
or ‘lock’ plate ahead of the cock. This system was perpetuated on the first
generation of military metallic cartridge guns, but found its greatest favour on
double barrel shotguns even though the external hammers were soon replaced
with enclosed hammers or internal strikers. Side locks remain popular on side
by side doubles, particularly the best grades, because they give the engraver
an ideal platform to display his skills. On over/under shotguns, however,
the side lock has been almost universally superseded by the →box lock, even
though, on high-quality over/unders, a false side plate is often used as a base
for engraving.
Sidem International SA These Brussels-based agents for the original ArmaLite
AR 10 rifle were responsible for sales made in Europe and North Africa, c.
1957B60.
Side-plate lock: see ‘Side lock’.
Side Snap A name applied to a single barrel box lock central hammer shotgun
made in the U.S.A. by Iver →Johnson from c. 1885 until the early 1900s.
Sidorenko Co-designer with →Malinovsky of the Sidorenko-Malinovsky tripod
mount for the →SGM machine-gun.
Siebelist A. Siebelist & Co.; Goldlauter and Heidersbach bei Suhl in Thüringen.
Said to have been listed in German trade directories as a wholesaler of
sporting guns and ammunition, probably in the 1920s.
Siebelist Christian Siebelist; Suhl in Thüringen. A gunmaker trading in Germany
in the early twentieth century.
Siebert Anton Siebert; Carlsbad, Bohemia (Austria-Hungary prior to 1918,
Czechoslovakia thereafter). Maker of a crank wound volute spring airgun with
a set trigger, c. 1850.
SIG An abbreviated form of ‘Schweizeriche Industrie Gesellschaft’ (q.v.).
SIG Hämmerli Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG, q.v.) acquired the
shareholding of the →Hammerli igunmaking business n 1971, but the latter
has continued trading under its own name.
SIG Sauer A name denoting a co-operative venture between →Schweizerische
Industrie Gesellschaft and J.P. →Sauer & Sohn GmbH. The original intention
was to circumvent Swiss federal law and export handguns designed by SIG.
The first of these were the P220, a modified →Colt-Browning with the barrel
block locking into an open-top slide, and the P230 personal defence pistol.
The P220 was adopted by the Swiss army as the ‘9mm Pistole M75’, paving the
way for a series of compact derivatives—P225 (9mm Parabellum, eight-round
magazine), P226 (9mm Parabellum, fifteen rounds), P228 9mm Parabellum,
thirteen rounds), P229 (.40 S&W, twelve rounds) and P239 (.357 SIG, 9mm
Parabellum, .40 S&W, seven rounds). The general tendency has been to make
these simpler, though improvements have been made in the trigger and safety
systems, ambidexterous controls have been added, magazine capacities have
been enlarged as far as practicable, and new chamberings have been offered.
The P230 was offered in 7.65mm Auto and 9mm Short, but the former was

abandoned c. 1985 and the latter when the improved P232 appeared in 1996.
The SSG 2000 (1983) and SSG 3000 (1992) sniper rifles have also been offered
on the basis of Sauer’s bolt-action sporting guns.
Sigaud; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933 as a gunmaker. Listed in 1951 as
‘Sigaud Fils’, with premises at 56 cours Fauriel.
Sights, collimating Though image intensifying sights have made tremendous
progress in recent years, they are still expensive compared with optical sights.
Beginning with Singlepoint, introduced in the 1970s, attempts have been
made to enhance snap shooting with sighting equipment which relies on an
optical illusion. Collimator sights combine an aiming mark within the sight
body, illuminated either by ambient light or by electrical batteries, with the
ability of the firer’s binocular eyesight to accommodate the reflected aiming
mark and a view of the target simultaneously. Singlepoint appeared to be
projecting a red dot onto the target and undoubtedly facilitated rapid fire, but
few of these sights—even those with powered reticles—have proved to be of
much use in darkness. Ambient light reflectors are also generally ineffective
under dark to light conditions.
¶ Collimator sights lost favour for much of the early 1990s, even though the
South African Armson OES (‘Occluded Eye Sight’) and the Swedish AimPoint
have been touted with vigour. However, FN Herstal is currently promoting a
powered sight of this general class on its P 90 Individual Weapon.
Sights, electro-optical The first attempts to improve weapons sights relied on
straightforward optical means, magnifying the image so that the target could
be seen more clearly, but the gains were limited by the performance of the
human eye—which receives electromagnetic radiation in the form of ‘light’
but can only resolve a tiny part of the spectrum. The visible band occupies
an almost infinitesimal part of a total electromagnetic spectrum, ranging
from radio waves at one extreme to gamma rays at the other, and thoughts
soon turned to extending human sight by concentrating on the portion of
the infra red spectrum nearest the visible band. The German vehicle control
system known as Fahrzeug Gerät 1229, developed durinmg the Second World
War by the Forchungsanstalt der Deutschen Reichspost in collusion with
Leitz of Wetzlar, presented the human eye with an otherwise unseen image
by ‘converting’ radiation with wavelengths in the near infra red part of the
spectrum. Resolution was initially very poor, until the problems were eased
by adding an infra red lamp to flood the target area. However, this active
system allowed an adversary equipped with a passive detector to see the
infra red lamp without being seen. FG 1229 was soon adapted to become the
Zielgerät 1229 ‘Vampir’, which was tested on the Kar. 98k, Gew. 43 and MP. 43/
Stg. 44. A 13cm diameter transmitting lamp accompanied a converter with
a magnifying eye piece lens in a telescope like tube, but a separate battery-
pack electrical supply was necessary. Vampir inspired the U.S.A. to develop
the SniperScope, which wasthe first entirely self contained passive viewer
to be successful. The greatest single advance made since the Second World

War concerns the converter, which, helped by advances in technology and
progressive miniaturisation, can enhance the image electronically. Most
intensifier sights are essentially a television tube inserted in a telescope
sight between the objective and eye piece lenses. Light from the target—
natural or boosted by a floodlight—enters through the objective lens and is
focussed onto the front element of the converter. Photons provided by the
energy entering from the target image cause electrons to be emitted from the
converter’s photo cathode and focused onto a phosphorescing screen that in
turn emits the photons that reconstruct an image. The key to success was the
degree of amplification, releasing as many electrons as possible for each initial
photon strike. Though the cascade tubes of the first generation sights were
very bulky, the inclusion of additional intermediate amplification stages gave
surprisingly good performance and 60,000 fold gains were not uncommon.
The major drawbacks of these first generation intensifier sights were expense,
excessive size and the delicacy of the converter unit. Improvements in
converters, which have now generally changed from cascade type photo
cathodes to fibre optic micro channel plates, have allowed intensifier sights to
be reduced to surprisingly compact dimensions. Their performance remains
much the same as their predecessors (perhaps limited by maximum attainable
image gain) and the optical components remain largely unchanged, but a
considerable reduction in manufacturing costs has been reflected in price.
Powered by two 1.5-volt AA batteries, the Pilkington Optronics Kite Night
Sight offers 4× magnification. It is merely 255mm long, has a 73mm diameter
objective lens, and weighs about 1200gm with its batteries. Intensifiers are
at their best in conditions ranging from overcast starlight to full moonlight
with light cloud cover. Full moonlight may bring excessive brightness and the
beginning of black out, whereas overcast starlight or unbroken cloud cover
may reduce even a third generation intensifier to impotence in woodland.
Sights, fixed (‘iron’) An appreciation of the curved trajectory of projectiles
created multi setting sights, often in the form of standing plates pierced with
several sighting holes. Folding leaf sights made an early appearance, and tube
sights had become popular by the end of the sixteenth century. A sprung
sight block sliding along a stepped elevator had also been tried long before it
attained great prominence in the U.S.A. in the nineteenth century.
¶ Attempts had been made early in the eighteenth century to provide back
sights which could be adjusted by screws either vertically (‘elevation’) or
laterally (‘drift’ or ‘windage’). These were generally made by instrument
makers, however, and did not become common until improvements in
machine tool design were made early in the nineteenth century.
¶ Back sight design remained surprisingly static for many years, largely
because the performance of guns remained unchanged. The first real
improvement came with the adoption of the self expanding ammunition that,
virtually at a stroke, increased maximum effective range many times over and
showed the need for more efficient sights. Fixed standing block sights were

thereafter confined to short range weapons such as handguns and carbines; on
infantry rifles, however, the leaf sight—usually combining a stepped base and
a pivoting leaf or ‘ladder’—became popular for more than a hundred years.
Commonly found in central Europe, particularly in Switzerland and southern
Germany, the tangent sight had an arm that could be elevated either by
turning a knob or by sliding a control block horizontally along its bed.
¶ Tangent and leaf type back sights were comparatively delicate and expensive
to make. The rise of close-range trench warfare in the twentieth century
suggested that refinement was unnecessary, and ‘battle sights’ appeared.
These were customarily set for only one or two ranges, but were sturdy and
dependable.
¶ This simplification process may be seen in some late twentieth-century
designs, but a compromise is usually accepted; the drum sight favoured by
Heckler & Koch and the rocking ‘L’ of the FNC typify the balance that must
be sought between ease of use and accuracy of setting. The open sights of
the 1990s include standing notched blocks, vertically sliding plates controlled
by finger wheels, multiple leaves pivoted on a single block, and the so called
Express sights, which had a rank of several separately-pivoting folding
leaves. The Cape [of Good Hope] sight—a useful, but apparently artificial
designation—was a variant of the Express pattern with several small folding
leaves and a large leaf and slider for longer ranges. The semi-buckhorn sight,
with a sprung leaf and a notched elevator, remains popular in the North
America. A flat spring bent into an open notch may be elevated by a sliding
stepped plate; alternatively, a screw may raise the leaf. Sights of this type
were once known as ‘Rocky Mountain Sights’ when fitted with a buck horn
sighting notch.
¶ Tangent-leaf sights of differing forms are still used in large numbers,
alongside aperture or ‘peep’ sights ranging from the simplest battle pattern to
micro adjustable competition diopter sights with integral filters and adjustable
irises. The finest target sights are made in Europe by Anschütz, Feinwerkbau,
Grünel & Elmiger (‘Elite’ brand), Tanner, Walther and others. Front sights
still generally consist of a simple ramp mounted blade or barleycorn (an
inverted ‘V’), often protected by a sheet steel cover, but luminous dots,
coloured inserts and white beads may be added to improve contrast.
Sights, optical Coarse adjustment, poor regulation, and the excessive width of
the front sight blade/back sight notch combination were highlighted when
engagement distance stretched to 1000 yards or more. Initial attempts to
satisfy long range requirements with pendulum, folding bar and elongated-
ladder sights characterised a period when complexity could be mistaken
as a mark of technological advance. A better solution was provided by the
telescope, which had appeared early in the seventeenth century and become
commonplace within a hundred years. The introduction of the first practicable
telescope rifle-sight is not known with certainty, though a London gunsmith,
Isaac Riviere, was offering them in the early 1830s and optically sighted

target rifles had attained limited popularity in the the U.S.A. by the time
of the American Civil War (1861–5). Major Davidson patented his optical
sight in Britain in 1862, persuading the British Army to undertake a trial in
conjunction with a .451 Whitworth cap lock rifle in 1865. Not until the 1880s
were trials undertaken with vigour, but the sights were mounted far too high
to be successful and their eye relief was poor.
¶ The modern optical sight is usually a seamless tube, with a diameter of
25mm or 30mm, drawn from aluminium or sheet steel. It can be anodised,
blacked, nickelled, chromed, or clad in rubberised armour. The barrel of the
sight contains a series of lenses, a reticle, and a method of adjusting focus.
Most modern lenses consist of several individual elements. The lens farthest
from the shooter’s eye, called the objective, forms the ‘primary image’—which,
but for the inclusion of a separate erector lens, would be inverted. The image
passes out through the eyepiece to enter the pupil of the firer’s eye. Optical
sights normally magnify the image, but the final size may vary between a
modest fifty per cent gain (1.5×) and a twentyfold increase (20×).
¶ Though problems are potentially very serious, manufacturing standards are
surprisingly high and even the cheapest sights offer acceptable performance.
A discussion of the many problems that can be associated with optical sights,
from chromatic aberration to poor image brightness, may be found in The Rifle
Book by John Walter (Arms & Armour Press, 1987). Sights are usually supplied
with detachable lens caps, the translucent patterns doubling as filters for use
on particularly bright days. Others will be encountered with range finding
graticles and some even offer rubberised ‘armour’, which is very useful for
field use.
¶ The British Army currently accepts 4× sights as the best compromise of
magnification and field of view, but the Austrian AUG has a fixed-focus 1.5×
pattern and the German H&K G36 has a 3× sight. Many leading gunmakers
offer ‘own brand’ telescope sights, though virtually all are made by the same
little group of manufacturers in Japan, and the differences among the sights
are often simply markings and external finish. Zeiss and Schmidt & Bender
in Germany, Kahles and Swarovski Optik in Austria are among the leading
Eueopean manufacturers; Bushnell, Bausch & Lomb and Weaver still make
their own lenses in the U.S.A., but no British manufacturers survive.
¶ Among the terms associated with optical sights are anastigmatic, indicating
that an attempt has been to correct astigmatism; achromatic, for chromatic
aberration (inability to focus light rays at a single point); orthoscopic, where
image distortion has been minimised; and aplanatic if corrected for spherical
aberration. A ‘Relative Brightness’ value may be obtained by dividing the
effective diameter of the objective lens by the sight aperture and squaring
the result; if a 6x telescope sight has an objective lens diameter of 40mm
and a sight aperture of 5mm, therefore, its relative brightness is 64 (40÷5=8;
8×8=64). The human eye adjusts automatically to ambient light, but its iris
diameter rarely exceeds 3mm in daylight and relative brightness greater than

9–10 is wasted: at dusk, the iris can expand to a little over 5mm for an optimal
relative brightness of 25–30. Some large objective sights may provide relative
brightnesses as great as 100, allowing the eye to see detail in conditions where
ambient light is insufficient to satisfy even the fully opened iris.
Sights, target designating The basis of many modern targeting systems is a laser
beam, though the details vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer.
The principle of the laser (an acronym of ‘Light Amplified by Stimulated
Emission of Radiation’) has been known for many years, but the first
commercially practicable system was not perfected until the early 1960s.
Individual atoms are excited with a beam of light to generate additional
radiation in phase with the light beam, which is thus reinforced. The results
can be magnified to produce a beam of coherent (single-frequency) light of
great power. This system has been widely touted as the ‘death ray’, but a more
immediate benefit has been the development of continuous line projectors
to assist in medicine or with surveying tasks. Lasers of this type, usually gas
discharge patterns, inspired the development of laser designators or aiming
projectors. Some designators operate in the visible spectrum, projecting a
beam which can be seen by the firer and the target at all times, whilst others
operate in the infra red bands and require a head set equipped with monocular
intensifier type detector tubes. Designator systems undoubtedly improve
shooting skills, particularly snap shooting, but the designator unit must be
activated to obtain a sighting mark and proceeding too leisurely can encourage
counter sniping. Restrictions are also placed on peripheral vision by head set
construction.
Sights, thermal imaging Similar to intensifiers in many respects, these rely on
a different operating system—reconstructing images from tiny differences
in thermal emissions. Though these emissions are customarily absorbed or
scattered by the atmosphere by the time they reach the firer, there are two
principal ‘windows’ where they penetrate the atmosphere efficiently enough
to allow good images to be reconstructed. Unfortunately, thermal imaging
sensors need to be cooled continuously (often relying on liquid nitrogen)
and are usually bulky. Officine Galileo offered a thermal imaging/image
intensifying sight in the 1980s, which had the ability to superimpose the infra
red and thermal emission images to improve performance, and development
potential may still lie in multi system sights of this type.
Sigmund Pumps Ltd of Gateshead-on-Tyne, Northumberland, England, made
drum magazines for the British .303 →Bren Gun during the Second World
War. These were often marked with the code ‘N 65’ instead of the company
name. See also “British military manufacturers’ marks”.
Signature, usually as ‘The Signature’: associated with shotgun ammunition loaded
for →Cole & Son of Devizes and Portsmouth.
Signature A brand name associated with rifles made from 1987 by →McMillan
Gunworks, Inc., of Phoenix, Arizona. The Signature Classic Sporter
(introduced in 1987), built on a →Mauser-type bolt action, chambered

cartridges ranging from .22–250 to .375 H&H Magnum. The ‘Signature
Alaskan’ (1989) had a folding-leaf back sight and nickel-plated metalwork; the
‘Signature Mountain Rifle’ (1989), in chamberings from .270 Winchester to
.300 Winchester Magnum, had a titanium-alloy receiver and a black fibreglass
stock; and the ‘Signature Super Varmint’ (1989), offered in options ranging
from .220 Swift to .308 Winchester, had a heavy barrel in a specially bedded
synthetic stock.
Silber & Fleming Ltd. was a merchants and gunmakers’ agent, listed at ‘562, 62 &
71 Wood Street, and 7 & 10 Fell Street, London E.C., in 1886–90, and in Wood
Street and London Wall in 1891–7.
Silencer A device attached to the muzzle of a gun—or, alternatively, incorporated
in its construction—whereby the gases emerging from the barrel are trapped,
then circulated in expansion chambers to allow their temperature and
pressure to drop before release to the atmosphere occurs. This prevents the
usual noise of the muzzle blast. Silencers are rarely encountered on rifles, as
the excessive muzzle velocity of most cartridges necessitates the use of special
low power subsonic ammunition. The first practicable silencer was patented
by Hiram Percy →Maxim in 1909 and made in quantity by the Maxim Patent
Silencer Company.
Silesia Found in the headstamps of shotgun cartridges advertised in 1911 by A.L.
→Frank; possibly made by →Munitionswerke Schönebeck.
Silhouette, or ‘Model 29 Silhouette’. A .44 →Magnum revolver made in
Springfield, Massachusetts, by →Smith & Wesson.
Silin Vladimir Silin. This Soviet inventor was responsible for a universal or
general-purpose machine-gun based on the →Goryunov, but his prototypes
were not acceptable.
Silvanus This brand name was found on shotgun cartridges made in Germany
prior to 1914, probably by →Cramer & Buchholz.
Silver S.W. Silver & Company of London and Manchester distributed guns,
ammunition, sporting goods and camping equipment. An insert in W.W.
Greener’s Modern Breech-Loaders (1871) advertised “The Explorer’s Room”,
66 & 67 Cornhill, London, as vital to ‘Officers departing on Foreogn Service,
Exploeres, Missionaries and Emigrants, [who] may, without the expenditure
of valuable time, obtain every article of equipment required to meet the
exigencies of Camp Life, Travel or Exploration’. Among the items offered were
AThe Settler’s Double Gun, Muzzle Loading, 11-bore…, shoots with either shot
or ball Rifles, Revolvers, Kives, &c.” Premises were listed at 2–4 Bishopsgate
Within (the principal warehouse) and 100 Market Street, Manchester.
Premises in Sun Court, Cornhill, London, were first listed in 1882. Additional
premises in Old Bond Street were opened in 1890, and the directories for
1892–4 record Silver not only at Sun Court and Old Bond Street, but also at 11
Leadenhall Street and 15 Bury Street, St Mary Axe. By 1895, however, only 67
Cornhill was being used, where the business remained when the trading style
became ‘S.W. Silver & Co. & B. Edgington Ltd’ in 1899. Silver’s marks will be

found on shotgun and sporting-rifle ammunition, usually loaded by →Eley
Brothers.
Silver Jet An airgun pellet similar to the obsolete British →Lane’s Triumph,
made by →Hasuike Sasakusho of Osaka, Japan. See also ‘Jet’.
Silver Ray [‘The…’]. A mark reported on shotgun ammunition made in
Birmingham by the →Mullerite Cartridge Works.
Simarin Anatoly Alexeyevich Simarin was co-designer with →Lev Kulikov and
Tikhon →Lashnev of the Soviet 5.45mm →PSM automatic pistol. Born
in 1936 in Krasnoye, in the Tula district, Simarin graduated from the Tula
Mechanical Insitute in 1957 and was immediately assigned to a design bureau.
He has been credited with developing the first single-stroke pneumatic pistol
to be made in the USSR, and also participated in the development of the SMP-
3 nail-driving gun powered by a .22-calibre blank cartridge. Simarin, Lashnev
and Kulikov developed an efficient rapid-fire target pistol in the late 1960s,
which became the mainstay of Soviet shooting teams for many years; this gun
inspired work on the small-calibre PSM. Anatoliy Simarin died suddenly in
1991.
Simco A short lived pneumatic rifle made by the →Sims Rifle Company until the
early 1950s.
Simon Gebrüder Simon; Schmalkalden in Thüringen, Germany. This gunmaking
business, active in the period between the world wars, specialised in target
and hunting rifles. It is often mistakenly linked with the →Simson family of
Suhl.
Simonds Frank A. Simonds; Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A. Co-patentee of a
spring air BB Gun with Chauncey H. →Fisher and Hugh C. →Ross, U.S. Patent
xxxx of 13th December 1901. This was subsequently exploited by the →Rapid
Rifle Company.
Simonis Albert Simonis; Liége. A Belgian-based gunsmith active prior to the
First World War. A founder member of les →Fabricants d’armes réunis, 1886,
and of →Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre in 1889. A maker of revolvers
from the 1870s onward.
Simonov Sergey Gavrilovich Simonov was born in 1894 in the village of
Fedotovo, near Vladimir, into the peasantry and apprenticed to a blacksmith
at the age of sixteen. After working for a small engineering business, Simonov
moved to the Kovrov machine-gun factory in 1918. By 1929 he had become
‘Senior Master Gunsmith’ and head of the assembly shop, and his talents as
a designer had soon been recognised. From 1933 until his retirement in 1950,
Simonov headed several design bureaux in Soviet ordnance factories. His first
designs, for a light machine-gun and an automatic rifle, were crested in 1922–3
but had no lasting effects on the small-arms of the red Army; more successful
were the →Simonov automatic rifle (AVS) of 1936, the first automatic rifle to
be adopted in the Red Army since the Fedorov Avtomat, and the →Simonov
anti-tank rifle or PTRS of 1941. Sergey Simonov worked throughout the
Second World War to perfect his abortive 1941-pattern semi-automatic

rifle, eventually transforming it for the 7.62×39 intermediate cartridge. The
resulting →SKS was adopted in 1949 to safeguard the possible failure of the
→Kalashnikov assault rifle. Decorated with the Hero of Socialist Labour
award, among others, Simonov died in 1986 after a particularly long and
distinguished career.
Simonov Vladimir Vasilyevich Simonov, nephew of Sergey Gavrilovich, was born
in Kovrov in 1935. After completing a mine-engineering course in the Poldolsk
Industrial-Technical College in 1955, he began work at the Central Scientific
Research Institute for Precision Engineering. In addition to research work in
other subjects, V.V. Simonov has been responsible for the →APS (a silenced
version of the Stechkin pistol) and the →SSP-1 underwater pistol.
Simonov anti-tank rifle (Protitotankovoye Ruzhe Simonova, ‘PTRS’). Developed
in haste immediately after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the
summer of 1941 and ordered into production ‘off the drawing board’ together
with the simpler bolt-action →Degtyarev competitor (PTRD), this giant auto-
loading rifle chambered a powerful 14.5×114 cartridge. The PTRS relied on a
conventional gas system with an adjustable regulator, and had a box magazine
loaded with a five-round clip. Though more than 100,000 were made, the gun
was too large and too sophisticated to be cost-efficient in machine time; the
simpler PTRD, therefore, was made in far larger numbers.
Simonov automatic rifle (AVS). Sergey Simonov began his design work in the
Kovrov in 1922, but ten years of comparative testing elapsed before the 1931-
type rifle was approved for service trials. These showed that improvements
were needed, but finally, on 22nd March 1934, the Simonov rifle was adopted
for service. Series production of the AVS (or ‘AVS36’) began in Izhevsk in
1937, but combat experience showed their weaknesses. Construction was
too light to withstand prolonged automatic fire (the guns weighed only 4.5kg
empty) and the vertically-moving locking block jammed too easily. Changes
were made as production progressed, losing the virtues of interchangeabiliy,
but work stopped in favour of the →Tokarev in 1939 after about 66,000
1936-type guns had been made. Simonov had been preparing a better design,
but had fallen out of favour. The improved gun became the 7.62×54R Model
1941, and this in turn became the 7.62×39 Samozariadniya Karabina Simonova
(‘SKS’) in 1949. The SKS was made in quantity in the Soviet Union, but the
→Kalashnikov assault rifle was preferred. However, copies of the Simonov
design were made in huge numbers elsewhere—particularly in the People’s
Republic of China, where output may have exceeded twenty million. Others
were made in the German Democratic Republic and Yugoslavia. Additional
details will be found in John Walter Rifles of the World (Krause Publications,
third edition, 2006) and Soviet Small-Arms and Ammunition by David N.
Bolotin (Finnish Arms Museum Foundation/Handgun Press, 1995).
Simonov underwater pistol, SPP-1. Apparently dating from the late 1960s, this
four-barrel design fires 4.5mm darts inserted in modified 7.62×39 cases. These
are loaded as four-round clips simply by breaking the action open. The double-

action self-cocking striker fires each barrel sequentially, novelty lying more in
the ammunition than the gun itself.
Simple Rifles were made in China, for the Japanese occupation forces, at the end
of the Second World War. A crude but otherwise conventional emergency
weapon, the first single shot ‘Simple Rifle’ fired the 7.7mm Type 99 round.
This proved much too powerful, and was speedily replaced by the 8mm pistol
cartridge. Simple Rifles had slab pattern butts and split bridge receivers.
Locking relied on the base of the bolt handle, while the trigger system often
consisted simply of a spring and lever engaging directly in the cocking piece.
The only contractors thus far identified are Toa Ironworks, Shanghai; Nanking
arsenal; the Sixth Army repair depot, Tung Shan; and the Chi Fo, Wang Shih
and Shu Chow workshops in Tung Shan.
Simplex A name associated with a revolver sold in Belgium prior to the First
World War by A. →Rongé.
Simplex This was a self-cocking single-barrel shotgun made in 12- or 16-bore by
→Manufacture Française d’Armes et Cycles. A simple design with an internal
or external hammer, the action was opened by an underlever doubling as
the trigger guard and locked by a horizontal slide entering a recess in the
barrel-block. An automatic ejector was fitted. Some guns will be found with
decoration ranging from simple scoll panels to overall engraving. See also
‘Supra-Simplex’.
Simplex A mark found on the grips of →Bergmann-Simplex pistols, made in
Germany and possibly also Belgium or France in the early twentieth century.
Simplex-Canardier An 80cm-barrelled 10-bore variant of the Simplex (above),
intended for duck hunting. A large standing-block back sight could be found
on top of the breech.
Simplex-Junior A lightweight variant of the Simplex (above) in 20- or 24-bore.
Simplex A very low powered U.S.-made BB gun, cocked by a thumb hammer and
made of two pieces of sheet metal by the →Chicago Rifle Mfg Co., 1898–1900.
Simpson Piccadilly; London. The name of this gunsmith (gentlemen’s outfitter?)
Has been reported on 12-bore shotgun cartridges of unknown provenance.
Simpson Clarence E. Simpson. This government arms inspector, working shortly
before the Second World War began, accepted .45 M1911A1 →Colt-Browning
pistols marked ‘CES’. A similar mark was used prior to the American Civil War
by Charles E. →Sherman. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Simpson George Simpson of Hartford, Connecticut, was co-patentee with
William →Robertson of a breech-loading carbine tested by the U.S. Army in
1866.
Sims John G. Sims: see ‘John G. →Syms’.
Sims Rifle Company; California, U.S.A. This short lived business made the
unsuccessful →Simco pump-up pneumatic rifle, introduced in 1948/9 as a
potential rival for the →Benjamin and →Crosman types. The Sims company
was liquidated in 1953.
Simson & Companie; Waffen- u. Fahrzeugfabrik; Suhl in Thüringen. The Simson

brothers, Löb and Moses, opened a shop in Suhl in 1850 to sell clothes and
textiles. In 1854, the brothers bought a third-share in a forge with a water-
powered steel hammer owned by Andreas Bauer; in 1856, Löb and Moses
founded ‘Simson & Cie’ in 1856, to make steel, and the ‘Gebrüder Simson
Bajonett- und Ladestock-fabrik’ (‘bayonet and ramrod factory’) followed in
1862.
¶ In addition to sporting rifles and →Reichsrevolvers for the imperial
government (the handguns being produced in partnership with V.C.
→Schilling and C.G. →Haenel), Simson subsequently made huge numbers of
bayonets for, among others, the governments of Germany, Greece, Peru and
Turkey.
¶ The trading style became ‘Simson & Compagnie’ in 1881 and the first
bicycles were made in 1896. Gerson Simson, who had been directing affairs
since 1875, died in 1904; but his sons succeeded to the management of a
company which was employing 1200 people. The 1914 edition of the Deutsches
Reichs-Adressbuch lists the owners of what had become one of Thuringia’s best-
known gunmaking businesses as Leonhard, Julius, Max and Witwe Jeanette
Simson.
¶ When the First World War began in the summer of 1914, Simson & Co. had
3500 employees; war-work, which included the production of components for
rifles, machine-guns and artillery shells, had swelled this total considerably
by the time fighting ceased in November 1918. However, bust followed boom,
and Simson had to sack more than two-thirds of the workforce in the early
1920s. The 1925 Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch records the company’s products
as ‘hunting and sporting guns, small-calibre guns, automatic pistols, cars and
bicycles’, and lists a branch office in Berlin NW7, Unter den Linden 75–76.
¶ The customary trademark consisted of ‘S’ superimposed on the central of
three pyramids, registered on 23rd October 1918, though the cursive ‘Simson’
will be found on sporting guns and ‘Astora’ will be encountered on shotguns.
‘Columbus’, Esuco (‘S. u. Co.’), ‘Supra’ and ‘Titus’ were also used, but rarely if
ever on the guns.
¶ The 1928 DRAB was still listing hunting rifles, carbines and automatic pistols
alongside motor cars and bicycles (Automobile und Fahrräder). Restrictions
on arms production by the Treaty of Versailles had allowed Simson to
become the German army’s sole supplier of →Mauser action rifles in 1920,
and many similar guns were completed in sporting form. Simson also
supplied →Parabellum or ‘Luger’ pistols to the armed forces, though Mauser
continued not only to offer them commercially but also fulfil a few export
orders. Simson’s Model 1922 and Model 1927 6.35mm vest-pocket pistols or
Westentaschenpistolen were essentially similar, excepting that the latter had
an entirely slab-sided slide instead of the semi-tubular form exhibited on the
older gun. Yet trading was still weak in 1930, when directories listed Simson
& Co.—directed by Leonhard Simson, Arthur Simson, Dr Julius Simson, and
Julius Simson senior—as makers of vehicles, bicycles, sporting guns, precision

machinery and measuring instruments.
¶ The Simson family was not only Jewish, but sufficiently rich and successful
to encourage envy and antagonism. Consequently, once the NSDAP had
seized power in 1933, the headquarters were occupied by the Sturm Abteilung;
vehicle production was stopped on 1st September 1934, and business was
rapidly reorganised as ‘Berlin-Suhler Waffen- und Fahrzeugwerke Simson &
Co.’ (BSW). Finally, in 1939, the name ‘Gustloff-Werke, Waffenwerk Suhl’ was
adopted and war production began in earnest: by 1944, subsidiaries were being
managed not only in Meiningen in Germany, but also in Greiz and Łodz in
Poland. In 1944 alone, a workforce totalling about seven thousand made 7640
sporting and hunting rifles, 61540 MG. 42 machine-guns and 2479 2cm Flak.
38 anti-aircraft guns.
¶ When the Second World War ended in May 1945, weapons gave way to axes,
tools and saucepans. However, on 28th December 1945, Gustloff-Werke was
seized by the occupying Russians. Thousands of machine tools were taken
back to the USSR, leaving only 883 in Suhl. Production of hunting rifles
and bicycles began again in October 1945, reverting to the name ‘Simson &
Co.’; then, on 1st April 1946, the business was formally reconstituted as a
Soviet-owned stock company (‘SAG’, Sowietische Aktiengesellschaft) trading
as ‘Simson & Co. Suhl, Fahrradfabrik der sowjetischen Aktiengesellschaft für
Spezialmaschinenbau’.
¶ On 5th March 1947, another change of name occurred: ‘Suhler Fahrradfabrik
der sowjetischen staatlichen Aktiengesellschaft “Awtowelo”…’. Work
continued, and 14,979 hunting rifles were made in 1948. On 1st May 1952,
ownership of the business was vested in the government of the German
Democratic Republic (DDR, ‘East Germany’) as ‘Volkseigener Betrieb
Fahrzeug- und Gerätewerk Simson, Suhl’. On 1st January 1968, Simson
company merged with Ernst-Thälmann-Werk of Suhl (formerly →Haenel) to
form ‘VEB Fahrzeug- und Jagdwaffenfabrik Ernst Thälmann’, Wilhelm-Pieck-
Strasse 16, Suhl. The new organisation made ‘Simson’ and ‘Gebrüder Merkel’
sporting rifles and shotguns, advertising usually depicting the Simson and
Merkel trademarks alongside the ‘TW’ monogram of Ernst Thälmann.
¶ The individual components of Thälmann, each retaining its original brand
names and trademarks, formed a 1970-vintage Kombinate together with MZ
Zschopau and Mifa Farhrradwerk of Sangerhausen. The group was then
known collectively as ‘IFA-Kombinat Zweiradfahrzeuge’, although each
component kept its name. The reunification of Germany was a disaster for
many industries in what had been East Germany, and IFA was no exception;
bankruptcy and liquidation loomed in 1990, and the assets were stripped in an
attempt to form profitable businesses. Consequently, November 1991 brought
the creation of →Suhler Waffenwerke GmbH.
Simson & Luck, Suhl in Thüringen. This seems to have been either an affiliate or
a subsidiary of Gebrüder Simson, formed in 1865 by Karl August Luck and the
Simson brothers to develop firearms. Luck, who may also have been involved

with →Bornmüller, Simson & Luck, was granted several patents in Germany
in the 1860s and a →Dreyse-system →Zündnadel-Defensions-Gewehr Ö/M
(Österreichisches Modell, ‘Austrian Model’) dated 1868 is said to be marked S. &
L. above SUHL. Simson & Luck traded for at least eighteen years. However,
trademark registers reveal that the ‘Simson’ name registered in 1897 was
owned by ‘Simson & Co., vormals [formerly] Simson & Luck, Suhl’. The
relationship between these two businesses, therefore, is still something of a
mystery.
Simulated death guns: see ‘Scheintod’.
Singer A small Browning type automatic pistol marked by Francisco →Arizmendi
of Eibar in two patterns: 6.35mm, six rounds, striker fired; or 7.65mm, seven
rounds, striker fired. The guns may have been made by →Arizmendi y
Goenaga.
Singer Manufacturing Company; Elizabethville, New Jersey. Best known for
its sewing machines, Singer obtained a contract to make .45 M1911A1 →Colt-
Browning pistols when the U.S.A. entered the Second World War in December
1941. However, only about five hundred guns had been made in 1942 before
production was suspended in favour of artillery range-finders. Their slides
were marked S. MFG. CO. above the address. A British subsidiary, The Singer
Manufacturing Co. Ltd, made more than 300,000 →Sten Mk I and Mk I*
submachine-guns in its Clydebank (Scotland) factory during the Second
World War. Large quantities of components for the →Lee-Enfield No. 4 rifle
also date from this period. Many of them bore ‘N 67’ instead of the company
name, though there were other factories in Coventry which used ‘M’-prefix
identifiers. See also “British military manufacturers’ marks”.
Single action Applied generically to any trigger system embodying a hammer (or
striker) that must be cocked manually before it can be released by the trigger.
See also ‘Double Action’.
Single Action An alternative name for the Model 422 carbon dioxide powered
pistol, made by the →Benjamin Rifle Co. of St. Louis, U.S.A.
Single Action Army Model Revolver, ‘SAA’, ‘Peacemaker’, ‘Model P’ or ‘M1873’.
This single action gun was introduced in 1873 by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms
Mfg Co., of Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A., to succeed the open frame →New
Model Army pattern. The Peacemaker appears to have been the work of
William →Mason, who combined the traditional Colt layout with a solid
top frame, but also acknowledged a series of patents granted to Mason and
Charles →Richards in 1872–5. The U.S. Army purchased more than 37,000
.45 calibre Single Action Army Colts in 1873–91, mostly with 7½-inch barrels
though many survivors had their barrels shortened in the 1890s for issue to
artillerymen (the so-called ‘Artillery Model’, q.v.). The Colt was also popular
commercially; about 357,000 guns were made in 1873–1940, plus an additional
850 assembled immediately after the end of the Second World War. They
had been offered in chamberings ranging from .22 Short rimfire to .476 Eley
centrefire (though .45 Long Colt and .44–40 WCF accounted for sixty per

cent of sales), and also often on the basis of a ‘Smokeless Powder’ frame.
Barrels varied between 42in and 16in; grips were wood, gutta percha, ivory
or mother of pearl. Virtually the only major change concerned the cylinder
pin, which from 1893 onward became a transverse bolt locked by a spring.
This improvement had been patented by William Mason in September 1874.
Production began again in 1956, when the first of about 80,000 Second Model
guns were made prior to the advent in 1976 of the ‘Third’ or ‘New’ model.
They were chambered for the .357 Magnum, .38 Special, .44 Special or .45 Colt
cartridges. The Third Model (1976–85), sharing numbers containing ‘SA’ with
its predecessor, contained internal refinements; some guns were made on the
smokeless-powder frame, and others on the original ‘Black Powder’ pattern.
Fourth Model guns (1985 to date) have been offered on the black-powder
frame only, in .44–40 WCF or .45 Colt.
Sionics, Inc.; Atlanta and Powder Springs, Georgia, U.S.A. Best known for sound-
suppressors (‘silencers’), this business was also responsible for promoting the
→Ingram submachine-gun in 1966–70. Operations were then purchased by
the →American Military Aarmament Corporation (‘AMAC’).
Sirocco A ‘gas-ram’ air rifle patented in 1981 by H.F →Taylor and D.R.
→Theobald. The guns were originally made by →Theoben Engineering
of St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, but have since been licensed to many leading
manufacturers (e.g., Hermann →Weihrauch).
Sitting Bull A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Ryan Pistol
Sivispacem A small Spanish automatic pistol of Browning type, made in Eibar
by Sociedad Española de Armas y Municiones (*SEAM); 7.65mm, six rounds,
hammer fired. Possibly also made in 6.35mm.
Sivispacem Parabellum A Browning type pocket pistol made in Spain by, or
perhaps for →Thieme y Edeler of Eibar; 6.35mm, six or seven rounds.
Six Gun A colloquial name for virtually any revolver, though technically restricted
to those with six-chamber cylinders.
Six Gun The Daisy-made Model 179 spring-powered revolver.
Sixteen Cartridge [‘The…’]. A mark found on 16-bore shotgun cartridges sold by
Charles S. →Rosson of Norwich, Norfolk. See also ‘Twenty Cartridge’.
SJ&D, sometimes in the form of a monogram, and often within an oval cartouche.
Found on revolvers made in Belgium prior to 1914 by →Simonis, Janssen &
Dumoulin of Liége.
SK beneath a crown, above a number. A mark applied by inspectors working in the
→Royal Small Arms Factory in the Sparkbrook district of Birmingham. See
also ‘B’ and “British military inspectors’ marks”.
SK Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel →Keller’, ‘S.
→Knows’.
S&K or S. & K. Trademarks associated with →Sempert & Krieghoff of Suhl, but
readily confused with ‘S&H’ (q.v.).
SKB Arms Company This gunmaking business was founded by the Sakaba family

in 1855, and was originally sited in what is now Mito City; matchlocks were
made for the Tokuguwa shogunate, until the advent of the Meiji era in 1868
and the development of foreign trade led to production of cartridge firearms.
Hunting and sporting rifles have been made continuously since the late 1870s.
The plant facilities, now located in Cho-ku, Tokyo, were modernised after the
end of the Second World War and gun production recommenced in 1947. SKB
has made a small range of airguns, including the M53 and M3 of the 1950s,
and also owns the Sharp Rifle Co. The SKB trademark derives from the Sakaba
name, which in Japanese consists of three ideographs (sa ka ba). (NB: Walter
Smith, in Gas, Air & Spring Guns of the World, confused the products of SKB
with those of →Kawaguchiya.)
Skeet, →Concorde Skeet or →Daytona Skeet. 12 bore over/under shotguns made
by →Società Armi Bresciane of Gardone Val Trompia, with an anatomical
pistol grip, a special fore end and a single selective trigger. Barrels are
customarily 68 or 71cm long. The Skeet SL is similar, but has side locks instead
of a box lock action.
SAB: see ‘Società Armi Bresciane’.
Skerrett Henry Skerrett was a patent agent, with chambers at 24 Temple Road,
Birmingham, who assisted several well-known inventors. Among protection
sought with Skerrett’s aid were British Patents 14,588/05 and 22,681/05 of
1905 and 8246/06 of 1906, granted to the →Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd,
Augustus →Driver and George →Norman; British Patents 11,817/05 of 1905
and 25,830/06 of 1906 to Driver and Norman alone; and 15,712/02 of 1902
and 9153/04 of 1904 to Frederick S. →Cox. Lincoln →Jeffries (Senior) was
assisted in applications for what became British Patents 20,246/03 of 1903;
10,426/05 and 22,550/05 of 1905;, 11,588/06 of 1906; 10,250/10 25,783/10 and
30,338/10 of 1910; 1405/11 and 9684/11 of 1911. The younger Lincoln Jeffries
was helped in relation to British Patent 181,277 (1921). Other Skerrett clients
included George F. →Urry, who obtained British Patent 20,744/06 of 1906
in collaboration with Lincoln Jeffries (Senior), and W.J. ‘Bill’ →Whiting in
connection with British Patent 4213/10 of 1910. Skerrett appears to have died
or retired shortly after the end of the First World War, to be suceeded by his
sons Henry N. and William S. Skerrett.
Skimmin & Wood, sometimes listed as ‘Skimin & Wood’; Birmingham. This
agency modified about 41,330 .303 No. 3 →Enfield rifles to ‘Weedon Repair
Standards’ (‘WRS’) in the summer of 1939. The code ‘M 224’ may have
appeared on guns instead of the partnership’s name. See also “British military
manufacturers’ marks”.
Skinner & Company; Haywood Street, Leek, Staffordshire. This English gun-,
fishing-tackle and sporting-goods retailer is known to have marked shotgun
cartridges supplied prior to 1914 by →Kynoch Ltd of Birmingham.
SKN. A mark found on many British firearms which have been ‘Skeletonised’ (i.e.,
cut away) for educational use. Some of the examples dating from the early
stages of the Second World War will prove to be the work of H. →Atkin.

Škoda Emil Škoda, born in 1839, was deported from Germany back to his native
Austria at the time of the Seven Weeks War (1866). Škoda then became
works superintendent of a arms-making workshop founded in 1859 in
Valdstejn by Graf Arnost. Purchasing the facilities only three years later, in
1869, Škoda began to put the knowledge of steel-making he had gained in
the Weser shipyard in Bremen to good use. A steelworks was opened in 1884
and, by 1890, the company was advertising a range of guns, gun carriages,
ammunition, cast-steel armour plate and the ‘Patent Mitrailleuse’. Škoda died
in 1900.
Škoda machine-gun Promoted by the renowned arms-making company of the
same name, this was the work of two soldiers with influence at the highest
level: Archduke →Karl Salvator and Georg, Ritter von →Dormus. Designed in
1885, only a year after Maxim had been granted his first patent, the Salvator-
Dormus gun was seen as a cornerstone of the business formed by Emil
→Škoda.
¶ Experiments had been made with the Salvator-Dormus prototypes as
early as 1886, after an agreement had been reached with the inventors. By
1889, the basic design had been finalised with the assistance of technicians
led by Andreas Radovanovic and a patent was sought in Škoda’s name. In
October 1893, the Škoda was accepted for service instead of the →Maxim. The
manufacturer endeavoured to obtain export orders, exhibiting guns in 6.5mm,
7mm and 8mm at the Paris Exposition in 1900, but only 210 had been made by
1901. It is assumed that most of these were being used by Austria-Hungary,
but the actual total is not known.
¶ An improved design appeared in 1901. Though the gravity-feed magazine
and the pendulous rate-reducer were greatly refined, the changes could not
disguise that the weapon was obsolete. The Model 1903 was a long-barrelled
derivative of the M. 1901, mounted on a light tripod intended for cavalrymen,
but only six were made.
¶ By 1907, the pendulum-type rate reducer had been abandoned and a
belt-feed system had replaced the unsatisfactory gravity-feed box. Škoda
advertised the M. 09 in 6.5mm, 7mm, 7.65mm, 7.9mm and 8mm (8×50R), and
trials were undertaken for Bulgaria, China, the Netherlands, Peru, Romania
and Turkey prior to 1914. Only the Chinese are purchased the guns in any
numbers.
¶ The M. 09 was superseded by the M. 13 and M. 14, which were identical
apart from the date of manufacture. These guns had longer barrels, improved
belt-feed systems, and more efficient lubricators. They were mounted on the
compact M. 13 tripod, with steel links connecting the legs to prevent collapse
in the firing position.
SKS An abbreviated form of Samozariadniya Karabina Simonova, this was
applied to a 7.62×39 auto-loading carbine designed by Sergey →Simonov
during the Second World War and ordered into series production in 1949.
Sk. Y. Found on Finnish military firearms, ranging from →Maxim machine-guns

and →Mosin-Nagant rifles to →Suomi submachine-guns and →Lahti pistols.
Applied by the headquarters units of the Protective Corps, Suojeluskuntain
Ylieskunnen (sic). The remainder of the units used an ‘S-and fir-leaf’ mark.
Sky High [‘The…’]. This mark will be found on British shotgun cartridges,
associated with William →Evans of London and also with →Jeffrey & Son of
Plymouth.
Skyrack [‘The…’]. Found on shotgun cartridges made by →Greenwood & Batley.
SL or S.L. Found on ‘Single Loading’ guns—usually special .303 →Lee Enfields—
destined for Indian troops whose loyalty or proficiency was uncertain.
SL Found on components for the No. 4 →Lee Enfield rifle made during the
Second World War by William Sykes Ltd. This company was also allocated the
area code ‘N74’, but often used its initials instead.
SL Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel →Leonard’.
Sladden, Brothers & Company, describing itself as an agency but also a member
of the English gun trade, appeared in the London directories for 1873 at Albert
Buildings, Queen Victoria Street; 4 King Street, Cheapside; and 29 Ironmonger
Lane.
Slant breech [Sharps], also known as the ‘Model of 1851’. This was characterised
by oblique movement of the breech, a combined operating lever and
trigger guard, and a tape primer ahead of the hammer. The hammer was
carried inside the back action lock plate and the receiver has distinctly
rounded contours. Sporting guns usually chambered .36, .44 or .52 linen
case combustible ball cartridges, though .52 shot loads were made in small
quantities and .56 calibre carbines were made for trials in Britain. The Model
1853 was generally made as a .52 calibre carbine, with brass furniture. The lock
plate contained Sharps’ patented pellet magazine, with a slender brass tube of
waterproofed priming discs. The Model 1853 was supplemented by the Model
1855, four hundred carbines with →Maynard Tape Primers being ordered by
the U.S. Army in April 1855 and two .52-calibre hundred rifles by the navy in
March-September 1856.
Slave: see ‘Buffalo-Slave’.
Slavia A 6.35mm Browning-type pocket pistol made in the 1920s in Kdyne,
Czechoslovakia, by A. Vilimec.
Slavia Associated with a range of break barrel spring air rifles, from the simplest
junior type upward, made in Czechoslovakia—possibly by Kovo AS. The guns
have been distributed in Britain by →Edgar Brothers.
SLAZ. A mark associated with the products of Slazengers (Australia), Pty
Ltd of Sydney, New South Wales. A branch of the British sporting goods
manufacturer, Slazengers Pty. marketed as many as 350,000 .22 rimfire rifles
made between the world wars by the government small arms factory in
→Lithgow. Stocks, handguards and wooden furniture for the SMLE and other
guns were made in huge quantities during the Second World War, the products
being marked ‘SLAZ.’
Sleeve pistol: see ‘Elek →Juhasz’.

SLEM This automatic rifle, ‘Self Loading, Enfield Model’, was an experimental
forerunner of the →SAFN, made in the →Enfield small arms factory during
the Second World War. It was designed by Diedonné →Saive with the
assistance of British technicians.
Slide action An operating system relying on the reciprocal motion of a forward
hand grip to unlock the breech, extract, eject, cock the firing mechanism, then
reload and re-lock. The first slide-action design was the ‘Haveness’ patented
in 1878–9 by Andrew →Burgess, but was not exploited for some years—and
a lawsuit brought by →Winchester against →Bannerman in the 1890s cited
designs going back to the 1840s. The first slide-action design to be successful
commercially, however, was patented by Christopher →Spencer and Sylvester
→Roper in 1882–5. The basic system became popular by 1900, and many
similar guns have been made ever since. Most are shotguns, but a substantial
number of shotgun-like rifles have also been made.
Slidemaster A brand name customarily applied to the 4.5mm/BB Model 3500
slide action pneumatic rifle made by →Crosman.
Slingsby Guns; Boston and Sleaford, Lincolnshire. The name of this provincvial
English gunmaker has been reported on a variety of shotgun cartridges
made by →Eley-Kynoch. Among the tradenames are “Slingsby’s Champion”,
“Slingsby’s Fen”, “Slingsby’s Special” and “Slingsby’s Stump”, the last being
named after a prominent church-tower in Boston known locally as the ‘Boston
Stump’.
Slocum Frank Slocum invented the sliding sleeve loading system patented on
27th January and 14 April 1863 (U.S. nos. 37,551 and 38,204). Rights to these
were assigned to the →Brooklyn Firearms Company.
Slotter & Company; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and San Francisco, California.
A gunmaking and distributing business, best known for →cap-lock sporting/
target rifles and the .41-calibre →Deringer-type pistols popular at the time of
the California Gold Rush (1849).
SLR A generic term, ‘self-loading rifle’ (q.v.), often used in the designation of light
automatic weapons.
SLT Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘S.L. →Tuttle’.
Slugs Limited A maker of airgun ammunition operating in Bromley, Kent, from
1933 until acquired by →Lane Brothers in 1953 or 1954; →Eagle slugs were
thereafter made by Lanes until 1955/6, though this may have been simply a
way of disposing of existing stock.
SLW Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel L. →Worsley’.
SM, S.M. or S.M.C. Marks found on components for the No. 4 →Lee Enfield rifle
made in Britain during the Second World War by the Singer Manufacturing
Co. Ltd of Clydebank, Scotland. This company was also allocated the area code
‘N67’, but often used its initials instead.
SM, or ‘Sport-Modell’; used generically to describe a variety of sporting guns
marketed in Germany.
SM An abbreviated form of ‘Sport & Munition’. A trademark associated with

→Rhöner.
SM on a horizontal band within a circle. A trademark used by Karl Arndt →Reck of
Lauf bei Nürnberg.
SM Found on U.S. military firearms and their accessories. See ‘Samuel →Marcy’,
‘Stillman →Moore’.
Smail The name of John Smail & Sons, an ironmongery business trading in the
1950s in Morpeth, Northumberland, England, has been found on 12-bore
shotgun cartridges made by →Eley-Kynoch and distributed under the brand
name ‘The →Lightning Killer’.
Small Arms Group: Britain. See ‘Saive’.
Small Arms Ltd; Long Branch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Makers of No.4 →Lee
Enfield rifles for Britain, Canada and China, 1942B5. Also made more than
128,000 Mk II →Sten submachine-guns for the Canadian armed forces during
the Second World War.
Smallwood The marks of this gunsmithing business, trading in Shrewsbury,
Shropshire, England, have been found on 12-bore shotgun cartridges sold
as “Smallwood’s Challenge”; the headstamps show that they were acquired
from James R. →Watson & Company of London, but had apparently made in
Belgium.
Smallwood Horace Will[iam?] Smallwood, an employee of →Webley & Scott,
was granted two patents in 1941 (as co-beneficiary with the company) for a
simplified trigger mechanism with an inbuilt safety catch; the latter was not a
new idea, but protection on a previous pattern had ceased.
Smasher [‘The…’]. A brand name found on shotgun ammunition handled by
Henry →Elliott of Dartford, Kent, England.
Smeaton [‘The…’]. Associated with the British shotgun cartridges handled by
C.G. →Edwards & Son of Plymouth, Devon. Named after a famous engineer.
S. MFG. CO.: a mark found on the slides of .45 M1911A1 →Government Model
pistols made for the U.S. armed forces during the Second World War by the
→Singer Manufacturing Company.
S.M.F.M.; Saint Étienne, France. Makers of electric ignition shotguns in the post
1945 era, relying on dry batteries in the butt heel to excite special igniters in
the cartridges when pressure on the trigger completed the circuit.
SMI or S.M.I.: abbreviations found in the headstamps of cartridges made by
→Società Metallurgica Italiana of Brescia, Italy. Now known as ‘La Metalli
Industriale SpA’, but still using the original headstamps.
Smith A.F. Smith; Hailsham, Sussex. The marks of this gunamith and
ironmonger have been found on shotgun cartridges sold in southern England
as ‘The →Hailsham Special’.
Smith Alfred Smith, trading from about 1866 until 1900 or later from 27 & 28
Whittall Street, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, is believed to have
succeeded →Smith & Townsend; the trading style became ‘& Son’ in 1883 or
1884.
Smith Asa Smith was co-patentee with Orville B. →Percival of a unique three-

magazine repeating pistol, made briefly in Norwich, Connecticut, by Horace
→Smith.
Smith C.H. Smith & Sons; Birmingham, Warwickshire. The marks of this
gunmaking business, probably a successor to Charles Smith (below), have been
found on shotgun cartridges sold under the tradenames ‘The →Abbey’ and
‘The →Invincible’. Most of them date from the 1920s.
Smith Charles Smith; Birmingham, Warwickshire. The marks of this English
gun-rifler and pistol-maker, trading from 86 and then 25 Weaman Street from
1861 onward have been reported on shotgun ammunition, but it seems more
likely that these were the work of C.H. Smith & Sons (above). See also ‘Samuel
& Charles Smith’.
Smith Charles Smith & Sons of Market Place, Newark, Nottinghamshire,
marked sporting guns and a variety of shotgun cartridges, most of which
were apparently loaded in Newark into cases supplied from Europe. Among
identifiable trade names were ‘All-British Extra Special’, ‘The Castle’, ‘The
→Clinton’, ‘The Newark Cartridge’, ‘The →Rufford’ and ‘The Universal’.
Smith Charles James Smith first appears in 1839 as a partner with his
brother Michael in ‘M. & C.J. Smith’, at 79 Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England. He subsequently traded on his own account from
27 & 28 Whittall Street, Birmingham, making ‘Magazine Self Priming Guns,
Rifles and Pistols of Every Description’ protected by English Patent 10,667
of 14th May 1845. He was also a member of the Gunmakers Company, being
listed at 61 King William Street, London E.C., in 1846–7 and at 24 King
William Street in 1850. Smith may have been succeeded by his son in 1852 (see
‘Charles Smith’, above).
Smith Dexter Smith; Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Son of Horace →Smith,
born in 1833, this gunmaker made single shot 12 or 16 bore radial breech
block shotguns in accordance U.S. Patent 111,814 of 14th February 1871
(sought jointly with Martin →Chamberlain). Patents 129,433 of 16th July
1872, 138,207 of 22nd April 1873 and 141,603 of 5th August 1873 (jointly with
Joseph C. →Marshall) were all granted for variations on the basic theme.
Production was confined to 1872B5. Smith also received U.S. Patents 60.074
of 27th November 1866 for a cartridge loading machine; 230,582 of 27th July
1880 to protect a ‘firearm’; and 176,412 of 18th April 1876 (with C.C. & Joseph
C. Marshall) for ‘an extractor for revolving firearms’. After the commercial
failure of his shotguns, Dexter Smith turned his attention to revolvers. His
many relevant U.S. Patents, in chronological order) were: 160,551 of 9th March
1875; 162,863 of 4th May 1875 (with Joseph C. Marshall); 163,032 of 11th
May 1875; 171,059 of 14th December 1875; 176,448 of 25th April 1876 (with
Marshall); 193,836 of 7th August 1877, assigned to D.B. →Wesson; 196,491
of 23rd October 1877; 221,000 of 28th October 1879; 247,217 and 247,218 of
30th September 1881; 248,223 of 11th October 1881; 250,591 of 6th December
1881; 315,352 of 7th April 1885; and 318,315 of 19th May 1885. In view of this
commitment to revolver design, it is likely that Otis A. →Smith was Dexter

Smith’s son.
Smith Edwin Smith. An English gunmaker, trading in 1870 from 34 Castle Street
East, West London.
Smith Frederick Smith was co-patentee with Daniel M. →Lefever of a
compensating joint to reduce the effects of wear in shotgun actions—U.S.
Patent 264.173 of 12th September 1882.
Smith George Smith. This peripatetic gunmaker—perhaps the thirty year old
‘George Smith’ listed in the 1841 census in Upper King Street, London—was
listed from 1859 until 1866 at 40 Davies Street, West London; he was at 16
Davies Street in 1867, at 104 New Bond Street in 1868–9, and at 82 New Bond
Street in 1870. A move back to Davies Street (to no. 10) took place in 1871,
and then to 253 Oxford Street in 1872. The 1874 directories place him at 3 Park
Lane, and those of 1885 at 110 Mount Street. Smith then transferred 3 Angel
Court, King Street, West London, in 1888, but was at 4 Stafford Street by 1891.
The trading style became ‘George Smith & Co.’ in 1897, with premises at 153
Piccadilly, and business continued at least until the First World War.
Smith George Smith & Company (active 1862–4 and probably into the 1870s);
New York City. Smith made cap lock pistols and spring air gallery rifles, some
of which had double set triggers.
Smith Gilbert Smith; Buttermilk Falls, New York State, U.S.A. Smith was
responsible for a break-action carbine, patented in 1856, which originally fired
cartridges with a gutta percha case. The breech was locked by a sturdy spring
steel bar projecting back from the top of the barrel over a stud on the standing
breech. A small locking catch ahead of the trigger lever was pressed upward
to release the bar, allowing the barrel to open. Three hundred .50 calibre
Smiths were purchased for field trials shortly before the Civil War began. They
were made by →Poultney & Trimble, assignees of the original patents, but
manufacture was sub contracted work to the Massachusetts Arms Company.
In August 1863, however, the Massachusetts Arms Company passed part of
work on the Smith carbine to the →American Machine Works to free facilities
for the →Maynard gun. Poultney & Trimble had soon shifted the entire
contract to American Machine Works. A new promoter, the →American Arms
Company, was formed to oversee work. Though Smith carbines had originally
fired rubber case ammunition, “Poultney’s Patent Metallic Cartridge”
transformed the carbine into a better design. Federal purchases between 1st
January 1861 and 30th June 1866 totalled 30,062 carbines.
Smith Harris Smith, working for the Federal and U.S. governments, accepted
firearms and equipment from the Civil War period on into the late 1870s.
Marked ‘HS’, the items can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from those
accepted by H. →Saunders, Horace →Scott, Harrison →Shaler, Howard
→Stockton and H. →Syrett. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Smith Horace Smith. Born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, on 28th October 1808,
Smith was apprenticed in the National Armory, →Springfield, where he
remained until 1842. A move to New Haven, Connecticut, then allowed him

to make tools for Eli →Whitney, and it is believed that he then went to work
for →Allen & Thurber in 1845–8. Working on his own account in Norwich
until 1852, making magazine pistols to the patent of →Percival & Smith and
then whaling guns and explosive harpoons, Horace Smith began working
for →Allen, Brown & Luther of Worcester, Massachusetts. During the early
1850s, Smith had been employed by the financier Courtlandt →Palmer,
helping to perfect the →Jennings Rifle and the →Volitional Ball. He had
been granted U.S. Patent 8317 of 26th August 1851 to protect an improved
breech-loading rifle, but Palmer withdrew his support shortly afterward and
development of the Jennings/Smith rifle ceased. The project was resurrected
in partnership with Daniel B. →Wesson, beginning in 1853.
¶ Smith and Wesson jointly received several U.S. Patents: 10,535 of 14th
February 1854, to protect a lever-action magazine pistol that cocked
automatically as the breech opened; 11,496 of 8th August 1854 for a cartridge
loaded with fulminate propellant; 14,147 of 22nd January 1856 protecting
‘primers for cartridge of firearms’; and 27,933 of 17th April 1860 describing
a method of priming cartridges by spinning fulminate centrifugally into the
rims. There were also two patents for ‘revolving firearms’, 30,990 of 18th
December 1860 and 51,092 of 21st November 1865. Smith and Wesson’s
plans also failed to prosper and rights were sold in 1855 to the →Volcanic
Arms Company. Smith retired to run a livery stable, but Wesson doggedly
continued development of a metal-case rimfire cartridge. In 1857, armed
with both a perfected cartridge and an effectual revolver (made in accordance
with a patent granted to Rollin →White), Smith & Wesson once again entered
business together. Horace Smith retired from Smith & Wesson on 1st July
1873, selling his stake in the company to Daniel Wesson, and lived out a long
and prosperous life that ended in Springfield on 15th January 1893.
Smith John Smith invented a revolver with a one piece frame and barrel shroud,
and a rifled steel liner. This was protected by U.S. Patent 376,922 of 24th
January 1889 and 413,975 of 28th October 1889.
Smith John Smith & Son: Britain. See ‘Henry →Adkins’.
Smith L.C. Smith & Company of New York City acquired the assets of W.H.
→Baker & Sons Company in 1880. Lyman Cornelius →Smith continued to
make →Baker pattern side by side hammer doubles for some years. In 1883,
however, Smith stopped making Baker-patent side locks in favour of the
improved pattern patented by Alexander →Brown. The first hammerless
shotgun appeared in 1886, but Smith sold the business to John Hunter in
1888 and operations were transferred to Fulton, New York, in 1890. By 1906,
Smith guns could be obtained with the ‘Hunter One Trigger’, made to the
designs of Allan →Lard. The perfected Lard mechanism was guaranteed never
to ‘double’ or jam.
Smith L.C. Smith & Corona Typewriters, Inc.; see ‘Springfield’.
Smith Leroy H. Smith. Patentee and inventor, and co-founder with →Baker of
the →Ithaca Gun Co.

Smith Lyman Cornelius Smith: U.S.A. See ‘L.C. →Smith & Co.’
Smith Morris F. Smith; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. This gun-designer
was granted U.S. Patents 548,096 of 15th October 1895, 784,966 of 14th March
1905, 812,242 of 6th March 1906, 817,134 of 3rd April 1906, and 817,197 and
817,198 of 10th April 1906 to protect a variety of gas-operated machine-guns
and automatic rifles. Excepting the earliest, all of these were part- or wholly
assigned to financier W.D. Condit of Des Moines, Iowa. Several of Smith’s
patents were embodied in the auto-loading rifles made in the U.S.A. by
→Standard Arms Company.
Smith Orlando Smith; 14 London Street, Derby. The marks of this English
provincial gunsmith—active from 1856 to 1863 or later—have been reported
on sporting guns and self cocking →pepperboxes. Smith may have moved to
Uttoxeter, where a similarly named gunmaker was listed in 1867.
Smith Otis A. Smith; Middlefield and Rock Fall, Connecticut, U.S.A. Smith made
solid frame sheath-trigger revolvers incorporating a quick-release cylinder
catch protected by his U.S. Patent 137,968 of 15th April 1873. These guns
were superseded by a break-open auto-ejecting sheath trigger ‘Model 83 Shell
Ejector’ patented on 20th December 1881 in collusion with his brother John
Smith on 20th December 1881 (U.S. no. 251,306). Next came a solid frame
hammerless five chamber .38 rim or centre fire ‘M1892’ gate loader. This gun
had a double action trigger system and an exposed cylinder stop which, when
pressed, allowed the cylinder to rotate freely. Smith revolvers were handled
by →Maltby, Curtiss & Co., and may be encountered under several misleading
manufacturer’s names—e.g., ‘Columbia Armory’, ‘Spencer Revolver Company’
or ‘Parker Revolver Company’.
Smith Patrick Smith; Main Street, Buffalo, New York State. A gunmaker active in
the U.S.A. in 1848–82, making →cap-lock sporting guns before progressing to
metallic-cartridge breechloaders and eventually to dealership. Smith was the
assignee of two U.S. Patents granted to Jarvis Davis: 103,154 of 27th May 1870
to protect an extractor for a drop-barrel gun, and 112,127 of 28th February
1871 for a revolver-rifle with an spring-and-chain drive auxiliary magazine
tube in the butt.
Smith R. Smith; Carlisle, Cumberland. The marks of this English gunmaker have
been reported on self cocking →pepperboxes dating from the middle of the
nineteenth century.
Smith Samuel Smith the Younger. A partner with his brother Charles in ‘Samuel
& Charles Smith’, below, and designer of a breech loader protected by British
Patent 1075/67 of 1867. He emigrated to Australia c. 1876.
Smith Samuel & Charles Smith. A gunmaking partnership to be found at 64
Princes Street, Soho, London, in 1834–69; and then at 18 Oxendon Street,
Haymarket, in 1870–5. Samuel Smith died in 1855, business being perpetuated
by his sons Samuel and Charles. Business ceased when the younger Samuel
emigrated.
Smith Steve[n] Smith; High Friar Street, Ashton under Lyme, Staffordshire. The

marks of this gun- and sporting-goods retailer have been reported on shotgun
ammunition sold under the name ‘Trap and Game’.
Smith Thomas Smith was a London gunmaker, recorded at 10 Ray Street,
Clerkenwell, and 15 Great Portland Street in 1829, when he was in partnership
with Robert Alden. Trading on his own acount began from 55 Parliament
Street in 1835, then 3 Bridge Street, Westminster (from 1842), 288 High
Holborn (from 1845) and finally 13 Little Compton Street, Soho, from 1849/50
until 1860. Smith may then have died, as the entries changed to ‘Mrs E.
Smith’ until 1862.
Smith T.J. Smith, a colonel in the U.S. Army, accepted .45 M1911A1 pistols made
by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co. Dating from the mid 1930s, they were
marked ‘TJS’. See also ‘T.J. →Stevenson’ and “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Smith W.G. Smith; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The assignee of an air-gun patent
granted in the U.S.A. in 1893 to Elmer E. →Bailey.
Smith Arms Company; New York City. This gunmaking business made the
revolver patented by in 1865 by Silas →Crispin. Distinguished by a two-part
cylinder and cartridges with annular priming bands, the .32 Crispin was never
successful.
Smith & Townsend was a partnership of Alfred →Smith and James →Townsend,
apparently dating from 1852 or 1853 and operating at various combinations
of 27, 28, 28a and 29 Whittall Street, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, in
1853–62. The partnership was succeeded in 1865 by Alfred →Smith & Son.
Smith, Hall & Buckland; Mill Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. A successor
to Smith, Hall & Farmer (q.v.), formed in June 1866 when the factory
superintendent of Smith & Wesson, Cyrus Buckland, replaced the original
partner Charles Farmer. Operations were continued until 1869, when, after
the expiry of Smith & Wesson’s cartridge-making patent, the business was
sold to Joseph Hall and a new partner named Hubbard. See also ‘Hall &
Hubbard’.
Smith, Hall & Farmer; Mill Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. This business was
formed in 1863 to acquire the ammunition-making operations of →Smith
& Wesson. The partners were Dexter →Smith, son of the senior partner
in Smith & Wesson; Charles K. Farmer, a local businessman related to the
Wessons by marriage; and Joseph Hall, Smoth & Wesson’s bookkeeper.
It lasted in its original form until June 1866, when Hall was replaced by
Buckland. See ‘Smith, Hall & Buckland’.
Smith, Midgley & Company; Bradford, Yorkshire. The marks of this gunsmithing
and ironmongery business have been reported on 12-bore →Pegamoid
shotgun cartridges made by →Eley immediately after the end of the First
World War.
Smith & Wesson; Springfield, Massachusetts. The second partnership of Horace
→Smith and Daniel B. →Wesson was formed in 1857, working from a a small
workshop in Market Street, Springfield. By 1858, demand for their products
had grown to a point where expansion was necessary and a large new factory

fronting onto Stockbridge Street opened in March 1860. Best known for
their firearms, the partners also made the first successfully mass-produced
→rimfire cartridges, beginning in 1859. Revolvers made before that date
had been sold with CB Caps. By 1862, however, more than 6.4 million rimfire
cartridges were being mde annually. Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson then
decided to split the ammunition-making business away from the firearms,
resulting in →Smith, Hall & Farmer. Manufacture of the cartridges was
also licensed to C.D. →Leet and →Crittenden & Tibballs, in 1864, and then
to the →Union Metallic Cartridge Company in 1866. Operations were very
succcessful, despite ill-advised forays into the sporting-gun market (Wesson
Firearms Company, q.v.); on 1st July 1873, however, Horace Smith sold his
interests to his partner and retired to a life of leisure.
¶ Gradually, Daniel Wesson involved his sons in the business; Walter H.
Wesson (1850–1921) became a partner in 1882, followed by Joseph H. Wesson
(1859–1920) in 1887. Daniel Wesson lived until 1906, but his death removed
the guiding hand from the company; neither of his sons was forceful enough
to succeed him, though each held the presidency prior to the First World War.
Joseph and Walter Wesson died within the space of eighteen months, leaving
the company’s affairs in the hands of Harold Wesson (1878–1946), the son of a
third brother who had died young in 1888.
¶ After negotiating the Depression with great difficulty, Smith & Wesson
returned to prosperity during the Second World War thanks to the guidance
of Carl Hellstrom (1895–1963), a consulting engineer hired in 1940 to solve the
→Light Rifle crisis. Changes made by Hellstrom’s successor, William Gunn,
raised Smith & Wesson to profitability in the 1960s and ultimately attracted a
predatory bid from Bangor Punta, Inc., in 1973.
¶ Semi-automatic pistols have been acquired by the U.S. Navy and the Special
Forces, but have never released the hold first Colt and then Beretta have had
on the U.S. Army—even though sales of handguns since Smith & Wesson’s
beginnings prior to the American Civil War were approaching twenty million
by 1990. The conduct of the JSSAP trials that had standardised the Beretta
M9 persuaded S&W to file suit in the State of Massachusetts accusing the
U.S. Army of ‘illegal, improper and suspect actions’ but, though Congressional
investigation revealed serious flaws in the trial process, the result was not
rescinded.
¶ Smith & Wesson’s profitability waned until it became clear that the parent
Lear-Siegler Group (which had enveloped Bangor Punta in 1983) was keen to
sell. In May 1987, therefore, the gunmaking business was acquired by British-
based F.H. Tompkins Holdings. In addition to handguns, Smith & Wesson
made about six thousand Model 76 9mm blowback submachine-guns in
1968–74, tested extensively by many agencies but adopted by none of them.
The project was abandoned to allow production facilities to concentrate on the
semi-automatic pistols. The company also distributed →Husqvarna made bolt
action sporting rifles in 1969–72. They were designated ‘A’ to ‘E’, but did not

sell in large numbers. A series of shotguns made by →Howa fared better, but
was discontinued in 1984.
Smith & Wesson airguns The company’s contribution to airgun development
scarcely approaches the value of the better known revolvers. However, a small
range of gas powered and spring air guns was marketed from the early 1960s,
including the 77A and 80G rifles, and 78G and 79G pistols. ‘G’ suffix guns were
powered by carbon dioxide cylinders.
Smith & Wesson handguns The company is best known for exploiting the patent
granted to Rollin →White for a revolver with the chambers bored through the
cylinder. The seven shot .22 rimfire Model No. 1 appeared in January 1858;
though production was slow, the Civil War gave Smith & Wesson a huge boost.
Smith & Wesson and Rollin White successfully fought many suits for patent
infringement, though →Moore, →Warner, →Pond and →Bacon all completed
guns ‘in the course of manufacture’ provided that royalties were paid and the
controlling patent was acknowledged.
¶ When the licence agreed with Rollin White ended in April 1869, more than
270,000 revolvers had been made. Though the weak .22 rimfire cartridge
was a great handicap, problems had been overcome by 1861 and a .32 version
appeared. Six shot .32 Model No. 2 revolvers were joined in 1864 by the five
shot Model No. 12. These lasted in production until 1870. However, the
failure of .41 rimfire Model No. 3 left S&W without a large calibre gun to
challenge the cap lock →Colts.
¶ The first top break design appeared in 1868 with the hinge at the bottom
front of the frame and an ejecting mechanism that worked automatically
as the barrel was dropped. The .44 New Model No. 3 or ‘Model No. 3 Army
Revolver’ was very successful, the U.S. Army agreeing to take a thousand in
December 1870, and commercial sales were also encouraging. It was renamed
‘No. 3 →American Model’ after the introduction of the No. 3 →Russian Model
in 1871. Production continued for some years, in two basic patterns. Most
were .44 centre fires, though 3500 rimfire guns were also made. The Russian
Model was made in large numbers until the late 1870s, but prevented Smith
& Wesson establishing a hold on the U.S. domestic market for large calibre
revolvers (much to the benefit of the Colt →Peacemaker).
¶ The first double action guns, designed largely by James →Bullard, were
completed in 1879 in .32 and .38. The .32 →Double Action revolvers were made
in five variants from 1880 until 1919, total production approached 330,000.
The five shot .38 was also introduced commercially in 1880; by the time
production ceased in 1911, more than 550,000 had been made in five major
subvarieties. In addition, about 55,000 .44 Double Action revolvers were made
in 1881–1913.
¶ The break open revolvers were replaced by the first of the →Hand Ejector
series, introduced in 1896. These guns found competition from the essentially
similar →Colts hard to overcome, and no real headway was made until the
first .38 Military & Police pattern appeared early in the twentieth century.

Guns of this general pattern are still being made in large numbers, most of the
differences concerning the size and frame and the trend towards target-grade
sights and full-length ejector-rod shrouds.
¶ Though designated numerically since 1957, many S&W revolvers are still
better known by names such as ‘Aircrewman’, ‘Airweight’, ‘Bodyguard’, ‘Chiefs
Special’, ‘Centennial’, ‘Distinguished Combat Magnum’, ‘Distinguished Service
Magnum’, ‘Hand Ejector’, ‘Kit Gun’, ‘Magnum’,‘Masterpiece’, ‘Regulation
Police’, ‘Service Kit Gun’, ‘Target Kit Gun’ and ‘Target Stainless’ (qq.v.).
¶ Smith & Wesson attempted to market semi-automatic pistols prior to the
First World War, purchasing the rights to the Belgian →Clément in 1910 and
modifications were made by Joseph H. →Wesson in 1910–12. The gun was
introduced commercially in 1913, chambering a unique .35 S&W Automatic
cartridge loaded with a half-mantle bullet to minimise bore wear. The
magazine catch was changed from lateral to longitudinal in 1914, in search of
simplicity, but work was suspended in 1916B19 and abandoned in 1922 when
sales dropped below economic limits.
¶ The replacement was the .32 Automatic, developed by Edward →Pomeroy,
which amalgamated the old frame with a new streamlined slide. However, less
than a thousand pistols were sold in 1924B37. Success awaited the end of the
Second World War, when the development of a double-action pistol inspired
by the →Walther P. 38 was entrusted to Joseph →Norman. The first prototype
was completed in the autumn of 1948, amalgamating a double-action trigger
mechanism with the basic →Colt-Browning tipping-barrel breech. However,
the U.S. Army requested a single-action trigger, and a handful of guns of this
type were made in 1953.
¶ Limited production of the 9mm double-action pistol began in 1954, but
work was very slow. The pistols were designated Model 39 (double-action)
and Model 44 (single-action) in 1957, but the latter had been discontinued
by 1959. Small-scale production of the Model 39 gradually increased, some
being chambered in 1960–1 for the .38 AMU cartridge developed by the U.S.
Army Marksmanship Training Unit. These alloy-frame pistols were originally
known as the ‘Model 39-1’, subsequently changed to ‘Model 52’ and eventually
altered to ‘Model 52-A’. A narrow-bar extractor driven by a coil spring replaced
a broad spring-steel bar in 1971, but few other changes were made to a popular
and successful design. See also ‘Master’.
¶ Introduced in 1971 and abandoned in 1981, the Model 59 was basically
an improved double-action Model 39 with a fourteen-round magazine in a
straight-back butt. Derivatives have included the Model 439 (discarded in
1988), an alloy-frame variant of the Model 39 with prominent back-sight
protectors; the Model 459, with an alloy frame and a staggered-row magazine;
the Model 539, a steel-framed 439; and the Model 559, a steel-framed 459.
Work on the Models 539 and 559 stopped in 1983.
¶ The Models 469 (blued, 1983–8) and 669 (stainless-steel, 1986–8) were
compact versions of the double-action M459 with bobbed hammers, synthetic

grips and recurved trigger guards. The Models 639 and 659, introduced in
1982 and abandoned in 1988, were stainless-steel versions of the 439 and
459 respectively. The Model 645 (1985–8) was an enlargement of the basic
double-action design to chamber the .45 ACP cartridge, with a single-column
box magazine in an elongated butt. The Model 745 (1987B90) had a single-
action trigger, a ball-ended barrel and a fixed barrel bushing; magazine-release
catches and safety levers were enlarged to satisfy ‘practical-pistol’ shooters.
¶ A new designation system appeared in 1990. The first two digits of any
four-digit designation represent the basic model (e.g, ‘Model 10’, ‘Model 39’),
now cutomarily based on calibre; the third digit signifies an individual model;
and the fourth digit identifies the manufacturing material. ‘Third-digit’
identifiers include ‘0‘ for a standard pattern; ‘1’ for the compact versions; ‘2’
for a gun fitted with a de-cocking lever; ‘3’ for a compact pistol with a de-
cocking system; ‘4’ for a standard gun with its trigger mechanism restricted to
double-action; ‘5’ for a compact double-action-only gun; ‘6’ for any gun with a
non-standard barrel; ‘7’ for pistols with non-standard barrels and de-cocking
systems; and ‘8’ for guns with non-standard barrels and double-action-only
triggers. ‘Fourth digit’ identifiers are ‘3’ for a combination of an alloy frame
and a stainless-steel slide; ‘4’ for an alloy frame allied with a steel slide; ‘5’ for a
steel frame and slide; ‘6‘ for guns with a stainless-steel frame and slide; and ‘7’
for those combining a stainless-steel frame with a standard carbon-steel slide.
¶ The basic designs currently encompass the 1000 series chambered for the
10mm Auto cartridge; the 2200 series in .22 rimfire; the 3900, 5900 and 6900
series in 9mm Parabellum; the 4000 series in S&W .40 Auto; and the 4500
series in .45 ACP. The Model 4546, for example, is a .45-calibre pistol with a
double-ction-only trigger (‘4’) and a non-standard barrel (‘6’). Few of these
guns have been named, excepting the →Sportsman and the →LadySmith
patterns.
¶ In addition to their locked breech military style automatic pistols, and the
.22 M 41 series target guns described below, Smith & Wesson marked a tiny
6.35mm pocket pistol known as the →Escort.
¶ Introduced in 1957 after a development period lasting ten years, the Model
41 pistol was a .22 rimfire blowback destined for target shooting. Guns of
this type have been made with long barrels, often fitted with muzzle brakes,
or with extendible front sights. The Model 41-1 of 1960 was intended for
rapid-fire competitions and chambered the .22 Short rimfire cartridge instead
of the Long Rifle pattern. The Model 46 (1959–68) was a simplified Model 41,
developed for the U.S.A.F and also touted briefly as a ‘field gun’. Next came
the Model 422 of 1987, an unusual internal-hammer blowback design offered
as the →Field Model and →Target Model.
¶ No attempt has been made here to catalogue minor manufacturing
variations of Smith & Wesson handguns, and the distinctions between the
Models 10, 10-1, 10-5, etc, being ignored. Details should be sought from the
standard books on the subject, notably History of Smith & Wesson by Roy Jinks

(Beinfeld, 1977 and subsequent editions).
SMLE, S.M.L.E. An abbreviated form of the official British name for the ‘[Rifle]
Short, Magazine, →Lee Enfield’, encountered in designation marks; more
commonly known as the ‘Smelly’.
Smok A brand name used on a 6.35mm pistol made by →Nakulski of Gneizno.
Smokeless Diamond: see ‘Diamond’.
Smokeless Powder & Ammunition Co. Ltd [‘The…’]; London? The ‘S.P. & A.
CO.’ mark of this short-lived business (1898-1907?) has been reported in the
headstamps of 12-bore shotgun cartridges.
Smoker Introduced in 1875, this .22, .32, .38 or .41 →Johnson & Bye revolver
had a fluted cylinder and a squared grip with a humped backstrap (‘Russian
Handle’).
Smoky City A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Harrington
& Richardson Arms Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. It dates from the
late nineteenth century.
Smoot. William Smoot, a gunsmith employed by E. →Remington & Sons, was
granted U.S. Patent 143,855 of 21st October 1873 to protect improvements in
revolver design exploited in the Remington →New Line series.
Smooth A general term for smooth bored ‘rifles’.
Smythe Joseph F. Smythe, an ‘outside’ member of the London gun trade, was
established at 13 Blackwell Gate, Darlington, in 1895. He moved to 12 Horse
Market in 1896, but the London directories are silent thereafter; additional
premises were subsequently opened in Stockton-on-Tees. Smythe’s marks
have been found on a variety of shotgun cartridges, including ‘Durham
Ranger’, ‘The Field’, “Smythe’s Champion” and “Smythe’s Special Load”.
SN An abbreviation of the name of the Soviet →Savin-Norov aircraft machine-
gun, made in small quantities in the 1930s.
Sneezum H. & R. Sneezum; 14B20 Fore Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
The marks of this East Anglian gunmaker have been recorded on shotgun
cartridges sold under names such as ASneezum’s Anglia” , accompanied by a
bounding rabbit, and ASneezum’s Special High Velocity Load”. They seem to
have been supplied by →Eley-Kynoch.
Sneider C. Edward Sneider; Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. In March 1862, Sneider
was granted U.S. Patent xxxx to protect an ‘Improvement in Revolving Fire
Arms’. The Sneider revolver had a two row cylinder and an extended hammer
nose. When seven shots had been fired, the action was opened and the
cylinder was reversed so that another seven rounds could be fired.
Snell George C. Snell. See ‘George C. →Schnell’.
Snider Jacob Snider was an American, but is best remembered for the success of
his lifting block conversion system adopted by the British government in 1867.
Snider conversions were applied to a range of British service weapons, such
as the P/1853 (Enfield) rifle musket, the P/1855 (Lancaster) engineer carbine
and the P/1858 naval short rifle. The system was also used in Denmark, on the
M1848–65 short rifle and the M1853–66 navy rifle, whilst the French Tabatière

conversion was essentially similar—though the French cited the existence of
earlier patents (notably Clairville’s of 1853) to avoid paying licensing fees. A
few 11mm calibre Snider type rifles were also made in Spain during the Carlist
Wars of 1873–5, probably for one of the feuding factions. They are marked
La Azpeitiana. The breeches swung to the right, while the back sights were
similar to those of the 1871 model Spanish Remington rifle.
Snider Rifles & Cartridges [Company]. This business was presumably established
to protect the rights of Jacob →Snider’s executors, this agency maintained an
office at Chatham Buildings, London EC, in 1878–9.
Snipe [‘The…’]. A mark found on shotgun cartridges loaded by the →Chamberlain
Cartridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
Sniper Usually found as ‘The Sniper’; a mark found on shotgun cartridges loaded,
or perhaps simply sold by →Emslie of Elgin since the Second World War.
Sniper A break barrel spring air rifle made in Spain by →El Gamo of Eibar and
sold in Britain by →ASI. The Sniper Repeater had an additional tubular pellet
magazine above the air chamber.
Sniper rifles The unexpected rise of trench warfare in 1914–15 renewed interest
that had lain dormant since the American Civil War. The first moves, by
virtually every particpant, saw the requisition of hunting rifles.
¶ The British acquired a variety of Mausers, Mannlichers and Lee-type
sporting guns, fitting them with →Galilean and conventional optical sights.
The German Jagdgewehre were mostly Mausers fitted with commercial
Gérard, Goerz and Zeiss telescope sights, but a few Gewehre 98 with 4×
Goerz ‘Certar Kurz’ were soon being tested on the Western Front. One major
problem concerned the supply of ammuition, particularly as some of the
British rifles chambered cartridges other than the regulation .303, and the
German sporting rifles customarily chambered the Patrone 88 instead of ‘S’
Munition.
¶ The first purpose-built sniper rifles included fifteen thousand German
Zielfernrohr Gewehre 98—subsequently known as Scharfschützen Gewehre—
though these were little more than specially selected and finished infantry
rifles with Goerz or Zeiss 4× telescope sights fitted in two ring mounts offset
to the left to allow the magazine charger to be used. British marksmen
preferred Long Lee-Enfields until the advent first of the P/1914 and then
Canadian Ross rifles displaced from service the SMLE. These were fitted with
a variety of sights, though the Periscopic Prism Company and Aldis Brothers
patterns eventually prevailed. The U.S. Army initially used ineffectual Warner
& Swazey ‘Telescopic Musket Sights’, and the French fitted the 3× ‘Mle 1916’ to
selected Lebels.
¶ The need for sniping disappeared between the wars, only to reappear
in 1939. The Germans had maintained their interest, fitting a variety of
conventional and low-magnification long eye-relief sights to the Kar. 98k,
and the Russians had always regarded sniping as an integral part of infantry
attacks. Consequently, the →Mosin-Nagant sniper rifle, Snayperskaya vintovka

obr. 1891/30, was issued in very large numbers. An attempt was also made
to issue semi-automatic Tokarevs in quantity, but the resulting SNT did not
prove to be as accurate as the Mosin-Nagant. The British initially made do
with refurbished P/1914 rifles, but then developed the Lee-action ‘Rifle No. 4
(T)’; the U.S. armed forces had a variety of M1903A4 bolt-action →Springfields
and optically sighted M1C and M1D →Garands.
¶ As sniping has been accorded specialist studies of its own in recent years,
a variety of modern equipment has appeared. Many of these guns are
accomoanied by sophisticated electro-optical and thermal-imaging →sights,
and more details may be found in books such as The World’s Sniping Rifles (in
the Greenhill/Stackpole Military Manual series, 1998). The historical aspects
of sniping may be learned from works of Peter Senich and Richard Law.
Snook Charles W. Snook. Operating in the 1870s, this government arms
inspector accepted →Colt revolvers marked ‘CWS’. See also “U.S. arms
Snow Charles H. Snow; New Haven, Connecticut, and later Stockton, California,
U.S.A. A partner in →Snow & Cowe and co patentee of an air pistol with
Edward H. →Hawley. See U.S. Patent 112,886 of September 1871. Made by
Snow & Cowe, the guns were marketed commercially as the →Kalamazoo.
A second patent—U.S. no. 752,932—was granted on 23rd February 1904 to
‘Charles H. Snow’ to protect the design of a magazine gun.
SNT Snayperskaya [vintovka] Tokareva: applied to specially-selected →Tokarev
auto-loading rifles fitted with optical sights on a mount curving forward from
the back of the receiver. See also ‘SVT’.
SO.C.CO.: an abbreviation used in the headstamps of cartridges made by the
→Southern Cartridge Co. of Houston, Texas, U.S.A.
Sociedad Española de Armas y Municiones, or ‘SEAM’; Eibar, Guipuzcoa, Spain.
The affairs of this gunmaking business are still shrouded in mystery, and it
is by no means certain how great a part SEAM played in the construction of
the automatic pistols marked →Diana, →Praga, →S.E.A.M., →Sivispacem
and →Waco. The ‘Diana’ is also often alternatively attributed to →Erquiaga,
Muguruzu y Compañía and ‘Waco’ was made for the dealer Tómas de →Urizar.
Società Armi Bresciane SRL (‘SAB’), Via Artigiani 93, Gardone Val Trompia. This
Italian gunmaking business is best known for rifles and sporting guns, often
made under the name of Renato →Gamba, but has also made handguns and
a →Mauser action sporting rifle in conventional or →Battue form for snap
shooting at driven game. The shotguns are often superbly decorated with
delicate English-style bouquets, scrolls and animals, and can be inlaid with
oprecuious metals on request. See also ‘Ambassador’, ‘Concorde’, ‘Daytona’,
‘London’, ‘Maxim’, ‘Mustang’, ‘Oxford’, ‘Prince’ and ‘Trident’.
Società Metallurgica Italiana This Italian cartridge making company
headstamped cartridges with the initials ‘SMI’.
Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mecaniques, also known as ‘SACM’;
Cholet, Alsace. This metalworking company made substantial quantities

of the French 7.65mm Mle 35 service pistol 1937–40 and on into the period
of German occupation. Though basically dropping-barrel recoil-operated
→Brownings, the guns were made in accordance with patents granted to
Charles →Petter in the early 1930s and incorporated improvements in the
trigger/hammer mechanism.
Société Anonyme Commerciale Belge This Liége-based promotional agency was
regarded as a member of the London gun trade in 1884, when an office was
maintained at 12 Lime Street, EC.
Société Anonyme Établissements Hotchkiss, based in Saint-Denis (near Paris),
made the well-known strip-feed →Hotchkiss machine-gun prior to 1918.
Société Belge d’Optique et d’Instruments de Précision A Belgian telescope
sight maker; see ‘Saive’.
Société d’Applications Générales, Électriques et Mecaniques; also known as
‘SAGEM’. A manufacturer of French 7.65mm Mle 35S and Mle 35SM1 service
pistols, 1946–51. See also ‘SACM’, ‘Saint-Étienne’.
Société d’Armes [de] Paris A 6.35mm six-shot →Browning-type pocket pistol
said to have been made in France prior to 1940 by →Manufacture d’Armes des
Pyrénées. The slides may be marked FABRICATION FRANÇAISE. ST. ÉTIENNE.
Some guns have a grip safety; others do not.
Société d’Armes ‘HDH’, once ‘Henrion, Dassy & Heuschen’; Liége, Belgium.
Maker of a small 6.35mm calibre automatic pistol known as the →H&D prior
to 1914.
Société des Anglais [la]. Also known as ‘La Société pour les Armes de Guerre
Ancion & Cie, Renkin frères, Pirlot frères et Auguste Francotte’, this
association of Liége gunmakers formed to make 150,000 .577 ‘interchangeable’
→Enfield rifle-muskets for the the British Board of Ordnance during the
Crimean War. It installed U.S.-made production machinery, but disbanded in
1863 when the work had been completed.
Société Française d’Armes Automatiques de Saint-Étienne The French
manufacturers of the last few →Hermetic pistols immediately after the end of
the First World War, in succession to →Établissements Bernardon-Martin et
Cie, and possibly also of the →Le Steph and →Securitas guns.
Société Française d’Armes Portatives [‘SFAP’], Saint-Denis, France;
manufacturers of →Hotchkiss machine-guns, and also the promoter of the
→Daudetau rifles prior to the First World War.
Société Française des Munitions de Chasse et de Guerre (‘SFM’). This French
ammunition making business was formed in 1884, when the former →Gevelot
& Gaupillat changed its name, and traded until renamed ‘Gevelot SA’ in 1950.
Substantial quantities of ammunition were made, usually distinguished by
the headstamps ‘SFM’ or ‘GG’, the latter often being reserved for rimfire
cartridges and primers.
Société Générale Mécanique; 6 cours Fauriel, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in
1951 as a gunmaker, responsible for a variety of sporting firearms including
the →Bretton shotgun.

Société Industrielle Suisse: see ‘SIG’.
Société Liégeoise [la]; Liége, Belgium. A gunmaker involved in the 1870s with le
→Grand Syndicat.
Société Moderne de Fabrications Mécaniques [‘SMFM’]; 56 rue Tarentaize,
Saint Étienne, France. Listed among the gunmakers operating in the district
in 1951.
Société Stéphanoise d’Armes; rue de la République 14, Saint Étienne. Listed in
1892, this French gunmaking business was formed in the 1880s to make high
quality sporting guns, revolvers of all types. It was also advertised as ‘sole
agent for France and the colonies for the patents of M Paul →Giffard for the
manufacture and sale of guns of the new ballistic of liquefied gas’. The Giffard
guns, previously made by →Rivolier, gained Société Stéphanoise a gold medal
at the Saint Étienne industrial exhibition in 1891.
Société Manufacturière d’Armes [‘SMA’]; rue Tréfilière, Saint Étienne, France.
Listed in 1892 as a gunmaker.
Soderholm W.H. Soderholm, then ranking as a U.S. Army major, accepted
M1911A1 pistols made by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co. Dating from the
mid 1930s, the guns will be marked ‘WHS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’
marks”.
Sodia Franz Sodia of Ferlach in Kärnten, Austria, was best known in the 1950s
for good-quality sporting rifles built on the Mannlicher Schönauer action,
but turned his attention to the →Mauser in the 1960s. The guns often had a
Bavarian style cheek piece and an oddly humped comb. Chamberings ranged
from .220 Swift to 9.3×64mm. See also →Super Express.
Sokolov Alexander Alexeyevich Sokolov, born in Petropavlovsk in 1869,
graduated from the Mikhailovskaya Artillery School in 1890. While serving
with the 24th Artillery Brigade in 1890–6, he became acquainted with Pavel
Tretyakov, with whom he developed several improvements in large-calibre
ordnance. Sokolov subsequently graduated from the artillery academy
(1899) and in 1903 became director of the workshop attached to the artillery
technical school in the St Petersburg ordnance factory. Working for the
Chief Artillery Directorate from 1904, Alexander Sokolov developed a special
wheeled mount for the Russian Maxim (‘PM’) machine-gun. The original
design had two additional folding legs, converting into a tripod, but these
were abandoned during the First World War to accelerate production. Sokolov
went on to become a permanent menber of the Special Artillery Experimental
Committee, taught at the artillery academy, and retired in 1934. He undertook
special assignments on the Leningrad Front during the early part of the
Second World War, but died in 1943.
Sokolov Yuri Mikhailovich Sokolov (1929–87) was co-designer with Grigory
→Nikitin of the Soviet →Nikitin-Sokolov or ‘NS’ universal machine-gun.
Soleilhac François Soleilhac; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933 as a gunmaker,
and in 1951 at 12 rue des Armuriers.
Sollaceo J.N. Sollaceo, a government arms inspector working prior to 1850,

accepted firearms and equipment marked ‘JNS’. See also “U.S. arms
Solothurn, ‘Waffenfabrik Solothurn’, Switzerland—see ‘Steyr Solothurn’.
Somers & Sworder; Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. The marks of this English
gunmaking partnership have been reported on self cocking →pepperboxes
dating from the middle of the nineteenth century.
Sommerville A. Sommerville, a partner in →Braendlin & Sommerville, may have
been Belgian or French. He was the co designer with Charles F. →Galand of a
series of ejector levers for revolvers. See British Patent 3039/68 of 5th October
1868.
SONAZ An acronym applied to Soviet/Russian cosmonauts’ support kit, which
included the TP-82 multi-barrel pistol and appropriate ammunition. The gun
was designed by →Paramonov, Upirov and Ochnev.
Sonnen and Sonnenmarke Names found on shotgun cartridges manufactured
by →Wolff & Co. of Walsrode, Germany, prior to 1911. They were usually
accompanied by a sun face with the rays partly composed of the letters ‘W’.
Soper Richard Soper, later ‘R. & W. Soper’; 138 Friar Street, Reading, Berkshire.
This English gunmaking business was founded sometime prior to 1850, but
had become ‘R. & W. Soper’ by 1862. Sporting guns, pepperboxes and cap lock
revolvers are known from this period. By 1868, however, the partnership had
been dissolved and operations were continued by William Soper (below) alone.
Soper Gunmaker William Soper of 138 Friar Street, Reading, Berkshire,
previously a partner in R. & W. Soper (see Richard Soper, above), is best
known for a single shot rifle with a laterally pivoting breech block. This was
the subject of British Patent 2151/65 of 19th August 1865, which protected
an underlever cocker, and a side lever adaptation protected by British Patent
3637/67 of 30th November 1867.
Sora [‘The…’]. A mark found on shotgun ammunition loaded by the
→Chamberlain Cartridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
Soulier; 83 rue Antoine Durafour, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1951 as a
gunmaker.
South African Model A large →blowback semi-automatic pistol made in
Britain by →Webley & Scott Ltd of Birmingham, c. 1923–30. Little more
than the original 9mm Short Webley & Scott pistol with a radial safety lever
high on the left side of the slide, chambered for the 9mm Browning Long
cartridges, ‘South African’ guns had cylindrical barrels projecting from short
slides, external hammers, and near-vertical grips. The name was applied in
recognition of an important colonial export market.
Southampton [‘The…’]. This brand name will be found on shotgun cartridges
handled by Cox & Clarke of Southampton. See ‘John →Cox’.
Southern Armoury; Britain. See B. →Webster & Company and →Collins
Brothers.
Southern Counties Agricultural Trading Society [‘The…’] (‘SCATS’); Winchester,
Hampshire. The marks of this co-operative, accompanied by an illustration of

a hen pheasant, have been found on shotgun ammunition distributed as ‘The
Challenge Smokeless’. Excepting that the cases were supplied from Europe,
the origin of the cartridges remains uncertain.
Southern Arms Company A brand name associated with shotguns made by the
→Crescent Gun Company.
Southern Cartridge Company; Houston, Texas, U.S.A. A small independent
ammunition maker, this business marked its products with ‘SO.C.CO.’
Southerner This single barrel cartridge derringer, loaded by swinging the barrel
away from the frame, was made by the →Merrimack Arms & Mfg Co. and the
→Brown Mfg Co. in 1867–73. It has been re created more recently by →Classic
Arms.
Southgate Thomas Southgate. A gunmaker recorded at 6 Burton Crescent,
London WC, from 1896 until 1900 or later. Patentee of the ‘Southgate
→Ejector’.
Southgate & Mears This gunmaking partnership was to be found in 1884 at 4
George Yard, Wardour Street, London.
Southron A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by →Johnson, Bye &
Company and/or →Iver Johnson of Worcester and Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
in the late nineteenth century.
Southwell William Samuel Southwell. An English gunmaker listed in Old Ford
Road, East London, from 1856 until 1870.
Souvignet Rue Saint Roch 29, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1879 as a
gunmaker, and possibly also in 1892 at rue Saint Roch 23.
Souvignet Rue Mulatière 23, Saint Étienne. Listed in 1892 as a gunmaker. It
seems possible that these two establishments may be one and the same.
Souzy jeune; place Dorian 1, Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1879 as a distributor
of and agent for arms and ammunition.
Sowman J.W. & E. Sowman; Olney, Buckinghamshire. This English ironmongery
business sold shotgun ammunition marked AThe Sureshot Smokeless”.
SP, often encircled. A private proof mark used by the →Savage Arms Company.
SP Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘S. →Priestley’.
Spack: see →Benjamin Rifle Company.
Space Rifle A single shot bolt action pattern made by →Ljutic Industries.
S.P. & A. CO.: found in the →headstamps of shotgun cartridges made in Britain
by the short-lived →Smokeless Powder & Ammunition Company.
Spandau arms factory: see ‘Königlich Gewehrfabrik, Spandau’.
Spandauer-Selbstladepistole Also known as the ‘M1896’, this rarely-
encountered pistol was tested in Germany in the 1890s. It was not successful
enough to challenge even the earliest semi-automatic pistols (i.e., the
→Borchardt) and was speedily abandoned.
Spanish Model or ‘Spanish Model Remington’. A name given in the 1870s by E.
→Remington & Sons to a version of the standard military →rolling-block rifle
chambering the .43 centrefire cartridge; it accepted a socket bayonet. See also
‘Civil Guard Model’, ‘Egyptian Model’ and ‘French Model’.

Sparkbrook Royal Small Arms Factory [‘RSAF’], Montgomery Street,
Sparkbrook, Birmingham. This factory was purchased by the British
Government in 1886 from the liquidators of the →National Arms &
Ammunition Co. Ltd, having stood idle since 1883. Production of →Lee
Metford rifles began in 1889, followed by →Lee Enfield and Mk I SMLE
rifles made until the factory was sold to the →Birmingham Small Arms Co.
Ltd in 1906. Though BSA assembled a few Mk I SMLE rifles marked B.S.A.-
SPARKBROOK or B.S.A. C1 over SPARKBROOK in 1906–7, work was subsequently
concentrated in the Small Heath factory and firearms related work in
Sparkbrook ceased. The Sparkbrook inspectors’ mark was a crown above a
Roman (upright) letter ‘B’. See also →Snider.
Sparkford Vale [‘The…’]. This mark will be encountered on shotgun ammunition
sold by H.C. →Little & Son of Yeovil, Somerset, England.
Spaulding Sidney P. Spaulding, a lieutenant-colonel in the U.S. Army, accepted
.45 M1911A1 pistols made in 1939–40 by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co.
They bore ‘SPS’ identifiers. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
SPB Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel P. →Baird’.
Spearman J. Spearman, a gunsmith (but originally also a gun-stock maker), was
first recorded in Swallow Gardens, London, in 1833. He subsequently moved
to Prescot Street in 1839; to 25 & 26 Chamber Street, London E, in 1845; and
to 73 Great Prescot Street in 1863. Trading appears to have ceased in the mid
1860s.
Specht A brand name associated with shotgun cartridges made by →Pulverfabrik
Hasloch prior to the First World War.
Special [‘The…’]. A mark reported on a 12-bore shotgun cartridge made by →Eley
Bros prior to the First World War for W. →Metcalf of Catterick.
Special Brown [‘The…’]. Associated with shotgun cartridges sold by →Garden of
Aberdeen.
Special Clay King Found on English shotgun cartridges. See ‘Clay King’.
Special Commando Knife A name given to a Soviet/Russian combination knife
bayonet.
Special Game [‘The…’]. On British shotgun ammunition. See ‘George →Newham
& Company’.
Special Grade Rifle This was a version of the 1899-pattern →Remington-Lee
sporting rifle, with a sturdier stock of selected walnut.
Special I.X.L. [‘The…’]. A brand name found on shotgun cartridges sold by George
→Hinton of Taunton, England, after 1918.
Special Model Associated with a Mauser pattern sporting rifle, built on an →FN
action by →Cogswell & Harrison, in chamberings ranging from 7×57mm
Mauser to .404 Nitro Express or .458 Winchester. It had a better quality
stock and finish than the →Longford. The ‘Take Down’ model was similar,
but had an interrupted screw joint between the action and the barrel. The De
Luxe Model was a Special Model with a select walnut stock and a →Cape or
→Express back sight.

Special Navy Rifle Made in Japan in 1945, exclusively in Yokosuka navy arsenal,
this was basically a crude cast iron training rifle receiver with a barrel modified
to receive the locking lugs directly in the enlarged chamber. This allowed ball
ammunition to be fired without blowing the gun apart.
Special Rabbit [‘The…’]. Found on shotgun ammunition distributed by T.H.
→Moor of South Molton and Exford. Origins unknown.
Special Service A brand name associated with shotguns made by the →Crescent
Gun Company.
Special Skeet, or FN-Special Skeet’. A tradename used by →Fabrique Nationale
d’Armes de Guerre on shotgun ammunition, c. 1932B40.
Special Twenty [‘The…’]. This was associated with 20-bore shotgun ammunition
created by the →New Normal Ammunition Co. Ltd of Hendon (London),
from parts purchased in Germany. The propellant was apparently →Walsrode
Jagdpulver.
Speed Joseph J. Speed joined the staff of the →Royal Small Arms Factory at the
age of 25, rising to become Assistant Manager and then Manager (1891B1909).
He received several British Patents, including 6335/87 of 30th April 1887, for a
magazine cut off mechanism; 13,335/87 of 1st October 1887, for an improved
magazine, long range sights, and a dust cover for the bolt; 17,944/87 of 30th
December 1887 for a magazine spring; and 15,786/88 of 1st November 1888 to
protect construction of a magazine, a hand guard and safety catch. Elements
of these were all incorporated in the →Lee Metford rifle, guns being made
commercially by the →Birmingham Small Arms → Metals Co. Ltd and the
→London Small Arms Co. Ltd being marked LEE SPEED PATENTS. Patenting
designs in his own name whilst in government employment attracted much
adverse comment at the time. However, Speed was subsequently granted
three patents jointly with the Superintendent of the Enfield factory, Colonel
Henry →Watkin.
Speedmaster Found on several rifles made by the →Remington–UMC and the
→Remington Arms Company. The ‘Model 241A Speedmaster’ was a .22 rimfire
auto-loader, made in 1935–41 and 1945–51; it was basically a modernised
Model 24 adapted for high-speed ammunition. It had a 24in barrel, and could
be obtained in ‘B’ (Special), ‘D’ (*Peerless), ‘E’ (Expert) and ‘F’ (*Premium)
grades. The ‘Model 552A Speedmaster’, introduced in 1957, was a modernised
550A. Lacking the floating-chamber system and its predecessor’s ability to
handle differing cartridges interchangeably, the 552A had a round-backed slab-
side receiver. The deluxe 550BDL (1966 to date) had chequered woodwork,
and, particularly on later guns, distinctive fleur de lys strapwork. The 552C
carbine (1961–77) had a short barrel, and the 552GS (1957–77) chambered the
low-power .22 Short rimfire cartridge was sold with retaining-chain eyes and
spent-case deflectors for use in shooting galleries. See also ‘Sesquicentennial’.
Speedwell [‘The…’]. Associated with shotgun ammunition bearing the marks of
T.W. →Murray & Company of Cork; origins unknown (*Eley-Kynoch?).
Speedy Associated with →Mayer & Grammelspacher ‘Diana’ spring air rifles—

particularly the junior patterns—sold in the 1920s by →Clyde’s Game & Gun
Mart of Glasgow.
Spencer The marks of gunmaker Alfred L. Spencer of Richmond, Yorkshire,
England, have been reported on shotgun ammunition handloaded in
Richmond from components supplied by →Eley-Kynoch.
Spencer Christopher Miner Spencer; South Manchester, Hartford and Windsor,
Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. This inventor (1841–1922),
renowned for his brilliance in several differing fields, patented his tube
magazine repeating rifle on 6th March 1860 (U.S. no. 27,393). Large quantities
of rifles and carbines were made for the Federal government during the
American Civil War. In addition to the master patent, reissued in April 1864
and assigned to the Spencer Repeating Rifle Co., Christopher Spencer was
granted U.S. Patents 34,319 of 4th February 1862 for a laterally swinging
breech block with an attached hammer; 38,702 of 26th May 1863 (ante dated
to 3rd January) for an oscillating breech block containing a cartridge tube;
45,952 of 17th January 1865 for an improved magazine tube; 58,737 and 58,738
of 9th October 1866 for improvements to the basic radial breech design. After
concentrating his energies elsewhere, Spencer returned to gunmaking to
develop a slide action shotgun. Patented jointly with Sylvester H. →Roper
on 4th April 1882, no. 255,894, the guns were made first by the →Spencer
Arms Company and then under the control of Francis →Bannerman & Son.
Spencer’s last firearm patents were 135,671 of 11th February 1873 and 299,282
of 27th May 1884, the latter jointly with Richard →Rhodes. However, he had
also been granted 36,062 of 29th July 1862 for a cartridge retractor (assigned
to Charles Cheney) and subsequently obtained 386,614 of 24th July 1888 for a
safety lock mechanism.
Spencer F.P. Spencer; Lugley Street, Newport, Isle of Wight. The marks of
this gunsmithing and ironmongery business have been seen on a variety of
shotgun cartridges (date and origins unknown) distributed as ASpencer’s
Vectis Bunnie” and ‘Vectis Special Loading’. Some may also include ‘F.P.S.’ in
the marking, or a coat-of-arms customarily identified as that of the Isle of
Wight but more plausibly of Newport.
Spencer Matthew Spencer. This English gunsmithing business traded from Lynn
Regis (now King’s Lynn), Norfolk, successively occupying premises in Red
Cow Street in 1804–22 and High Street in 1829–53. Spencer made (or possibly
simply marked) sporting guns, reservoir airguns and revolvers.
Spencer M.S. Spencer; Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. The marks of this
gunmaker have been reported on self cocking →pepperboxes dating from the
middle of the nineteenth century. However, the identification may arise from
misreading Lynn Regis as ‘Lyme Regis’: see ‘Matthew Spencer’, above.
Spencer Arms Company; Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A. This gunmaking business
produced the first commercially successful slide action shotgun, patented by
Christopher →Spencer and Sylvester →Roper in 1882–5. A stubby fore grip
was used to pivot the breech block, cartridges being fed from an under barrel

tube. A few rifles were made for U.S. Army trials, but the 12 bore shotgun was
more successful. The business failed in 1889, its assets passing to →Pratt &
Whitney and thence to Francis →Bannerman & Sons.
Spencer Gun Company A brand name associated with shotguns made in the
twentieth century by the →Crescent Gun Company, used long after the
original business had disappeared.
Spencer Repeating Rifle Company, established in 1862 in Boston,
Massachusetts, U.S.A., made the breechloading magazine guns designed by
Christopher Spencer (above) in the Chickering Piano Company building in
Tremont Street. The business was absorbed by the →Winchester Repeating
Arms Co. in 1870.
Spencer Revolver Company: see ‘Otis →Smith’.
Spencer-Roper rifle Designed in the late 1870s and made in acordance with U.S.
Patent 255,894 granted to Sylvester →Roper on 4th April 1882, these slide-
action guns were tested by several armies in .45–70 and 11mm chamberings.
The earliest examples ejected vertically, but later short-action examples
ejected laterally to the right. The rifles were unsuccessful, but 20,000 shotgun
derivatives were subsequently made by the Spencer Repeating Arms Company
(c. 1886–90) and Francis Bannerman & Sons (c. 1890–2).
Spesco A mark associated with the Spesco Corporation of Atlanta, Georgia,
U.S.A. They will be found on a variety of guns and accessories, including SM-
11 pistols purchased from →Reck in Germany.
Spesco Corporation [‘The…’]; Atlanta, Georgia. A U.S.-based importer of a
variety of guns and accessories from Europe, including 6.35mm →Reck SM-11
pistols.
SPI: see ‘Syndicat des Pièces interchangeables’.
Spiller & Burr made eight hundred brass-frame .36 calibre copies of the
→Whitney navy revolver in 1863. The government of the Confederate States
of America purchased the business in January 1864, moving the factory to
Macon, Georgia, where 750 guns were made before work ceased in November.
Spirlet Gunmaker A. Spirlet of 5 Quai de la Boverie, Liége, Belgium, was
granted British Patent 2107/70 of 1870 (communicated by way of agent John
Piddington) to protect a break-open revolver with a simultaneous-ejection
system in the form of a manually-operated star plate set into the rear face of
the cylinder.
Spiro Benny Spiro; Hamburg, Germany. Established in 1864, Spiro was one of
the principal dealers of ‘war weapons and munitions’, which were exported
and imported in vast quantities. Business failed to survive the depression of
the early 1930s and the rise of the NSDAP to power.
Spitalsky Antonin Spitalsky, after collaborating in the redesign of the →Werndl
rifle in the mid 1870s, produced a series of drum magazine bolt action guns
in 1879–84 on the basis of the German Mauser M1871. Konrad →Kromar
improved the ruggedness of the system in 1885, but the Kromar-Spitalsky rifle
was too late to challenge the →Mannlicher.

Spitfire A semi-automatic pistol made in Britain by John →Slough Ltd of
Hereford, chambered for the 9mm Parabellum of .40 S&W cartridges. Dating
from the early 1990s, the guns were derived from the Czechoslovakian CZ 75.
Spitfire A →Suicide Special revolver made by the →Hopkins & Allen Arms
Spittin’ Image Applied by the →Daisy Mfg Co. to several products, particularly
those based on the Winchester lever-action rifle (e.g., Models 1894, 3994 or
3030).
SPIW, ‘Special Purpose Infantry Weapon’: see →ArmaLite.
S.P.L. or SPL Marks found on shotgun ammunition used exclusively by the
London Sporting Park. See also ‘LSP’.
Split-breech A term used to describe the action of carbines purchased by the
Federal authorities during the Civil War, designed by Leonard →Geiger and
perfected by Joseph →Rider. Patented in the names of Rider and Remington
in 1865, the high wall receiver contained a radial breech-block. The nose of
the hammer struck the rimfire cartridges through a slot in the top surface of
the block. Fifteen thousand .56–50 Remington-Geiger carbines were made
by E. Remington & Sons of Ilion in accordance with an order of 24th October
1864, followed by five thousand smaller guns ordered in January 1865 for a
.46 rimfire cartridge, which put less strain on the action. Their frames were
notably smaller than the .56–50 pattern. The walnut butts of Remington-
Geiger carbines had a straight wrist, their half length fore ends were held
by a single band, and sling rings were anchored on the left side of the case
hardended receivers.
Spooner: see ‘Withers & Spooner’.
Spooner G.A. Spooner. This government arms inspector, working from c. 1900
until the beginning of the First World War, accepted items marked ‘GAS’. See
also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Spörer Albin Spörer; Zella St Blasii in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in the
Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch for 1914 as a gunmaker. Later ‘Albin Spörers
Sohn’, owned by Otto E. Spörer (below).
Spörer Oskar Spörer; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1920B30 as
a ‘weapon maker’.
Spörer Oskar & W. Spörer; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939 as
a master gunsmith.
Spörer Otto E. Spörer; Zella Mehlis in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1920 as a
gunmaker.
Spörer & Harl, employees of the Bavarian government arms factory in →Amberg,
patented a bolt action rifle in 1882. The basic mechanism was adapted from
the 1871 type Mauser, but a gravity feed case magazine in the butt fed the
breech by a →Hotchkiss like feed way and elevator system.
Sport French: see ‘Buffalo-Sport’, ‘Populaire-Sport’.
Sport Also known as ‘Universal Sport’; Czechoslovakia. See ‘Universal’.
Sport A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Ryan Pistol

Sport & Munition: see ‘SM’.
Sporting Clays, →Concode Sporting Clays or →Daytona Sporting Clays. These 12
bore over/under shotguns are made by →Società Armi Bresciane of Gardone
Val Trompia. They have anatomical pistol grips, →schnabel tip fore ends and a
single selective trigger mechanism. Barrels are 71 81cm long.
Sporting Life [‘The…’]. Associated with the shotgun cartridges sold by W.W.
→Greener of Birmingham.
Sporting Model Applied to the octagonal-barrelled No. 2 →Ballard rifles, made in
1876–89 for rim- and centre-fire cartridges ranging from .32 to .44.
Sporting Model A name applied by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co., of
Hartford, Connecticut, to semi-automatic pistols made to the patents of John
M. →Browning. The .38 Model 1902 (1902–8) had moulded rubber grips and
an inertia firing pin.
Sportmodell This term applies specifically to the bolt-action air rifles produced
under the patents of Hugo →Schmeisser by C.G. →Haenel of Suhl prior
to 1945—as the ‘Sportmodell 33’—and, during the early post war 1948
era, by VEB Fahrzeug und Gerätewerk ‘Ernst →Thalmann’ of Suhl as the
‘Sportmodell 49’ (or →Blitz). See also →Wehrsport Luftgewehr Model 33; all
the guns fire 4.5mm ball ammunition.
Sportsman, usually found, as ‘The Sportsman’, on shotgun cartridges sold in
Britain by, amongst others, →Garrick of Sunderland, and →Tickner of Bishops
Waltham.
Sportsman A brand name associated with shotguns made by the →Crescent Gun
Company.
Sportsman Found on a revolver made in recent years by →Smith & Wesson.
Sportsman Bush & Field This name was applied to a →Mauser action sporting
rifle offered in the U.S.A. in 1984–8 by →Marathon Products, Inc. Built on
a →Santa Barbara action in chamberings ranging from .243 Winchester to
.30–06, the rifle could be obtained in kit form. It had a walnut stock with a
low →Monte Carlo comb and a heavy squared tip fore end.
Sportsman’s International Cartridge Company; Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.A.
This short lived ammunition maker, or possibly distributor, trading for a few
years prior to the entry of the U.S.A. into the First World War in 1917, was
responsible for cartridges headstamped ‘S.I.C. Co.’
Sportsmaster Guns made by the →Remington Arms Company. The ‘Model 341A
Sportsmaster’ (1936–9) was a .22-calibre bolt-action rifle with a bigger stock
than the others in the 341 series and a tube magazine beneath the barrel. The
‘Model 512A Sportsmaster’, made in 1940–1 and 1945–62, was an M341 with a
radial-lever safety catch behind the bolt, open sights, and a plain pistol-grip
half stock.
Sport Waffenfabrik ‘Moll’: see ‘Moll Sportwaffenfabrik, Lauenberg an der Elbe’.
Sportsmatch Found on telescope sight mounts: see ‘J. & J. Ford’.
Spotfinder [‘The…’]. A mark associated with shotgun cartridges handled by D.B.

→Crockart of Perth, Scotland.
SPP, or ‘SPP-1’. A special silenced underwater pistol designed in what was then
the Soviet Union by Vladmir →Simonov.
Springer A mark found on ‘Bazar’ (q.v.) knife pistols, indicating that the knife
components, if nothing else, had been provided by Wilhelm →Weltersbach of
Solingen.
Springfield-Allin rifle, or ‘Trapdoor Springfield’. A prototype designed by Erskine
→Allin appeared in the summer of 1865, performing well enough for large
quantities to be ordered for field trials. About five thousand .58 rimfire rifles
were made in the Springfield factory in 1865–6. They were adapted 1863
pattern cap lock rifle muskets with a new breech-block hinged laterally at the
front of the action. The block could be swung up to reveal the chamber, but
the alteration was much too complicated; the ratchet pattern extractor was
weak and the cartridge performed poorly. As soon as the first M1865 Allin
type conversions were being issued for trials, a search began to find a better
weapon. The M1865 was soon replaced by the M1866, with its barrel lined
down from .58 to .50, and a simplified extractor. Trials still favoured the
→Berdan as the best conversion and the →Peabody being the best new rifle,
but the .50 Allin was controversially selected for production. An improved
version was approved on 5th May 1873. As the Allin breech had cost the
U.S. Treasury more than $124,000 to settle patent infringement claims, the
government was reluctant to make wholesale changes. Virtually all Allin type
guns were made by the National Armory in →Springfield, Massachusetts.
Many differing models were introduced prior to 1889. Many obsolete .50–70
Model 1865 and Model 1866 →Trapdoor Springfields were converted in the
1880s to make inexpensive 12 or 16 bore shotguns. They are customary
recognisable by their short fore ends.
Springfield Armory (or ‘National Armory’). Founded in the small Massachusetts
town of Springfield in 1782, though no guns were made until 1794, this grew
to become the principal government owned small arms factory—making
M1903 bolt-action rifles at the rate of 1500 daily by November 1918. The
site extended in 1933 to 297 acres, but even this was extended during
the Second World War. The factory has made a wide range of firearms,
including →Burton, →Chaffee Reece, →Enfield, →Garand, →Hotchkiss,
→Krag Jørgensen, →Remington, →Sharps and →Springfield (Allin amd
Mauser types) rifles. →Colt-Browning pistols have also been made there, but
operations were scaled down until the factory, then no more than a grandiose
repair-shop, was closed in the 1980s.
Springfield Armory, Inc.; Geneseo, Illinois, U.S.A. A current manufacturer of
.45-calibre pistols based on the Colt M1911A1 and rifles based on the M14.
Springfield Arms Company Based in Springfield, Massachussets, this gunmaking
business made revolvers designed by its superintendent, James →Warner.
The .40 calibre six shot ‘Dragoon Pistols’ were followed by the .31 ‘Jaquith
Patent Belt Model’, though the relevant patent had very little to do with

the gun. Next came the Warner Patent Belt Model, with a modified Jaquith
pattern cylinder rotating hand and (from 1852) a two trigger mechanism
and Warner’s patent rammer. A few .36 calibre six shot Warner Patent Navy
Model revolvers were made in the mid 1850s, mostly with the twin trigger
mechanism, and the .28 six shot Warner Patent Pocket ModelsCwith cylinders
rotated by the hammer, a ring trigger or the perfected two trigger system. The
company failed about 1863, allowing James →Warner to continue operations
under his own name.
Springfield Arms Company A brand name associated with shotguns made by the
Springfield rifle, bolt-action This rifle, a replacement for the →Krag-Jørgensen
in U.S. service, was the culmination of experiments with Mauser-type actions
that dated back to 1900. The original full-length rifle had been superseded
by an improved short-barrel as soon as the U.S. authorities realised that the
British were working on the short →Lee-Enfield.
¶ The original M1903 rifle was approved for service on 19th June 1903, but
work was suspended in January 1905 to allow details of the design to be
reconsidered. The Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army soon reported that the
reduction in barrel length was acceptable, but that the rod bayonet should be
replaced immediately with a sword pattern. The back sight was changed in
May 1905, a pointed ‘spitzer’ bullet was adopted in October 1906 (changing
the sight graduations), and a solid tubular back sight mount replaced the
skeletal pattern in 1910.
¶ The first guns were made exclusively by Springfield Armory (‘S.A.’), though
work had soon begun in Rock Island Arsenal (‘R.I.A.’). When the First World
War began, however, only Springfield was making rifles and the machinery
in Rock Island, which had lain inactive since 1913, was immediately pur back
into commission. The M1903 Marksman’s Rifle, the results of experiments
undertaken in the early 1900s, was fitted with a 6× M1908 or 5.2× M1913
Warner & Swazey optical sight, but was neither popular nor successful.
¶ Work continued throughout the First World War, when a parkerised finish
was adopted, an second recoil bolt was added through the stock, and the bolt
handle was bent slightly backward. The M1903 Mark 1 was an adaptation for
the →Pedersen Device, with an auxiliary sear in the trigger system and an
ejection port in the left side of the receiver. Though the Devices were scrapped
immediately after the end of hostilities, the rifles remained in service until
they wore out.
¶ Increasing reports of receiver failures in 1917–18 were traced to poor
heat treatment during manufacture and a new ‘double treated’ receiver was
approved. The first Springfield-made guns of this type were assembled in
February 1918, shortly before numbers reached 800000, and the first Rock
Island example, no. 285507, was completed in May 1918. Work continued in
Rock Island Armory until June 1918, but military production at Springfield
Armory lasted until 1927. Thereafter, the only guns to be made were destined

for National Match target shooting and the National Rifle Association.
The M1903 NRA rifle was approved on 30th March 1915, to be sold to NRA
members by the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practise; the
M1903 NRA Sporter (1924–38) was a post-war equivalent, though enterprising
gunsmiths (such as R.F. Sedgley of Philadelphia) many similar guns from
military-surplus actions. A series of rimfire Springfields, the M1922,
M1922M1 (1925) and M2 (1933), also dated from this era.
¶ Approved on 15th March 1929, the M1903A1 had a modified ‘Style C’ pistol
grip stock instead of the straight wrist ‘Style S’. The change in designation was
authorised on 5th December, but few guns of this type were ever made; ‘S’-
type were still being used in 1939. A ‘scant pistol grip’ was approved in 1942 to
enable under size or flawed stock blanks to be used. The simplified M1903A3
rifle, incorporating many stamped and fabricated parts, was approved in May
1942. The straight wrist stock lacked a grasping groove, and an aperture sight
lay on top of the receiver bridge. The stamped trigger guard was deepened
ahead of the trigger lever in 1943, allowing a gloved finger access to the trigger,
but progress with the M1 →Garand and the →M1 Carbine allowed production
contracts to be cancelled in February 1944.
¶ Extensive use was made of sub-contractors, including →Johnson
Automatics, Inc., of Providence; R.F. Sedgley, Inc., of Philadelphia; and the
→Savage Arms Company of Utica, New York. These three made barrels
marked respectively with ‘JA’, an encircled ‘S’ and an angular ‘S’ within a
square.
¶ Standardised on 14th January 1943, the M1903A4 sniper rifle was made
exclusively by the →Remington Arms Company. The first guns had two groove
cut rifling, but this was subsequently changed to a four groove draw formed
pattern. The bolt handle was bent downward to clear the 2.5× Telescope
M73B1, made by the W.R. Weaver Company and carried in a Redfield mount.
The final batches of M1903A4 rifles were delivered in June 1944, as the
M1C and M1D →Garand rifles were being developed as replacements. Total
military Springfield ‘03’ production has been estimated at 1.97 million.
¶ The history of the Springfield rifle has been covered in detail by Colonel
William S. Brophy, in The Springfield 1903 Rifles (Stackpole Books, 1985), and
Clark S. Campbell, The ‘03 Era—When Smokeless Revolutionized U.S. Riflery
(Collector Grade Publications, 1994). A useful listing of the individual
patterns will be found in John Walter, Rifles of the World (Krause Publications,
third edition, 2006).
Spring & Western A spring-air revolver marketed by →Healthways, Inc.
Sprinter This was a Spanish 6.35mm calibre pocket pistol, based on the →FN
Browning of 1905, made in Eibar by →Garate, Anitua y Compañía; six rounds,
striker fired?
Sproxton [‘The…’]. Found on shotgun cartridges sold by J.H. →Gill of London.
SPS Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Sidney P. →Spaulding’.
Sp. & Sr., in fraktur. Found on rifles and handguns made for the German

authorities by →Spangenberger & Sauer of Suhl. They include 1871-pattern
→Mauser carbines and →Reichsrevolvers.
S.Q.: an abbreviation of ‘Super Quality’, used on cartridges made by the
→Winchester Repeating Arms Co.
Square Deal A brand name associated with shotguns made by the →Crescent
Gun Company.
Squire James Rollin Marble Squire; Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Co agent,
with Allison Owen →Swett and Henry Newton →Sheldon, involved in the
specification submitted on behalf of Augustus Bedford (British Patent 23/76 of
1876).
Squire James Squire or ‘Squires’. A gunmaker first listed in Mile End Old Town
in 1847, then at 14 Newcastle Street, London E, in 1860–7; additionally at 72
Kingsland Road in 1868–73; and then at Newcastle Street alone until 1892. The
business was then continued until 1895 by John Squires, presumably James
Squires’ son.
Squires Bingham: details to add.
Squirrel [The]. This brand name was used by the →Chamberlain Cartridge
Company of Cleveland, Ohio, on shotgun cartridges.
SR linear monogram with neither letter dominant, usually placed on the breast of a
stylised eagle. Associated with the products of →Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc.
SRC superimposition-type monogram with ‘R’ dominant. A mark used by →Sears,
Roebuck & Company, often found moulded into the rubber grips of bought-in
revolvers or on shotgun butt plates.
SRW superimposition-type monogram with ‘S’ dominant. Correctly ‘RWS’ (q.v.);
used by →Römerwerke AG of Suhl.
SS: ‘stainless steel’, used generically.
SS vertical superimposed-type monogram, with letters of equal dominance. Found on
the grips of semi-automatic pistols made in Germany after the end of the First
World War by J.P. →Sauer u. Sohn of Suhl.
SS or S&S, often set into three overlapping triangles. A mark associated with
→Simson & Companie of Suhl, found on the slides of semi-automatic pistols,
on the receivers of bolt-action rifles, and on the butt plates of shotguns.
S&S or S u. S. Found on the grips of semi-automatic pistols made prior to 1919 by
J.P. →Sauer u. Sohn of Suhl.
SS, ‘Stainless Synthetic’. Applied to a version of the →Remington M700 bolt-
action rifle with a stainless-steel barrelled action set in a composite half-stock.
SSA or S.S.A. Found on →Lee Enfield rifles and rifle parts made by the
→Standard Small Arms Company of Birmingham, Warwickshire, England,
in 1916–18. SSA was then succeeded by the →National Rifle Factory No. 1
(‘N.R.F.’).
SSA monogram. A trademark associated with Sanders Small Arms Ltd (q.v.).
SSC superimposition-type monogram with ‘S’ dominant. See ‘CSS’; used by C.S.
→Shatuck.
SSS monogram in triangular form, customarily encircled, each attenuated sans-serif

letter sharing a common base. Used on handguns, shotguns and sporting
rifles made in Germany since the late 1960s by J.P. →Sauer & Sohn GmbH of
Eckenförde.
SS within U A mark found on the slides of .45 M1911A1 →Government Model
pistols made for the U.S. armed forces by the →Union Switch & Signal
Company.
SSW superimposition-type monogram with ‘W’ placed centrally on two overlapping
letters ‘S’, usually within a diamond placed on concentric circles. Found on the
grips of →Pieper-type pistols made in the 1920s by →Steyr-Solothurn Waffen
AG.
STA This mark—Section Technique d’Artillerie—distinguished several auto-loaders
developed in 1894–1916. Fusil STA No. 4 (later reclassified ‘Fusil A1’) was a
Pralon Meunier design dating from 1897. It was gas operated and locked by
rotating interrupted thread type lugs into seats in the receiver. It was also the
precursor of a series of improved rifles, No. 5 to No. 7 (Fusils A2, A3 and A5),
culminating in the 7mm calibre STA No. 6. This was adopted officially as the
7mm Fusil A6 or →Meunier.
Stacey Benjamin J. Stacey, an English gunsmith, was recorded in 1887B94 at 17
& 19 Settles Street, London E., and thereafter as ‘Stacey & Co.’ until 1900 or
later.
Sta-Clean A tradename associated with →Sears, Roebuck & Company, a
corrupted form of ‘Stay Clean’, indicating cartridges loaded with non-
corrosive priming—cf., ‘Kleanbore’, ‘Sinoxid’.
Stadelmann Paul Stadelmann; Suhl in Thüringen. A gunmaker working in
1920B45 period, with a manufactory at Schlageterstrasse 61 in 1941.
Stafford [‘The…’], also known as ‘The Stafford Deep Shell’. A name found on
shotgun ammunition sold by →Harrison & Hussey of London.
Stahl B. Stahl; Suhl in Thüringen. Listed in German trade directories
of the 1890s as a maker of ‘weapons and cartridge cases’ (Waffen- u.
Patronenhülsenfabrik), this business was run by Babette Stahl, the daughter
(or, perhaps, widow) of Richard Stahl, until sold in 1901 to G.C. →Dornheim
of Suhl.
Stahl John Stahl, a government arms inspector, accepted military equipment
in the years immediately after the Civil War had ended. They were marked
‘JS’, but can be difficult to distinguish from others accepted in an earlier era
by James →Stillman and John →Symington. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’
marks”.
Stahl Richard Stahl; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Two types of rifle designed by
this gunmaker may be encountered. The rarer, dating from 1869, embodied
a self cocking pivoting block action operated by a bulky two part lever in the
enlarged trigger guard ahead of the trigger. The 1873 pattern was operated by
a breech block extension lever running down the right side of the stock wrist.
By 1880, Richard Stahl had turned to true Martini action rifles at the expense
of his own designs. He was succeeded by Babette Stahl (above).

Stähle Wilhelm Stähle designed the roller locking system embodied in the
Mauser Gerät 06 series, and later in the →CETME rifle.
Stainless Steel Bodyguard This swing-cylinder →Smith & Wesson revolver was
introduced in 1986 as the Model 649. See ‘Airweight’ and ‘Bodyguard’.
Stainless Steel Chiefs Special A swing-cylinder revolver made by →Smith &
Wesson. See ‘Airweight’ and “Chiefs Special”.
Stainless Steel Combat Magnum Also known as the Model 66, this .357 swing-
cylinder revolver was the work of →Smith & Wesson. See ‘Combat Magnum’.
Stainless Steel Combat Masterpiece A swing-cylinder revolver made by →Smith
& Wesson, also known as the Model 67. See ‘Combat Masterpiece’.
Stainless Steel Distinguished Combat Magnum A swing-cylinder revolver made
by →Smith & Wesson, also known as the Model 686. See ‘Distinguished
Combat Magnum’.
Stainless Steel Distinguished Service Magnum A swing-cylinder revolver made
by →Smith & Wesson, also known as the Model 681. See ‘Distinghuished
Service Magnum’.
Stainless Steel Kit Gun A →Smith & Wesson swing-cylinder revolver, also known
as the ‘Model 63’. See ‘Kit Gun’. 8. Stainless Steel Magnum. The first of
these, known as the ‘Model 629’, was a .44-calibre swing-cylinder →Smith &
Wesson introduced c. 1980. A .41 version followed in 1982 (Model 657). See
‘Magnum’.
Stainless Steel Military & Police A swing-cylinder revolver made by →Smith &
Wesson. See ‘Military & Police Model’.
Stainless Steel Service Kit Gun A revolver made by →Smith & Wesson. See
‘Service Kit Gun’.
Stainless Steel Target A blowback semi-automatic pistol made by →Smith &
Wesson. See ‘Target Stainless’.
Stainless Steel Target Kit Gun A revolver made by →Smith & Wesson See
‘Target Kit Gun’.
Stalham [‘The…’] or, alternatively, ‘The Stalham Superior’. Marks of this type
are associated with shotgun ammunition sold by →Edmonds of Stalham,
?Norfolk, England.
Stamford Champion [‘The…’]. Found on shotgun cartridges sold by →Grimes of
Stamford, Lincolnshire, England.
Stanbury & Stevens; Alphington Street, Exeter, Devonn. The marks of this
gunmaking business have been found on a variety of shotgun cartridges, sold
under names such as ‘The Devonia’, ‘The Game’, ‘The Monocle’, ‘The Red Flash’,
‘The →Stanby’ and ‘The Swift’. Most of them seem to have been made by
→Eley-Kynoch.
Stanby [‘The…’]. Reportedly found on a 12-bore shotgun cartridge made by
→Eley-Kynoch for →Stanbury & Stevens of Exeter, this is believed to have
been a contraction of the ‘Stanbury’ name.
Stand: see ‘Buffalo-Stand’.
Standard, usually found as ‘The Standard ‘. A brand name found on shotgun

cartridges handled by Charles →Hellis & Sons of London; by George →Hinton
of Taunton prior to 1918; by P.D. →Malloch of Perth and →Rudd of Norwich
and Great Yarmouth (made by →Eley-Kynoch); and by the →Hull Cartridge
Company in recent years.
Standard A →Suicide Special revolver made in the U.S.A. by the →Meriden Arms
Company of Meriden, Connecticut. It dates from the late nineteenth century.
Standard Arms Company; Wilmington, Delaware. Maker of auto loading rifles
patented in the U.S.A. prior to 1906 by Morris F. →Smith. Production of the
gas-operated Model G was apparently confined to 1910-12, though a manually-
operated derivative (Model M) lasted until 1914.
Standard Products Company; Port Clinton, Ohio. Maker of →M1 Carbines
for the U.S. government during the Second World War. The contract was
granted in August 1942, asking for deliveries of an unprecedented 45,000
guns monthly, and stopped on 30th April 1944 after 247,160 carbines had been
delivered. Their receivers were usually marked STD. PRO.
Standard Small Arms Co. Ltd [‘The…’]; 8 Lench Street, Birmingham,
Warwickshire, England was formed in November 1914 by Douglas V.
→Johnstone, a partner named Peterson and a London financier named
Waring, eager to take advantage of a government grant. A contract to make
SMLE rifles was agreed with the Ministry of Munitions in January 1915, but
such great problems ensued that production—and then only of a few key
components—did not begin in earnest until 1917. The rifles were assembled
in the →Enfield factory under the →Peddled Rifle Scheme. The Ministry
of Munitions, losing patience with bad management and erratic deliveries,
bought the Standard Small Arms Company in June 1918 and renamed it
→National Rifle Factory No. 1. Rifle components from this particular source
were marked ‘SSA’ or later ‘NRF’.
Standard Smokeless A mark found on 12-bore shotgun cartridges distributed
by →Manton & co., ‘London & Calcutta’, prior to the First World War;
manufacturer unknown.
Standard Sporting Guns; Birmingham. Allotted the code ‘M 233’, this
wholesaling business supplier 12-Bore shotguns to the British military
authorities in 1942. See also “British military manufacturers’ marks”.
Standing breech The fixed part of the frame that abuts the base of the cartridge
in the firing position, carrying the firing pin or the firing pin bush. The term is
usually applied to single shot dropping block rifles.
Stange Engineer Louis Stange, working for →Rheinmetall, has been credited
with the design of the German FG. 42 automatic rifle.
Stanley Merrit F. Stanley of Plymouth, Michigan, until 1890/91 (and Northville,
Michigan, thereafter) was granted several patents and is best remembered
for the →Globe and →Warrior BB guns. Among his patents were U.S.
Patent 420,316 of 28th January 1890, protecting the hinged-stock cocking
system of the →Globe. U.S. Patent 461,224 of 13th October 1891 protected
an airgun with a sliding barrel; 454,081 of 16th June 1891 allowed claims

for a modification of the →Globe, assigned to the manufacturer prior to
production. U.S. Patent 627,764 of 27th June 1889 and 767,968 of 16th August
1904 both protected spring air guns.
Stanley Arms Company Found on shotguns handled by the H. & D. →Folsom
Arms Co., possibly imported from Europe.
Stannard R.N. Stannard, a government arms inspector working in 1905, accepted
revolver-components and firearms accessories marked ‘RNS’. See also “U.S.
Stanton John Stanton [‘& Son’]; Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. Listed as a gun-
lock maker from 1855, Stanton traded from Clifton Street, Chapel Ash, until
the early 1880s. The trading style then became ‘Stanton & Son’ and a move to
17 Merriedale Road occurred in 1886/7. Stanton was the recipient of several
British Patents protecting the design of →rebounding locks: 367 of 1867, 3774
of 1869, and 928 of 1877. Work seems to have ceased ahortly after the end of
the First World War.
Stapp Richard Stapp. This British metalsmith was originally listed as a gun
barrel maker in Wheeler Street, Spitalfields, London, in 1816. By the census
of 1841, however, he had become a gunmaker in St John Street, Clerkenwell.
Later directory entries have him at 2 Goldsmith’s Place, Hackney Road (1846–
8), then finally at 16 Road Side, Mile End, from 1852 until 1858. It is assumed
he then died or retired.
Star, usually as ‘The Star’, associated with shotgun cartridges sold by →Rudd of
Norwich and Great Yarmouth, possibly acquired from Charles S. Rosson (q.v.),
and also with .410-calibre examples (often marked ‘The Star 410’) sold in East
Anglia by Charles S. →Rosson of Norwich.
Star An under lever cocking air pistol made by E. →Anson & Company of
Birmingham, England, from 1922 until c. 1929.
Star A →Suicide Special revolver made by the →Prescott Pistol Company of
Hatfield, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the late nineteenth century.
Star and Cross. A brand name and trademark associated with Joseph →Rodgers.
Star–Bonifacio Echeverria SA Known for much of the inter-war period as
‘Fábrica de Armas “Star”–Continuadora de B. Echeverria’, the business was
renamed ‘Star–Bonifacio Echeverria SA’ in 1939 and continues to trade.
Starfire, or ‘Star Modelo DK’. A small semi-automatic pistol made by Star–
Bonifacio Echeverria SA, from 1957 to the present day. It chambers the 9mm
Short (.380 ACP) cartridge and can be obtained in a variety of finishes. See
also ‘Starlet’.
Starlet, or ‘Star Modelo CU’. A replacement for the Star Modelo CU pocket pistol,
this small blowback semi-automatic pattern appeared in 1957. Chambered for
the .25 ACP cartridge, it has been offered with a blue or chrome-plated steel
slide, and aluminium-alloy frames anodised black, blue, gold, green or grey.
See also ‘Starfire’.
Starlight, ‘Starlite’ or ‘Star Modelo BKS’. A compact Colt-Browning type semi-
automatic pistol made by →Star–Bonifacio Echeverria SA in 1970–81. It was

chambered for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge and had a 4.25in barrel.
Star handguns The earliest guns associated with this name were 6.35mm
Mannlicher-style Modelo 1908 and Modelo 1914 blowbacks made in Eibar
by the →Echeverria brothers (until 1910) and then by Bonifacio Echeverria
alone. The Modelo Militar 1, or ‘Model 1 Military’, was an enlarged version
of the pocket pistols, chambered for the 7.65mm cartridge. The last guns of
this type were not sold until 1929, though they had probably been in stock for
some years. Commercial examples sometimes chambered the 6.35mm or 9mm
Short rounds instead of the much more popular 7.65mm type.
¶ When the war had finished, the Echeverria mamagement decided that
the locked-breech →Colt-Browning pistol had more to commend it than an
experimental locked-breech adaptation of the Military Model 1 that had been
offered to the French. The Modelo Militar 1920 embodied a conventional
Browning dropping-link barrel depressor, though some of its constructional
details—especially the radial safety drum mounted in the slide—mirrored the
Echeverria-modified Mannlichers.
¶ The failure of the M1920 to interest the army, being taken only in small
numbers by the Guardia Civil, led to the Modelo 1921. This embodied a
grip-safety mechanism, but was rapidly superseded by the perfected Modelo
1922 with a plain back strap. The 9mm Largo M1922 was adopted by the
Guardia Civil on 5th October 1922, many examples being found with an
enrayed coronet mark on the left side of the slide. It is essentially a 1911-type
Colt-Browning, with a coil-type main spring, changes in the trigger, and the
omission of a grip-safety lever.
¶ Known commercially as the Modelo A, chambered for the 7.63mm Mauser,
9mm Largo, .38 ACP or .45 ACP cartridges, the M1922 formed the basis for
a range of locked-breech Star pistols. The Modelo AD was a selective-fire
variant of the Modelo A, with a selector on the right side of the slide; this was
protected by a Spanish patent granted to Bonifacio Echeverria in February
1930 (no. 116773).
¶ The ‘A’-type guns were replaced in 1931 by the more robust ‘M’ patterns:
semi-automatic Modelo M, selective-fire Modelo MD, and a rarely-
encountered variant MD incorporating a rate-reducer patented in Spain in
February 1934 (no. 133526). Rate-reducing pistols wouild have been adopted in
Siam as the 80th Year Type, but, though machinery had been delivered from
Greenwood & Batley of Leeds, the advent of the Second World War prevented
series production. ‘Military Model’ MD pistols usually have tangent-leaf back
sights and combination shoulder stcok/holsters.
¶ The Super Star series appeared after the end of the Second World War.
This consisted of adaptations of the ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘M’ and ‘P’ pistols with a loaded-
chamber indicator, a magazine safety system and easier dismantling.
Introduced in 1941, the Star Modelo S was a small version of the Modelo A,
lacking the grip safety; it was chambered for the 7.65mm Auto cartridge. The
contemporaneous Modelo SI was similar, but adapted for the 9mm Short

round. Both patterns were discontinued in 1965. The Super S and Super
SI (1946–72) had loaded-chamber indicators and magazine-safety systems.
They were replaced by the Star Super SM, discontinued in 1982, which had an
adjustable back sight.
¶ Other guns included the Star Modelo CO ‘Pocket’, made from 1941 until
1957, and its replacement, the CU →Starlet. The Modelo DK and HK, known
as the →Starfire and the →Lancer respectively, were essentially similar to the
Starlet.
¶ A range of .22-calibre pistols has been offered in the ‘F’ series: the Star
Modelo F had a 10cm barrel and fixed sights; the Modelo FS had a 15cm barrel
and adjustable sights; and the Modelo F Olimpico, supplied only in .22 Short,
had a 18.5cm barrel with adjustable counterweights. All three patterns were
introduced in 1942 and discontinued in 1967, when the modernised Star
Modelo FR appeared. This was made only for a few years, though the Modelo
FM—with a heavy frame and a trigger-guard web—and Modelo FRS, with a
15cm barrel, both lasted into the 1990s.
¶ The Modelo BKS or →Starlight was a compact 9mm Parabellum derivative of
the standard Colt-Browning guns; Modelo BM and Modelo BKM were similar,
but with a steel and aluminium-alloy frames respectively; and the Modelo PD
(1975 to date) was a short-barrelled .45 ACP variant with adjustable sights.
¶ The traditional Star pistols were supplemented a range of pistols based on
the tipping-barrel →Colt-Brownings, but with their lockwork mounted on a
readily detachable sub-assembly. The slide of the 9mm Parabellum Modelo 28
DA (1983–4) ran on rails inside the frame, a radial safety lever lay high on the
slide, and a fifteen-round staggered-column magazine was used. The barrel
was 110mm long. The retraction grooves were badly placed, being extended
forward on the the compact Model 28 PDA, introduced in 1984, which had a
98mm barrel; the Model 28 PKDA was similar, but had an aluminium-alloy
frame.
¶ The perfected Modelo 30 (1985 to date) is a 9mm double-action gun. The
30M has a steel frame, whereas the 30PK has an alloy component. Introduced
in 1990 in 9mm Parabellum and .40 S&W, the Star Modelo 31 is a compact
short-ballerred version with ambidexterous controls. ‘PK’ versions of
the Models 30 and 31 were offered with aluminium-alloy frames, but had
apparently been discontinued by 1991. Other derivations of the new double-
action guns include the M40, M43 and M45 →Firestar (introduced in 1990–2),
and the →Megastar of 1992.
Staron; Saint Étienne, France. Listed in 1933 as a gunmaker.
Starr Ebenezer Townsend Starr; Yonkers, New York State, U.S.A. Starr was a
prolific designer, among his firearms patents being U.S. no. 14,118 of 15th
January 1856 for a ‘revolving firearm’. He received additional protection in
December 1860, when U.S. Patent 30,843 was granted to protect an improved
trigger system; a bar type safety mechanism followed on 20th December
1864 in U.S. Patent 45,532. The distinctive cap lock revolvers was built in

some numbers prior to 1864 by the →Starr Arms Company. The Starr breech
loading carbine, patented in September 1858 (21,523), was tested favourably at
Washington Arsenal in January 1858. Somewhat like the →Sharps externally,
it was made in large numbers during the American Civil War.
Starr Arms Company; Binghamton and Yonkers, New York State. This U.S.
gunmaking business (active 1858–67) made large quantities of cap lock
revolvers in accordance with U.S. patents granted to Ebenezer →Starr in 1856.
These were .36 or .44 calibre self cockers embodying an early →double action
trigger mechanism with an additional ‘hesitation element’ possibly inspired
by the two trigger →Tranter or →North & Savage designs. The first Starr
revolvers to see military service were acquired by the U.S. Navy in 1858, but
a single action .44 version was introduced in 1864 to facilitate production.
The single action trigger system was based on patents granted to Starr in
December 1860 (U.S. no. 30843) and Thomas Gibson in April 1864 (42435),
and a few even had a bar type safety on the side of the hammer patented by
Starr at the end of December 1864 (45532). Much of the production work was
sub contracted to the →Savage Revolving Fire Arms Company; by the middle
of 1866, nearly 48,000 Starr cap locks had been purchased by the Federal
government. The .54 calibre Starr carbine resembled the Sharps carbine
externally, but was rather more angular and had a longer receiver. Its two
piece radial breech block was locked by a wedge as the actuating lever was
closed. A conventional side hammer cap lock provided satisfactory ignition.
Three thousand guns were ordered in February 1865, chambered for the .56–52
Spencer rimfire cartridge. A new breech block, fitted with an ejector, and a
modified hammer with a short straight shank. Newly made rimfire guns had
iron furniture instead of brass. Federal purchases amounted to 25,603 Starr
carbines prior to the end of June 1866.
State Arms Company A brand name associated with shotguns made by the
State Industry Factory; Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. This unit, part of
the nationalised Chinese engineering industry, makes airguns under a number
of different names and model designations, the first of which appeared in
Britain in 1973. The guns appear to be the Models 45 3 (→Lion), 55 (→Super
Hunter), 61 (→Hunter), 62 (→Pioneer) and →Arrow, plus a pistol designated
‘Model 1’.
State Industry and Munitions Factory; Port Said, Egypt. Believed to have been
the maker of the →Ramses 4.5mm air rifle, in addition to cartridge rifles and a
submachine gun.
Statham Albert Edward Statham, an employee of →Webley & Scott (in whose
name his patents were also filed), was responsible for some of the features of
the Mk 2 rifle, otherwise known as the →Service or New Service. The three
patents were: 371548 of 1932 for the method by which the barrel is cammed
back into its seat to prevent air leak; 388547 of 1933 for the secondary sear,
preventing premature release of the piston; and 388548 of 1933 for the quick-

detachable barrel.
Statical. This fixed-barrel recoilless 5.6mm rifle was made by →El Gamo and
distributed in Britain by →ASI.
STB Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel T. →Bugbee’.
Stebbins John C. Stebbins, a U.S. government arms inspector, accepted →cap-
lock firearms made by Henry →Deringer, Henry →North and Asa →Waters in
the 1830s. They were marked ‘JCS’, and can be distinguished from the guns
marked by John C. →Symmes by type. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Stechkin Igor Yakovlevich Stechkin, son of a doctor, was born near Tula in 1922
and graduated from the Tula Mechanical Institute shortly after the end of the
Second World War. He designed the 9mm →APS, a selective-fire 9×18 pistol
used in small numbers in the 1950s. However, the gun was much too light to
function effectively in automatic fire, even when attached to its holster-stock,
and was made only in comparatively small numbers. The ‘APB’ was a silenced
version credited to Vladimir →Simonov.
Steel City Arms, Inc.; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Makers of the .22
→Double Deuce and .25 →Two Bit Special pistols.
Steeltown Found on shotgun cartridges sold by Charles →Maleham of Sheffield
and London, ‘Steeltown’ being Sheffield’s nickname. They were made prior to
the First World War by →Eley Bros.
Steiger W. von Steiger (Thun, Switzerland): see ‘Vetterli’.
Steigleder Ernst Steigleder of Suhl in Thüringen, Germany, was listed in the
Deutsches Reichs-Adressbücher of 1914 and 1920 as a ‘gunmaker’, and in 1930
as a maker of ‘weapons and ammunition’. He was best known in the Suhl
district as a wholesaler. Premises were maintained elsewhere (Berlin?), as the
1930 Suhl directory entry is qualified as ‘(Zwgn.)’ for Zweigniederlassung or
‘branch office’. The business has been accorded some modern glory—perhaps
misleadingly—by W.H.B. Smith, in Gas, Air & Spring Guns of the World (1958),
who claimed that Steigleder was one of Germany’s major airgun distributors.
It is possible that Steigleder’s wares were distinguished by the unattributed
brand name →Precision, but nothing else is proven.
Steigleder Franz Steigleder; Suhl in Thüringen. Operating, according to the
Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch of 1939, as a gunsmith.
Stein William Stein; Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A. This gunmaker was trading
from 215 Market Street from 1860 until 1869, and thereafter at 309 Federal
Street. In 1874 the company became ‘William Stein & Son’, then ‘William
Stein Jr & Bros.’—well known locally as a sporting goods store—and was still
trading under the management of Hermann Engel in the early 1960s as the
‘William Stein Company’ (a style adopted in 1914/15).
Stein & Hunter; Cape Town, Cape Province. See →Guedes.
Steinbok A brand name found on shotgun cartridges most probably made by
→Pulverfabrik Hasloch prior to the First World War.
Steinecke E. Th. Steinecke; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1900 as a
gunmaker (Büchsenmacherei).

Steiner A name of unknown significance found on a spring-air gallery pistol
made by →Wirsing & Schemann of Cincinatti, Ohio, U.S.A.
Stella A series of airguns, mainly barrel-cocking rifles, made by L. →Kotek AS of
Prague c. 1933–43. Also associated with →Kovo AS.
Stenda A 7.65mm →Beholla-type semi-automatic pistol, made in Suhl in the early
1920s by Stenda-Werke GmbH.
Stenda-Werke GmbH; Abteilung Waffen, Suhl in Thüringen and Gemünden
am Main, Germany. This gunmaking business appears to have been formed
immediately after the end of the First World War, possibly in 1919, and was
listed in the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch for 1920. An advertisement dating
from 1925 notes that Stenda made ‘hunting and best quality guns, specialising
in the Stenda self loading pistol’, but trading seems to have ceased in the late
1920s. Stenda-Werke may have acquired the business of →Becker & Hollander
after the First World War had ended, inheriting sufficient components to
enable assembly of handguns to continue for several years.
Stendebach Fr. Stendebach; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunmaker operating
in Suhl in 1914.
Stendebach Karl F.P. Stendebach of Leipzig-Gohls, Germany, received U.S. Patent
804,349 of 14th November 1905 to protect a ‘firearm with drop-down barrel’.
Sten Gun Designed by Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold Turpin of the Royal
Small Arms Factory, Enfield, this →blowback 9×19 →submachine-gun was
designed to be made by inexperienced sub contractors. Approved in 1940, the
Machine Carbine, Sten, 9mm Mark I was made by the Singer Manufacturing
Co. Ltd from 1941 onward. The Mark I had a folding hand grip, a wooden butt
insert, and a flash hider/compensator on the muzzle. The simplified Mark I*
had a skeletal butt, and lacked the fore end and flash-hider assembly. Singer
made over 300,000 Mk I and I* guns.
¶ The Sten Mark II had a simple tube-butt and a short cylindrical barrel
casing. The magazine housing could be rotated to seal the feed aperture when
required, but variations in fitting and construction depended on the origins of
the parts. Guns were assembled by →BSA Guns Ltd (404,383 in Tyseley from
September 1941), by the Royal Ordnance Factories in Fazakerley and Theale,
and in Canada.
¶ The Mark III was made exclusively by Lines Bros Ltd from 1942 onward,
production eventually totalling about 880,000. Its one piece receiver/barrel
jacket, made from sheet steel tube, had a prominent weld seam along the top
of the gun. The Mark 4A Sten was an experimental short barrel paratroop
weapon with a pressed steel shoulder piece pivoted on the underside of the
pistol grip; the Mark 4B was similar, but its pistol grip/butt arrangements
differed. The Mark 5 was an improved Mk II, made in Fazakerley and Theale,
with a wooden butt and pistol grip.
¶ Made for commandos and Special Forces, the Sten Mark IIS (Theale and
Fazakerley, 1944) had a shortened barrel and a silencer threaded onto the
receiver. The Mark 6 (Enfield and Theale, 1944–6) was a silenced Mk 5,

distinguished from the Mk IIS by its wood butt. Production amounted to
4,184,237 Stens by March 1945, more than half the guns emanating from the
Royal Ordnance Factory in Fazakerley, where 2.35 million assorted Mks II, IIS
and 5 had been produced in 1941–5.*Small Arms Ltd of Long Branch, Ontario,
made 128,238 Mk II Stens for the Canadian armed forces.
Stensby Robert Stensby; Manchester, Lancashire. This gunsmith traded from 11
Hanging Ditch in 1837, but died in c. 1853. The business was listed until 1869
as ‘Mrs M. Stensby & Son’ and it is assumed that the ‘son’—possibly named
Thomas—eventually traded independently. See next entry.
Stensby T. Stensby & Company; Manchester, Lancashire. Possibly the successor
to Robert Stensby (above), by way of his widow, this gunmaking business
traded for many years from Withy Grove, Manchester. Among its products
were shotgun cartridges sold under tradenames including ‘The →All British’.
Stepanov Leonid Victorovich Stepanov was born in 1932 in Buynaksk, Daghestan,
and was besieged in Tula during the early stages of the Second World War.
Eventually finishing his schooling in 1950, he qualified as a mechanical
engineer and was assigned to a design bureau where, in 1i955, he particpiated
in the adaptation of the Samozhenkov mount first for the Nikitin and then
for the Kalashnikov light machine-guns. Stepanov was co-designer with
Konstantin →Baryshev of the tripod mount for the 12.7mm →NSV machine-
gun, and, by himself, of perfected 4.5kg tripod mount for the →Kalashnikov
PKS machine-gun, which superseded the Samozhenkov type from 1969
onward. A special bracket on the tripod allowed a cartridge-belt box to be
attached.
Stephanoise [Société d’Armes]: see ‘Société Stephanoise d’Armes’.
Stephens, see also ‘Stevens’.
Stephens, Smith & Co. Agents for the Swedish →AGA sub-calibre trainer, six
being acquired by the British authorities for experiments in 1939.
Sterling A →Suicide Special revolver made by →E.L. Dickinson of Springfield,
Massachusetts, U.S.A., in the late nineteenth century.
Sterling A brand name associated with shotguns made in the U.S.A. by the
Sterling A single shot break-action BB gun made by the American Tool Works,
1891–1911. Designer unknown. See also ‘Sterling Special’.
Sterling A single shot lever action BB gun, designed by Arthur →Karcher and
made by the →American Tool Works in 1911B12. See also ‘Sterling Lever
Action’.
Sterling Armament & Co. Ltd; Dagenham, Essex, England. Maker of 7.62mm
conversion units for the L8 series Lee Enfield rifles, marked with the
codeletters ‘U.S.’. However, the →Enfield factory brought pressure to bear
on Sterling over patent rights and the propects of export success—e.g., in
India—were greatly handicapped. →ArmaLite AR 18 rifles were produced in
1976–8, but Sterling is best known for its submachine guns. The HR81 and
HR83 air rifles were made briefly in the 1980s, but operations then ceased and

the assets were sold to a Canadian consortium. In addition to guns, Sterling
apparently marketed shotgun ammunition under its own name. This was
apparently loaded elsewhere in Britain, though its origins are not clear.
Sterling Arms Corporation; Lockport, New York State. Sterling made a variety of
autoloading pistols, including the .25 calibre Model 300 and the .22 Model 302.
Sterling Automatic Rifle This was developed by Frank Waters for the →Sterling
Engineering Co. Ltd of Dagenham, but was little more than a modified
→ArmaLite AR 18. It was subsequently refined by →Chartered Industries of
Singapore to become the SAR 80 and SR 88.
Sterling Engineering Company, Dagenham, Essex, England. This engineering
business made about 59,000 →Lanchester submachine-guns during the
Second World War, and then progressed to the →Patchett design (which
ultimately became known as the ‘Sterling’). A few →De Lisle carbines were
also made, beginning in 1944. The Dagenham plant was allotted the code ‘S
109’, though, according to British official records, the ‘Sterling Armaments Co.,
Northampton’ used ‘M 619’. See also “British military manufacturers’ marks”.
Sterling Lever Action Repeater A 500- or thousand-shot version of the 1911
pattern →Sterling lever action BB gun, made by the →Upton Machine Co. and
→All Metal Products Co. in 1917–29. The guns are usually marked ‘American
Tool Works, St Joseph’.
Sterling Special The break open →Sterling BB Gun made by the →Upton
Machine Co. in 1917–27, and then by →All Metal Products in 1927–9. The guns
are marked ‘American Tool Works, St Joseph’.
Sterling submachine-gun Designed by George V. Patchett, twenty guns of this
type were made by the →Sterling Engineering Co. Ltd in January 1944 and
others were used during the D-Day landings in June. The Patchett defeated
rivals designs in post-war testing, and, after troop trials held in 1949, was
approved in 1951 as the ‘Submachine gun, 9mm L2A1’. Ribs on the bolt
minimised the accumulation of fouling. The L2A2 version followed in 1953; the
folding butt was strengthened, the back sight was improved and a plunger was
added to the bolt. The perfected L2A3 (1954) had a simpler butt, and lacked
the back sight change lever. A Sterling with a large-diameter integral silencer
is currently issued for special service as the L34A1, replacing the Stens IIS and
Mk 6. More information about these guns can be obtained from The Guns of
Dagenham by Peter Laidler and David Howroyd (Collector Grade Publications,
1995).
Stern A trademark found on 6.35mm-calibre blowback pistols made in
Germany in the early 1920s by Albin →Wahl of Zella-Mehlis. Most of them
had ten-round magazines, housed in an extended grip; however, though
marked WAHL’S D.R.G.M. on the left side of the slide, they are unremarkable
mechanically.
Stern This mark, which appears in Gustav Genschow catalogues, is believed to
identify spring air guns made by Friedrich →Langenhan in the mid 1920s.
Sternenkreuz: see Joseph →Rodgers.

Stevens Joshua Stevens; Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Born in 1814,
this gunmaker is best known for his inexpensive single shot pistols and target
rifles. Though these guns were made in great numbers, Stevens was not a
great patentee. Beginning with a ‘locking device for firearms’, U.S. Patent 7802
of 26th November 1850, he obtained 8412 of 7th October 1851 for a ‘revolving
firearm’ (assigned to the →Massachusetts Arms Co.); 9929 of 9th August 1853,
protecting a trigger mechanism which relied on thumb cocking the hammer
to operate the →Maynard primer and a pull on the trigger lever to rotate
the cylinder; and 12189 of 2nd January 1855 for ‘magazine firearms’ (also
assigned to the Massachusetts Arms Co.) for an improved mechanism which
rotated the cylinder before the hammer was cocked. U.S. Patent 44123 of 6th
September 1864, protecting a single shot pistol with a barrel which tipped
upward at the breech. A combination rifle shotgun, protected by U.S. Patent
211642 of 28th January 1879, relied on a ‘locking trigger’ in an auxiliary guard
to lock a sliding under bolt mechanism.
Stevens J. Stevens Arms & Tool Company; Chicopee Falls, Masschusetts.
Stevens began trading on his account in 1864, making single shot cartridge
pistols. He soon turned his attention to rifles, and made 12-, 14- and 16
bore-shotguns on the basis of his →Pocket Rifle (though the barrels could be
as long as 32in). A 10- or 12-bore Stevens patent double barrel hammer gun
was introduced in 1877, to be followed about 1880 by a rifle shotgun made in
accordance with Stevens’ patent of January 1879. The Stevens Arms & Tool
Co. was incorporated in 1886, and was eventually absorbed by the →Savage
Arms Co. A list of its many products will be found in John Walter, Rifles of the
World (Krause Publications, third edition, 2006).
Stevens Edgar M. Stevens; Medford, Massachusetts. Co-designer with Francis J.
Vittum of a rifle with a laterally sliding breech-block, protected by U.S. Patent
33560 of 22nd October 1861. This was assigned to Alfred B. →Ely.
Stevens Savage: see ‘Savage Arms Company’.
Stevenson T.J. Stevenson, an arms inspector working for the U.S. government
in the 1870s, accepted →Springfield breechloading-rifle components marked
‘TJS’. See also ‘T.J. →Smith’ and AU.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Steward Gilbert H. Steward, a colonel in the U.S. Army, accepted →Colt and
→Smith & Wesson handguns immediately before the U.S.A. entered the First
World War in 1917. They were marked ‘GHS’, date and pattern distinguishing
them from guns accepted more than fifty years earlier by Gustavus H. →Scott.
See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Stewart P. Stewart. An English gunmaker listed in 1861–70 at 25 Denmark
Street, Soho, London, and then at 16 Denmark Street in 1871.
Steyr See also ‘Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft’.
Steyr Found as STEYR within concentric circles, some broken into arcs: a
mark associated with →Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft and its
successor, →Steyr-Mannlicher GmbH.
Steyr Daimler Puch AG; Steyr, Kärnten, Upper Austria. This combine continued

to make →Mannlicher-action sporting rifles and submachine-guns alongside
modified ‘Model 1934’ →Pieper type automatic pistols. Guns may be
encountered with the marks of Steyr Solothurn AG, but usually prove to have
been made in the Steyr factory.
Steyr-Hahn The Austro-Hungarian Repetierpistole M. 12 derived from the same
basic recoil operated rotating-barrel action as the →Roth-Steyr, but had been
greatly refined by Steyr technicians as a commercial venture. When the First
World War began, the Austro-Hungarians were so short of combat-worthy
handguns that the Steyr-Hahn was ordered into series production. By 1918,
more than 250,000 pistols had been made. Many survived to serve German
police and paramilitary formations during the Second World War, converted
to chamber the 9×19 (9mm Parabellum) cartridge. These are usually stamped
‘08’ for Pistolenpatrone 08 to identify the change.
Steyr-Mannlicher GmbH The current title of the small-arms and sporting-gun
division of Steyr-Daimler-Puch, formed in 1990. Products currently include
→Mannlicher-style sporting, target and sniper rifles, submachine-guns,
and the →AUG assault-rifle series, but pistols have also been made in small
numbers.
Steyr Solothurn AG; Austria/Switzerland. This co-operative venture originated
in 1929 when →Rheinmetall absorbed Solothurn, a small Swiss engineering
company, so that German-designed weapons could be field-tested. The guns,
including machine-guns and small-calibre automatic cannon, were then made
by →Steyr-Daimler-Puch and marketed by Steyr-Solothurn AG (apparently
from 1933/4 onward). Work ceased in Switzerland when the Second World
War began, though Solothurn continued to trade in a revised form.
Sticht J.L. Sticht Jr, a lieutenant serving the U.S. Navy at the beginning of the
twentieth century, accepted →Colt and →Smith & Wesson .38 revolvers
marked ‘JLS’. Pattern and naval marks distinguish them from army stores
accepted contemporaneously by J.L. →Strong. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’
marks”.
Sticknet(t) Curtis R. Sticknet, or ‘Sticknett’. This government arms inspector,
working in the 1870s, accepted single-shot →Springfield, →Sharps and
→Remington rifles, and Remington →rolling-block pistols marked ‘CRS’. See
Stiegle Carl Stiegle; Germany. See ‘Heeren’.
Stiga This brand name is associated with the products of ‘Stiga’BStig Hjelmqvist
AB of Trånas, a maker and distributor of firearms, sporting goods, airgun
pellets and accessories. Stiga AB made rifles based on refurbished M1896
military actions in .270 Winchester, .30–06 and 8×57mm. Single trigger
systems were standard, though a double ‘set’ pattern was optional. The
company’s marks have also appeared on the 4.5mm and 5.5mm Stiga Dogg
airgun pellets.
Stiles Brothers; Warminster, Wiltshire, England. The marks of this gunsmithing
and ironmongery business have been reported on shotgun ammunition sold

as ‘The →Kill Quick’.
Stillman James Stillman, working on behalf of the U.S. government c. 1830–50,
accepted guns and equipment marked ‘JS’. See also ‘John →Stahl’, ‘John
→Symington’ and “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Stinger. The U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) made limited use during the
Second World War of this single shot .22 pen-pistol, which was comparable
with the →Enpen excepting that the .22 Short cartridge was integral with the
fabric of the weapon. The Stinger was fired by raising a short lever set into the
body, which armed the striker. Replacing the lever released the striker and fire
the cartridge. The gun, which was only about 32in long and weighed less than
half an ounce, was then simply thrown away.
Stingray or ‘RSM Stingray’. Associated with a 6.35mm pocket pistol made in
Germany by →Reck, probably for one of its North American distributors.
Stirrup pistols A matched pair of these sold at an auction in Toronto in 1935, but
there is nothing to suggest that they were unique. Apparently made in France
in the 1860s and found in Bordeaux in 1917, one of the two-shot stirrups faced
backward, discouraging pursuit, with the other pointed forward to assist an
attack. They were fired with lanyards.
St Louis Air Rifle Co., Inc.: see →Benjamin Air Rifle Company.
Stobbe Albert Stobbe; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Founded in 1865, and still
being listed in 1914 as a gunmaker. By 1930, however, the business was being
run by Witwe Emilie & Rudolf Stobbe.
Stock That part of the gun that contains or supports the barrel and action. It
comprises the butt, grip and fore end, but may be made in one piece or two.
Originally wood, military stocks are now generally synthetic. Wood remains
pre eminent among the sporting patterns despite an ever increasing challenge
from fibreglass, Kevlar and other synthetics offering durability and warp
resistance.
¶ A one piece sporting stock extending to the muzzle is normally called a
Mannlicher pattern, on no defensible authority; full length stocks have been
used almost since the dawn of gunsmithing era. The Rational stock, proposed
by W.W. →Greener shortly before the First World War, was basically similar
to the German Schweinsruckenschaft described below. The butt had a pistol
grip and a high rounded comb which turned down as it approached the wrist.
Simultaneously, the cheek support was moved backward towards the heel to
reduce the blow to the cheek arising from recoil, the result being essentially a
primitive form of the ‘Monte Carlo’ stock.
¶ Popular in southern Germany and some parts of central Europe, the “Hog’s
Back” stock or Schweinsruckenschaft had a distinctive curved comb, dropping
at the wrist and the heel. It was often combined with a squared cheek
piece angled to direct recoil away from the firer’s cheek. The Tirolerschaft or
Tyrolean stock, popular in southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria, has
an extraordinarily high comb and a deeply dished cheek piece which must be
shaped to deflect recoil back and away from the firer’s cheek.

Stock Franz Stock & Companie; Berlin. A member of the family controlling,
Richard Stock & Co., one of Germany’s leading toolmakers, diversified
between the wars to make substantial numbers of an inexpensive target
pistols.
Stock pistol This was a simple blowback semi-automatic pistol, with a
combination of slab-sided slide and a tubular barrel shroud somewhat
reminiscent of the Römer pattern. It could be chambered for .22LR rimfire,
6.35mm or 7.65mm centre-fire cartridges. Guns made in the 1930s, numbered
above about 10000, had a faired transition from the frame to the barrel
shroud, without the step that characterised their predecessors.
Stocker A.J. Stocker & Son; Chulmleigh, Devon. An ironmongery business
known to have promoted shotgun cartridges under the tradename ‘The
Chulmleigh’.
Stocker C. & E. Stocker; Chulmleigh, Devon. Believed to have succeeded A.J.
Stocker & Son in the 1950s, the principals were presumably A.J.’s sons. Details
are lacking.
Stocking & Company; Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.A. Active in 1849–52, this
gunmaking business was best known for pepperboxes.
Stockton Howard Stockton, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, accepted guns and
equipment marked ‘HS’. His inspection duties were apparently confined
to 1868/69, but it can be impossible to distinguish his work from that of H.
→Saunders, Horace →Scott, Harris →Smith and Howard →Stockton—all of
whom used the same marks. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
A.F. Stoeger & Company; New York, Long Island City and South Hackensack,
New Jersey, U.S.A. This company was founded by Austrian born Adolf Stoeger
about 1922, trading from 606 West 49th Street in New York City. A move
to 224 East 42nd Street took place in 1924, and then to 509 Fifth Avenue
(1928–60); a storehouse in Long Island City finally opened in 1948, but all of
Stoeger’s operations finally moved in 1962 to purpose built premises in South
Hackensack. The firm is best known for its association with the →Parabellum
pistol (registering the name ‘Luger’ in the U.S.A. in 1929) but also imported
bolt action sporting rifles built on Oberndorf and FN Mauser actions prior to
1939. Many →Mayer & Gammelspacher →Diana airguns were handled in the
1933–59 period, often under the →Peerless brand name and an assortment of
model designations. Stoeger’s original trademark consisted of flying geese,
though two seated Bald Eagles were used at a later date.
Stoeger Industries; Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S.A. The modern successor to
A.F. Stoeger & Co., renowned for the distribution of Daewoo, Husqvarna and
other firearms. Stoeger also guards its ownership of the ‘Luger’ trademark in
the U.S.A., and has been sponsoring blowback and recoil-operated ‘Stoeger
Luger’ and ‘American Luger’ derivatives since the 1970s.
Stogos A trademark associated with →Stotz u. Goessl of Suhl.
Stohanzl Victor Johann Stohanzl; Birmingham, Warwickshire, England. This
Austrian-born employee of →BSA was the co patentee of a piston valve for

pneumatic guns—British Patent 571163, accepted on 9th August 1945.
Stokes John Stokes was an American-born co-patentee, with Daniel →Wesson
and John →Blaze, of the →Wesson shotgun. See U.S. Patents 72434 of 17th
December 1867 and 84314 (‘gun lock’) of 24th November 1868.
Stoll E. Stoll; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in the Deutsches Reichs
Adressbuch for 1900, this gunmaking business was owned at that time by E.
Lieber.
Stoll Ernst Stoll; Suhl in Thüringen, Döllstrasse 4–6 (1940–1). Listed in
directories published in 1914–41 as a maker of gun barrels (Gewehrlauffabrik),
owned by Max Heinrich Stoll.
Stone Laurence A. Stone, an army lieutenant, accepted .45 M1911A1 pistols made
by →Colt shortly before the U.S.A. entered the Second World War. They were
marked ‘LAS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Stoner Eugene Morrison ‘Gene’ Stoner was born in Gasport, Indiana, in
November 1922. Graduating from technical high school, he worked for Vega
Air Craft (subsequently part of Lockheed) and then served the U.S. Marine
Corps during the Second Worold War. Stoner joined the Fairchild Airplane
Company in 1954, intending to develop lightweight infantry weapons that
could be marketed by the new Fairchild-inspired →ArmaLite Company, and
the chequered development of the AR-3, AR-7, AR-10 and AR-15 has been
related many times. Fairchild eventually sold rights to Artillerie-Inrichtingen
in the Netherlands, but these were subsequently retrieved by →Colt’s Patent
Fire Arms Mfg Co. The introduction of the M16 and M16A1 rifles to the
U.S. armed forces remains not only controversial, but also the focus of more
than one Congressional enquiry. However, Stoner had by then moved on to
the Cadillac Gage Company, designing the Stoner 63 weapons system and
becoming involved in projects ranging from the Colt Model 2000 pistol to a
25mm aircraft cannon. He died in Palm Beach in April 1997.
Stoner weapons system The adoption of the 5.56×45 ‘intermediate’ cartridge
inspired development of systems in which basic components could be
assembled to provide a range of weapons from a submachine gun up to a
tripod mounted belt fed infantry support weapon. The Stoner M63 and
M63A1 attempted to challenge the supremacy of the M16 →ArmaLite rifle in
the late 1960s. Made firstly by the Cadillac Gage Company and then licensed
to →NWM, a standard pistol-gripped receiver could be assembled to form
an assault rifle; a carbine; a light machine gun with top mounted box feed; a
similar gun with belt feed; a belt feed infantry support machine gun mounted
on a tripod; and even a stripped down vehicle gun. All relied on a simple
gas operated rotating bolt lock, and encountered limited success when a few
XM22 rifles and XM207 light machine guns were purchased for the U.S. Special
Forces. Combat experience showed the Stoners to be delicate and prone to
jamming, and, though the faults could have been overcome had funding been
available, the weapons-system concept was abandoned.
Stop A single-shot .320 blank/gas-cartridge pistol resembling the mechanical

‘propelling’ pencils popular in the inter-war period. It is believed to have been
made by →Moritz & Gerstenberger of Zella-Mehlis.
Stop A Hungarian pistol. See ‘Frommer-Stop’.
Storekeeper’s Model. A ‘black powder’ .45-calibre version of the ‘Third Model’
→Single Action Army Model, offered by the Firearms Division of →Colt
Industries in 1984–5, this had a 4in barrel lacking an ejector-rod case. Only a
few hundred were made.
Storer David Storer. Listed in 1852–3 at 10 Craven Buildings, Drury Lane,
London, this man was regarded as a member of the English gun trade.
Storm William Mont Storm or ‘Mont Storm’ (U.S.A.); New York City. The
affairs of this inventor-patentee remain mysterious; even his name has been
regularly, but possibly mistakenly rendered as ‘Montgomery Storm’. Among
his U.S. Patents were three for ‘breech loading firearms’—15307 of 8th July
1856, 24414 of 14th June 1859 and 132740 of 5th November 1872—and one for
‘revolving firearms’, U.S. Patent 14420 of 11th March 1856. He also patented a
bullet mould (10834 of 25th April 1854), a charging system (10846 of 2nd May
1854), and a combustible cartridge ‘of intestines, coated with gutta percha’
protected by 33611 of 29th October 1861. The breech loader protected U.S.
Patent 15307 was tested by the Ordnance Department prior to the American
Civil War. The weapon had sufficient potential for the conversion of two
thousand Model 1842 muskets to be authorised in September 1858, though
little was ever achieved. The Storm breech block, which swung up and forward
over the barrel, was locked by a sliding bolt as the hammer fell. A pattern
to guide production of a similar breechloading rifle musket conversion was
→sealed in Britain September 1865. The paper cartridge guns were to be made
in Birmingham by the →Mont Storm Gun Works Company, but were rapidly
overhauled by the metallic cartridge →Snider.
Storm’s Breech Loading Arms Depot Formed to promote the breech-loading
rifle-musket conversion patented by William Mont →Storm, this occupied
premises at 121 Pall Mall, London, in 1864–5.
Störmer Albert Störmer; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1939 as a
gunsmith.
Störmer E.A. Störmer; Herzberg in Harz, Germany. A maker of crank-wound
volute spring breech-loading gallery pistols, probably dating from 1840–65,
Störmer had made Girandoni system reservoir guns in the 1820s.
Storrs J.W. Storrs. A leading distributor of guns and ammunition in the 1860s
and 1870s.
Stosel A compact Spanish-made Browning type semi-automatic pistol made
by →Retolaza Hermanos of Eibar: (a) 6.35mm, six rounds, hammer fired,
sometimes marked ‘No. 1’ or ‘Model 1912’; (b) 7.65mm ‘Model 1912’, six rounds,
striker fired; and (c) 7.65mm ‘Model 1913’, seven rounds, hammer fired. It was
named after a famous Russian soldier.
Stotz & Goessl; Suhl in Thüringen, Erffastrasse 16. A weapons making
partnership active in 1930–9 under the ownership of Leopold Stotz. Listed

during the Second World War as a gunmaker, using the trademark ‘Stogos’.
Stötzer Hilmar Stötzer; Zella-Mehlis in Thüringen. A master gunmaker founded
in 1905 and active in Germany until the end of the Second World War.
Erroneously listed in the 1939 edition of the Deutsches Reichs-Adressbuch as
‘Stötzner’.
Straube Dieter Straube; Ulm am Donau, Germany. An employee of J.G.
→Anschütz and patentee of a loading port for an airgun.
Straube Johann Straube; Berlin. The patentee of a spring loaded barrel-locking
system for airguns, briefly mentioned in Die Waffenschmiede in 1887.
Streak: see ‘Blue Streak’ and ‘Silver Streak’.
Streels J. Streels; Liége, Belgium. This gunmaker was famed for highly decorative
single-shot cap-lock pistols, including one, engraved in gothic style, exhibited
at the Great Exhibition of All Nations held in London in 1851.
Street W.W. Street, working on behalf of the U.S. government, accepted gun-
parts and equipment marked ‘WWS’. His activities seem to have been
confined to the mid 1870s. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Streitberger Karl Streitberger; Rudolfstadt. A supplier of sporting guns and
ammunition active in the Thüringen district of Germany in 1940–5.
Strempel Edgar Strempel; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Trading in Suhl in 1930
as a gunmaker, and in 1939 as a gunsmith.
Strempel Franz Strempel; Suhl in Thüringen. A gunmaker trading in Germany
prior to 1930, often using the trademark ‘Stresu’ on sporting guns and
accessories.
Stresu. A trademark associated with Franz →Strempel of Suhl.
Strickland E.R. Strickland & Son; Gillingham, Dorsetshire (?). The marks of this
gunmaking, or possibly iromongering business have been found on sporting
guns and shotgun ammunition solds ‘The →Gillingham Cartridge’ or ‘The
→Quick Fire’.
Striker A →Suicide Special revolver made by the →Hopkins & Allen Arms
Company of Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.A., in the late nineteenth century.
Striker Also known as the firing pin, this is driven by a spring to acquire
sufficient energy to fire the cartridge primer. There is confusion over the
terms ‘striker’ and ‘firing pin’, which are exchangeable. The term inertia
firing pin is strictly applied only to a floating pin that is struck forward by
the hammer to reach the primer of a chambered round and then driven
or cammed back to allow the breech to open; however, the term is now
generally extended to include the spring opposed or rebounding pattern. The
rebounding (or ‘flying’) firing pin is shorter than the distance between the
hammer and the primer of a chambered cartridge, being struck forward when
required and then pushed back into the breech block or bolt by a small coil
spring.
Stringer William Stringer. This English gunmaker was first recorded in London
in Queen’s Head Court, Giltspur Street,in 1826, but had moved several times
by the time he reached 104 White Lion Street, Pentonville, a decade later. The

directories of 1849–63 record him at 86 High Street, Camden Town.
Strong Daniel P. Strong. This Federal government arms inspector, working
during the Civil War, accepted military equipment marked ‘DPS’. See also “U.S.
Strong Frederick S. Strong. A Federal arms inspector, working during the
American Civil War, Strong accepted firearms marked ‘FSS’. See also “U.S.
Strong J. Strong & Son; Castle Street and Warwick Road, Carlisle, Cumberland.
The marks of this dealership have been recorded on shotgun cartridges
bearing a distinctive illustration of six feeding pheasants feeding in a
woodland. The cases and caps were made by →Eley-Kynoch, though the
cartridges may have been loaded in the Carlisle premises.
Strong J.L. Strong, a government arms inspector operating at the beginning
of the twentieth century, accepted firearms and military equipment marked
‘JLS’. Their army origins distinguish them from navy stores accepted
contemporaneously by Lieutenant J.L. →Sticht. See also “U.S. arms
Strong Urial P. Strong, a Federal government arms inspector working during
the Civil War, accepted military equipment marked ‘UPS’. See also “U.S. arms
Strong W.E. Strong, a U.S. government arms inspector, accepted .45 M1911
pistols marked ‘WES’ shortly before the U.S.A. entered the First World War in
1917. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Strong Cartridge Company; New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. A maker of
ammunition identifiable by the inclusion of ‘S.C.C.’ or ‘S.C.Co.’ in the
headstamps.
Ströver A. Ströver of Nordhausen was a retailer of guns and ammunition active
in Germany in 1941.
Stump [‘The…’]: see ‘Slingsby Guns’.
Sturm Alexander Sturm: see ‘Sturm, Ruger & Company’.
Sturm Christian Sturm; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. Listed in 1900 as a
gunmaker. The business had passed by 1914 to Heinrich & Marie Sturm, but
was being run in 1920 by Witwe Marie Sturm alone.
Sturm Heinrich Sturm; Benshausen bei Suhl in Thüringen. Listed prior to 1914
as a gunmaker, specalising (unusually in Germany) in the manufacture of
revolvers.
Sturm Max Sturm & Söhne; Suhl in Thüringen, Germany. A gunmaking business
operated by Max, Leo and Curt Sturm, 1920–39.
Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc. This gunmaking business was founded in January
1949 by Alexander Sturm and William B. Ruger, in Southport, Connecticut,
to exploit a semi-automatic pistol designed by the latter—a one-time U.S.
Ordnance officer. The production facilities moved to a new purpose-built
factory in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1969.
¶ The .22-calibre Mark 1 pistol was eventually protected by U.S. Patent

2655839, granted in October 1953 almost seven years after the application
had been made. Though a blowback, its name and general outline recalled
the German →Luger (no mere coincidence!), and sales were pleasingly brisk.
A target-shooting variant was introduced in 1951, and 150,000 pistols of all
types had been made by 1957. The Mark 1 was upgraded to Mark 2 in January
1982, with better magazine and safety arrangements. Blued-steel standard,
target and ‘Bull Barrel’ versions are still being made, alongside guns with
stainless-steel metalwork. The Government Target Model (1985) is simply a
Mk 2 Bull Barrel Ruger with a barrel of 6.9in.
¶ Ruger also makes locked-breech pistols on the basis of a much-modified
Browning tilting-barrel action. The series began in 1987 with the 9mm
Parabellum P-85 and has since progressed to the 9mm P89 (1992) and the .40
S&W P94 (1996). Guns have also been made in small numbers chambering the
.45 ACP round.
¶ The first cartridge revolvers appeared in the 1950s, beginning a line that has
expanded over the years to include the .22 rimfire Bearcat, made in 1958–73
in its original form and then in a ‘New Model’ until the late 1970s; the Bisley
(1980s to date), inspired by the Colt →Peacemaker variant of the same name,
is little more than a variant of the Single Six or Blackhawk with a modified
grip and a low hammer-spur; the Blackhawk (.30 M1 Carbine, .357 Magnum,
9mm Parabellum, .41 Magnum, .45 Colt, .45 ACP; 1955–73, 1973 to date); the
Old Army (introduced in 1977) was a .44-calibre cap-lock; the Police Service
Six was a fixed-sight variant of the Security Six in .357 Magnum or .38 Special;
the Redhawk, dating from 1980, chambered the .44 Magnum cartridge; the
Security Six (1968–87) was a general-purpose police/personal defence revolver,
chambered the .357 Magnum round, with adjustable sights; the Speed Six
was a short-barrelled Security Six with fixed sights; the Single Six, made in
‘old’ (1953-73) and ‘new’ (1973 to date) models, is Ruger’s interpretation of
the Colt →Peacemaker; and the Super Blackhawk (1960–73, 1973 to date) and
Super Redhawk (1987 to date) are essentially long-barrelled Blackhawks or
Redhawks chambering the .44 Magnum round. The MR F-1 ‘Special Police’
was a simplified version of the Security Six made in France by →Manurhin.
¶ The original Security Six and its variants were replaced in 1987 by the GP
series, the GP-100 introducing a stronger frame, a double-latch cylinder lock,
and cushioned grips. The guns have a full-length under-barrel ejector-rod
shroud.
¶ The Hawkeye pistol (1963–7), chambered exckusively for the .256 Remington
Magnum round, looked like a revolver but was effectively a single-shot design
with a laterally tipping block where the cylinder would normally lie.
¶ Ruger has also acquired a fine reputation as a manufacturer of rifles,
beginning with the .44 Magnum 44 Carbine (1959–85) and the rimfire 10/22
Carbine (1964 to date). Then came the .223/5.56mm Mini-14 and the 7.62×39
Mini-Thirty (introduced in 1975 and 1987 respectively); the AC-556 was a
militarised variant of the Mini-14, and the Ranch Rifle (1982 onward) offered

improvements in safety. Folding-stock versions also appeared in the early
1980s.
¶ A fascinating single-shot dropping-block Number One rifle, inspired by the
British →Farquharson, appeared in 1966. This particular series has contained
a No. 1 Standard Rifle, chambering a variety of cartridges from 220 Swift
to .338 Winchester Magnum, and a No. 1 International Rifle with a short
barrel and a full-length Mannlicher-style stock. Special Varminter (.22–250,
.220 Swift, .223, 6mm Remington, .25–06) and heavyweight Tropical Rifle
versions have also been made, the latter in chamberings as powerful as .458
Winchester Magnum. The Number Three (1972–87) was a simplified version
most commonly chambering .22 Hornet, .30–40 Krag or the .45–70–405
Government blackpowder cartridge.
¶ The Model 77 bolt-action rifle, basically a refined 1898-type Mauser, has
also been very successful. The Mark 1 was made from 1968 until 1990, being
discontinued shortly after the improved Mark 2 had been introduced. A
variety of individual patterns have been made, including African (.458
Winchester Magnum), All-Weather Stainless, Express, International (full-
stocked, short barrelled), Magnum, Police, Special Top and Varmint models.
Two action lengths exist, and a left-hand option is available.
¶ The M77/22 (.22 rimfire) and M77/44 (.44 Magnum), inspired by the
Model 77, have also been made in several subvarieties. Introduced in 1984,
the M77/22 has a ten-round spool magazine, whereas the M77/44 (1997)
has a four-round box. And the M96/44 and M96/22, dating from 1996, are
essentially lever-action derivatives of the autoloading M44 and M10/22 auto-
loading carbines.
¶ Comparatively little has yet been written about Ruger’s products, apart
from a detailed study of the original auto-loading carbines. In addition to the
many directories common in North America, Rifles of the World by John Walter
(Krause Publications, third edition, 2006) contains concise listings of Ruger
products.
Sturman Benjamin Sturman. This English gunmaker was recorded at 17 Union
Street, London, in 1832–4, and then at 42 (perhaps later 45) Kingsland Road,
London, in 1835–56. Premises were then listed at 72 Kingsland Road in 1857
only.
Sturman George Sturman. A gunmaker listed at 197 Kingsland Road, London, in
1827. The directories reveal successive moves to 27 Gloucester Street, Hoxton
(1830–5); to 29 and then 25 (29 renumbered?) East Road, City Road (1836–48);
and then to 1 or possibly 2 West Place, Islington (1849–51). A move to 2
Church Row, Islington, occurred in 1852, and then to 4a Church Row in 1858.
The last directory entries were made in 1870.
Sturtevant Foster E. Sturtevant, an engineer employed by →Colt, designed the
plunger breech closing system fitted to the →ArmaLite type 5.56mm M16A1
rifle.
St.W. or ST W Marks associated with →Stenda-Werke GmbH of Suhl, found on

the grips of the →Stenda pistols.
SU monogram, taking the general form ‘$’. Used in the →headstamps of
ammunition made by the →United States Cartridge Company.
Sub-calibre adaptor, also known as a ‘liner’. This may be inserted permanently
into a barrel as a ‘liner’, generally to alter calibre, or to serve as an ‘adaptor’
when required—usually to permit training with low cost rimfire ammunition.
The adaptor was originally known as an →Aiming Tube in Britain, but then
became a →Morris Tube after a particularly notable patentee.
Sudaev Aleksey Ivanovich Sudaev, born in Alatyr in 1912, trained as a machinist,
before entering the Railway Technical Institute and then emerging from
military service as a ‘technician’. Graduating from Gorki Industrial Institute
(1938) and then the Feliks Dzerzhinskiy Artillery Academy (1941), Aleksey
Sudaev designed a simplified anti-aircraft machine-gun unit which could
be made in Moscow even in the darkest days after the German invasion
of the Soviet Union. He then produced designs for what became the PPS
submachine-gun, made in quantity in Leningrad under Sudaev’s direction
during the German siege (1941–4). He also contributed two 1945-model
rifles—a heavy blowback and a folding butt rotating-bolt design—to ‘Avtomat’
trials being undertaken towards the end of the war. A few hundred guns were
made for troop trials in 1945, but Sudaev’s untimely death in 1946 brought
development to an end.
Sudden Death [‘The…’]. A shotgun cartridge made by the →Midland Gun
Company in Birmingham, England.
Suhler Waffengesellschaft: see ‘Wittwer, Schemmer & Mahrholdt GmbH’.
Suhler Waffenwerk: see ‘Gebr. →Merkel’.
Suhler Werke AG: see ‘Berlin Suhler Werke’.
Sühn Albert Sühn; Albrechts bei Suhl in Thüringen, Meininger Strasse 11. Listed
in 1940–5 as a maker of ‘guns, gun parts and metalware’.
Sühn Wilhelm Sühn; Albrechts bei Suhl in Thüringen. A maker of gun parts,
active prior to c. 1920.
Suicide Special This popular term was first applied in 1948 by Duncan
McConnell, writing in The American Rifleman, to define distinctive single-
action revolvers distinguished by poor quality and, if not by the identity of
the manufacturer, at least a wide variety of brand names. The name achieved
broader acceptance after the publication of Suicide Special Revolvers by Donald
B. Webster, Jr. (1956?). Revolvers of this class began to appear as soon as
the Rollin →White patent expired in 1869. A typical ‘Suicide Special’ was a
seven-shot .22 or five shot .32, usually (but not exclusively) chambering rimfire
ammunition. The one piece frame usually had a detachable plate on the left
side giving access to the simple single action lockwork. Sheath triggers were
customary, butts were squared or bird’s heads, and the barrels were generally
less than three inches long. The cylinders were loaded through a hinged gate
on the right side of the frame, but could be removed simply by detaching
the axis pin. The guns were blued or nickel plated, and often had poor

quality ‘engraving’ rolled into the surface of the cylinder. Grips were usually
wood or gutta percha, though mother of pearl was sometimes used on the
gaudier nickelled guns. Guns of this genre were made in very large numbers,
particularly in the 1880s. Production is believed to have exceeded a half
million annually by 1885, but then went into a steady decline until few were
being made by 1900. An incredible profusion of wholesalers’, distributors’ or
spurious manufacturers’ marks will be found. Typical of these are ‘Aetna Arms
Co.’ (Harrington & Richardson), ‘Chicago Arms Co.’, ‘Enterprise Gun Works’
(Philadelphia), ‘Great Western Gun Works’ (J.H. Johnson of Pittsburgh),
‘Mohawk Mfg. Co.’ (Otis Smith), ’New York Pistol Co.’, ‘United States Arms
Co.’ and the ‘Western Arms Co.’ However, successful names were so often
simply copied that interpretation is often hotly disputed; there are said to
be more than thirty differing revolvers marked ‘Defender’, made by a dozen
agencies.
SUIT An abbreviation used in the British Army for the 4× optical ‘Sight, Unit,
Infantry, Trilux’ issued with the 7.62mm SLR and the 5.56mm SA-80. Now
known as →SUSAT.
suk This code-mark is said to have been allocated to the Karlsruhe Durlach
(Germany) factory of →Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, where it
was used on small arms ammunition components made in 1945.
Sullivan J.F. Sullivan, a U.S. government arms inspector working at the beginning
of the twentieth century, accepted →Colt revolvers and other military stores
marked ‘JFS’. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Sullivan James L. Sullivan, an engineer employed by the →ArmaLite Division
of the Fairchild Engine & Airplane Corporation, was responsible for
improvements in the ArmaLite AR 15 rifle (with Robert →Fremont) in 1957–8.
Sullivan Arms Company A brand name associated with shotguns made in the
U.S.A. by the →Crescent Gun Company.
Sundance Industries; North Hollywood, California, U.S.A. Manufacturers of the
.25 calibre ‘A 23’ automatic pistol.
Suojeluskuntain Ase- ja Konepaja Osakeyhtiö: see ‘Sako’.
Super Found in cartridge headstamps, this signifies that the ammunition
had been made by the →Super Cartridge Co. (NB: the mark should not be
confused with ‘.38 Super’ chambering.)
Super This →Parker Hale sporting rifle, also known as the ‘1200 Super’ or ‘1200S’,
built on a →Santa Barbara Mauser action, was introduced in 1984. Its half
stock had a roll over Monte Carlo comb and a rosewood fore end tip. Super
Magnum (1200SM) rifles were similar, but chambered 7mm Remington, .300
Winchester or .308 Norma magnum cartridges.
Super Azul: see ‘Royal’.
Superbritte A name given to a distinctive over/under shotgun with barrels which
pivoted to the left instead of downward, a curved locking lever appearing
on the right side of the breech. Patented in Belgium in 1931 by Theophile
→Britte, only about 250 actions were made in 1932–3 by Établissements Britte

of Vivegnis before the project was overtaken by the Great Depression. The
components were supplied to gunmakers in the Liége district, who completed
12-, 16- and 20-bore guns c. 1935–41 in a profusion of styles. The last few were
apparently completed after the German occupation of Belgium in 1940.
Super Carbine Another name for the →Benjamin Model 352 pneumatic pump up
rifle.
Super Cartridge Co. [‘The…’]. A short lived Australian manufacturer of
ammunition identified by the inclusion of SUPER in their headstamps.
Super-Champion: see ‘Buffalo Super-Champion’.
Super Comanche A revolver made in Spain since the early 1980s, based on the
proven →Comanche action—swing-cylinder construction based on →Smith
& Wesson practice. The Super Comanche IV chambers the .44 Magnum
cartridge; the Super Comanche V handles .357 Magnum. The barrels have
ventilated ribs, frames are blued steel, and the sights are adjustable.
Super Especial The ‘Modelo Super Especial’ was a Spanish break action air rifle
made by Armas →Juaristi of Eibar, 4.5mm or 5.5mm calibre, rifled or smooth
bore.
Super Express Also known as the ‘Model 1964’, this →Mauser action sporting
rifle was made by Franz →Sodia of Ferlach (Austria) in chamberings ranging
from 5.6×61mm to 8×68mm.
Super Grade Found on a pneumatic pump up rifle made by →Sheridan Products
Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
Super Hunter A break barrel 5.5mm calibre spring air rifle, also known as ‘Model
55’, made by the →State Industry Factory in Shanghai, People’s Republic of
China. See also →Hunter.
Super Match Model A target-shooting version of the .38 →Super Model, this
semi-automatic pistol dated from 1935–41; only a few thousands were ever
made by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Mfg Co., distinguished by their matted-top
slides and adjustable sights.
Super Meteor: see ‘Meteor’.
Super Model, or ‘38 Super Model’. Introduced by →Colt’s Patent Fire Arms
Mfg Co., made in quantity in 1928–42 and 1946–70, this was little more than
a small-calibre version of the .45 →Government Model with a nine-round
magazine. About 35,000 guns had been made prior to the Second World War.
See also ‘Super Match Model’.
Super Nimrod [‘The…’]. A mark found on shotgun ammunition made, or perhaps
simply assembled in England by the →Normal Improved Ammunition
Company of Hendon, London. See also ‘Nimrod’.
Superposed This name, sometimes used generically for any →over-and-under
shotgun, was specifically associated with the Browning design manufactured
by →Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre and its successor, →FN Herstal
SA.
Super Rapid or Universal Super Rapid (Czechoslovakia): see ‘Universal’.
Super Rocket, Super CO2 Rocket. A carbon dioxide powered pistol made by

→Benjamin of St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
Super Safari A Mauser-action sporting rifle introduced by →Parker Hale Ltd
in two versions, one with a hinged floor plate (Model 1200) and the other
(1200C) with a detachable box magazine. Made in chamberings from .243
Winchester to .30-06, 1200 series guns were also offered for 7mm Remington
or .308 Norma magnum ammunition (1200M). The 1200 TX was a .308 target
rifle, fitted with a PH5 aperture sight and a straight comb butt. Presentation
(1200P) and Varmint (1200V) models were made from 1969.
Supertarget A special adaption of the →Webley & Scott Mk 3 fixed-barrel
underlever-cocking air rifle, 1964–75. It was superseded by the →Osprey
Supertarget.
Super Target A name associated with M160 gas powered pistol made by the
→Benjamin Rifle Company of St Louis, Missouri.
Super Thirty Also known as “.300 Holland’s Super Thirty”, but more popularly
as the ‘.300 H&H Magnum’, this sporting rifle cartridge was introduced by
→Holland & Holland of London in 1925.
Super Tornado. Applied by →Relum Ltd to the Hungarian →Telly LP15
underlever cocking air rifle.
Super Velocity [‘The…’]. Encountered on the cases of shotgun ammunition
distributed by William →Powell & Son of Birmingham. Most, if not all of the
components were acquired from →Eley-Kynoch.
Supra-Idéal. Derived from the →Manufacture Française d’Armes et Cycles
double-barrelled shotgun, this had the right-hand barrel rifled for ball
ammunition. Quadruple-lock actions were preferred.
Supra-Robust. A 12- or 16-bore side-by-side double-barrelled →Robust shotgun
made by →Manufacture Française d’Armes et Cycles. The right-hand barrel
was rifled, and automatic ejectors were often fitted.
Supra-Simplex. This was a version of the 12-bore Manufacture Française d’Armes
et Cycles →Simplex shotgun with the barrel rifled for ball ammunition.
Ejectors were optional.
Supreme or ‘FN Supreme’. This was an improved form of the standard Belgian
→Fabrique Nationale →Mauser action, with the safety catch on the receiver
behind the bolt handle.
Supreme No. 1. This .303 Lee action sporting rifle, made by →Parker Hale Ltd,
was introduced in 1958. Though retaining the original military pattern action,
complete with charger guides, it had a new pistol grip butt with a Monte Carlo
comb, and a half length fore end.
Suredeath [‘The…’]. A mark associated with shotgun cartridges sold by →Garnett
of Dublin, Ireland.
Surekiller [‘The…’]. Encountered on shotgun cartridges distributed by →Rowell
& Son of Chipping Norton. They are believed to have been made prior to 1914
by →Eley Brothers.
Sureshot Usually encountered as ‘Sure-Shot’, this was a Langenhan made
→Millita spring air rifle sold by →Ramsbottom & Co. of Manchester, prior to

1905. See also ‘Anglo Sure Shot’.
Sureshot Smokeless [‘The…’]. Associated with a shotgun cartridge made in
England by →King’s Norton for sale by →Sowman of Olney prior to the First
World War. The charge was ‘E.C’ (q.v.) No. 5 propellant.
Susa [di Guglielminotti]: see ‘Valle Susa’.
SUSAT An abbreviation for the British 4× optical ‘Sight, Unit, Small Arms, Trliux’
issued wth the SA-80 rifle. The term replaced →SUIT (q.v.) in the 1980s.
Sussex Armoury; Sturton Place, Hailsham, East Sussex, and Shambles Square,
Manchester. This British metalworking company began life in the 1960s as a
retail outlet for airguns and accessories, in addtion to reproduction daggers
and similar impedimenta, but then produced a few guns of its own—notably
the →Jackal series. Airgun pellets were also marked with the Sussex Armoury
brand, though they were made elsewhere (e.g., by →Lane Brothers or in Italy).
Sussex Champion [‘The…’]. Used by Russell →Hillsdon on shotgun ammunition.
Sussex Express [‘The…’]. Another brand name found on shotgun cartridges
loaded by Russell →Hillsdon.
Sutherland Sight Company: see ‘Ross Rifle Company’.
Sutter. A gun designer, responsible for the →RSC rifles and the →CSRG machine
rifle with his colleagues Chauchat and Ribeyrolles.
Suttie: see ‘Grant Suttie’.
SVD. An abbreviated form of Samozaridniya Vintovka Dragunova—applied to
the Soviet/Russian 7.62×54 →Dragunov sniper rifle.
SVT. This signified the Samozaridniya Vintovka Tokareva—applied to the 7.62×54
→Tokarev auto-loading rifles of the 1930s. See also ‘AVT’ and ‘SNT’.
svw Associated with small-arms components made in Germany in 1945 by
→Mauser Werke AG of Oberndorf am Neckar.
SW superimposition-type monogram, with neither letter dominant. Correctly ‘WS’
(q.v.); associated with →Charlier et Cie of Liége. See also ‘Wegria-Charlier’.
S&W superimposition-type monogram, often encircled, either with both letters equally
dominant or slight prominence given to ‘S’. Associated with the products of
→Smith & Wesson.
S&W Popularly used to identify a specific chambering—e.g., ‘.32 S&W’—
originating with →Smith & Wesson of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Swallow Clark Swallow, a Federal government arms inspector working during
the Civil War, accepted cap-lock revolvers and other stores marked ‘CS’. See
Swamp Angel A brand name associated with a .38 single action →Bull Dog type
revolver made by →Forehand & Wadsworth c. 1880.
Swanson. A.C. Swanson Company; Sun Valley, California, U.S.A. Manufacturers
of the →Schimel or →Carbo Jet gas pistol, initially for the Schimel company
and latterly for the American Weapon Corporation.
Swartz William Swartz received a U.S. Patent to protect the grip safety and
concealed hammer system of the 1915-type →Savage pistol. See Ten Shots
Quick by Daniel K. Stern.

SWD, Inc.; Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. Promoters of the →Ingram submachine-guns,
c. 1977–81.
Swebilius. Carl Gustaf Swebilius was born in Sweden in 1879, leaving for
America in 1896. There he started as a barrel driller with the →Marlin Fire
Arms Company, but his talents were soon recognised and he embarked on a
highly successful career as a designer. This included shotguns, rifles and the
adaptation of the →Colt ‘Potato Digger’ machine-gun to serve in the First
World War in tanks and aircraft. When the Marlin Firearms Corporation
failed in the early 1920s, Swebilius worked first as a consultant to Winchester
and then formed the →High Standard Mfg Co. He re-entered the firearms
business when High Standard bought the assets of the defunct Hartford Arms
Company in 1931. He subsequently designed the UD-42 submachine-gun for
the United Defence Corporation, and died in October 1948. His many patents
used by Marlin ranged from U.S. no. 1.083,708, granted on 6th January 1914
for a pump-action rifle, to 1.702,063 of 12th February 1929 for the Model 38
rifle. A complete list is given by Lt.-Col. William S, Brophy in Marlin Firearms
(Stackpole Books, 1989).
Sweeney Joseph L. Sweeney of New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A., an employee
of Winchester, was a co-patentee of two ‘magazine firearms’ with William M.
→Wetmore.
Swett. Allison Owen Swett; Boston, Massachusetts. Co-agent with James Rollin
Marble →Squire and Henry Newton →Sheldon in the application for Augustus
Bedford’s British Patent 23/76 of 1876.
S.W.F. Used in the headstamps of Italian →Fiocchi made cartridges sold by
→Smith & Wesson.
Swift Encountered on foreign-made shotgun cartridges sold by James
→Matthews of Ballymena. Origins unknown. See also ‘Hawk’, ‘Kingfisher’,
‘Wizard’.
Swift Found on shotgun ammunition made by →Eley-Kynoch for →Stanbury &
Stevens of Exeter.
Swift A British break-barrel .22 spring and-piston air rifle made by →Kynoch
Ltd prior to 1914, in accordance with a patent granted in 1906 to George
→Hookham. The most distinctive feature was the sprung locking arms on the
side of the breech.
Swift Usually found as ‘The Swift’ on →Kynoch-made shotgun cartridges handled
in Britain by →Linsley Brothers of Leeds prior to the First World War.
Swift Introduced in 1890, this .38 double-action Iver →Johnson revolver was
made in exposed- and concealed-hammer patterns.
Swift Rifle Company; London. Patentees of a training-rifle system which relied
on a spring-loaded needle in the muzzle of a wooden ‘rifle’ imprinting on a
reduced-scale target. Many thousands of British soldiers were trained on this
system during the Second World War.
Swiftsure [‘The…’]. This mark will be found on shotgun cartridges handled by
→Cogswell & Harrison of London, probably prior to 1914.

Swinburn Gunsmith John Field Swinburn of 16 & 17 Russell Street, Birmingham,
Warwickshire, was the son of gunsmith Charles Philips Swinburn (died or
retired, 1850). John Swinburn continued to make sporting guns and rifles
until 1883 or later. He was granted British Patents 1881/53 of 12th August
1853 (jointly with Thomas Turner) for a back sight; 2625/57 of 14th October
1857 (a communication from Thomas Bailey of New Orleans) for a gun-lock
mechanism; 2269/58 of 12th October 1858 for a barrel band; and a group
protecting a single-shot dropping-block rifle—110/72 and 1895/72 of 1872,
3635/75 of 1875, 3689/76 of 1876, and 2206/77 of 1877. U.S. Patent 134014 of
17th December 1872 also protected a block-action rifle.
¶ These pivoting-block guns, though clearly inspired by the success in Britain
of the →Martini-Henry service rifle, were made commercially in some
numbers in the 1870s and 1880s. Typical of the colonial orders was one for
300 rifles placed on 15th July 1875 on behalf of the Crown Agents for Natal.
They were hammer fired and had straight-wrist butts attached to tangs so that
the trigger mechanism could be accommodated.
¶ Among Swinburn’s other British Patents were 2711/80 of 1880, for cocking
and firing systems; 4291/80 of 1880, 525/83 and 1145/83 of 1883, 6624/84 of
1884 and 17088/85 of 1885 all protected shotguns and sporting rifles with
‘drop-barrel’ actions.
Swinfen John Swinfen; Maidstone, Kent. This English gunsmith, engraver and
cutler traded successively from 5 Week Street (1831–9), Sandling Road (1846),
and 73 Bank Street (1858–70). The business was acquired soon afterward by A.
→Sanders, but Swinfen’s marks will be found on shotgun ammunition made
prior to 1899 by →Eley Brothers.
Swinging yoke cylinder. A form of revolver construction popularised in the
1890s by →Colt and →Smith & Wesson and since perpetuated by vast
numbers of gunmakers. The idea appears to date back at least as far as the
Belgian →Levaux pattern of the 1870s.
Sword pistols. The pistol component of these combination weapons is easily
detected if the direction of fire is towards the blade tip, but less so if the
pistol barrel forms the hilt. Many of the latter are designed to fire backward,
away from the blade tip; triggers were often hidden. Cap locks were even
easier to disguise than the flintlocks, particulary if enclosed locks and bar
hammers were fitted. However, with one or two exceptions where the gun was
concealed in the hilt and fired backward, combinations of pistols and swords
were rarely secretive. Most of those made during the second half of the
nineteenth century incorporated revolvers. See also ‘Robert →Colvin’, ‘Walter
→Davis’, ‘R. →Howard’, ‘Knife pistols’, and ‘Micheloni’.
SWP Found on U.S. military firearms and accessories. See ‘Samuel W. →Porter’.
Sykes Brothers; Ossett, Yorkshire. The marks of this gunsmithing/ironmongery
business have been found on shotgun cartridges made by →Eley Brothers
prior to the First World War.
Syllaba Tomas Syllaba; Schlau (?) Bohemia, Austria. A maker of a crank wound

volute-spring airgun, with a tip-up breech and set triggers. Probably active in
the mid nineteenth century.
Sylven Thomas Sylven. A London based gunsmith, Sylven could be found in
1864 at 33 Leicester Square and 10 Panton Street, Haymarket. A move to 44
Bedford Square, London WC, occurred in 1865, where listing continued until
1879–80.
Symington John Symington, a colonel in the Federal Army, working during the
American Civil War, accepted →Springfield rifle-muskets marked ‘JS’. Care
should be taken to distinguish the similar marks of John →Stahl and James
→Stillman. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
Syms John C. Syms, also listed as ‘Symes’ or ‘Symmes’; New York City. A
carbine made to the patent of John Symmes, then a captain in the U.S. Army
stationed in Watertown Arsenal, Massachusetts (U.S. no. 22094 of November
1858), was approved on 21st April 1856, though only twenty had been made
by March 1857. The rotating breech block had an ‘elastic lip’ gas seal around
the chamber. When the action was opened, a hole through the block gave
access to the chamber. ‘John Symmes’ accepted firearms and accessories in
the decade immediately preceding the Civil War. The items were marked
‘JCS’, though care is needed to distinguish them from similarly-marked
guns accepted in an earlier era by John C. →Stebbins. See also “U.S. arms
Syms The name ‘John Syms’ has been reported on a spring-air gallery gun, and
associated with the 44 Chatham Street address of Blunt & Syms (sic) and, as
the gallery gun probably dates from about 1870, Syms may have continued the
original partnership alone. It is assumed that John Syms was the son of one
of the original Syms partners, Samuel or William.
Syndicat Anglais: see ‘La Société des Anglais’.
Syndicat des Pièces interchangeables (‘SPI’); Liege, Belgium. Formed in 1898
by →Neumann frères, →Janssen fils & Cie and →Dumoulin fils & Cie, this co-
operative venture sought to make sporting guns on the basis of standardised
parts. The basic components were made by →Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de
Guerre, but they were finished in a variety of styles by the individual partners.
Syracuse Forging Company, or ‘Syracuse Arms Company’; Syracuse, New York
State, U.S.A. This business was formed in 1887 to make →Baker patent
exposed-hammer double barrelled shotguns. It is said to have traded until the
factory was destroyed by fire c. 1902, then succeeded in 1903 by the →Baker
Gun & Forging Company. The chronology of this change remains obscure.
Syrett Benjamin Syrett, a U.S. government arms inspector working in the late
1890s, accepted military stores ‘marked BS’.
Syrett H. Syrett, operating c. 1905, accepted guns and equipment for the U.S.
Army marked ‘HS’. Care is necessary to distinguish them from weapons
accepted by H. →Saunders, Horace →Scott, Harrison →Shaler, Harris
→Smith and Howard →Stockton, all of whom used ‘HS’ marks. Possibly a
misrepresenttaion of ‘W. Syrett’, below.

Syrett W. Syrett, an arms inspector working for the U.S. government c. 1905,
accepted items marked ‘WS’. Possibly a misrepresentation of ‘H. Syrett’,
above. See also “U.S. arms inspectors’ marks”.
All material in this form © John Walter, 2001-18

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THE DIRECTORY: S–SYRETT

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