Uberti Replica of the Smith & Wesson Schofield Topbreak .45 Long Colt Caliber
When I first saw The S&W Schofield Topbreak, it really grabbed my attention. It is an interesting and well designed revolver. It also has an incredible history. It easily belongs with the greatest of the 1800's and Old West revolvers, among which are the (in order of invention and each of which were the best pistol of there time, they barely overlapped each other for long and can be credited at corresponding times for winning the settling of Texas, winning the Civil War and settling The Old West.) 1- Colt Dragoon, 2-Smith and Wesson Schofield Topbreak and finally the Colt Peacemaker or Colt Army (they are the same gun).
The Colt Dragoon started out and was mostly a cap and ball revolver, but eventually a conversion kit was offered that made it a cartridge revolver. Then came the Smith & Wesson Topbreak, which was the first cartridge revolver in several calibers and designs. Finally, the Colt Peacemaker in .45 Long Colt caliber.
Smith and Wesson paid to use a cartridge patent and then made the first cartridge revolver. S&W put Colt and other makers out of the cartridge revolver business by having paying a commission exclusive patent rights. Colt had the means to make them, but couldn't legally.
The first Topbreak model 1, had some problems, it was a small .22 caliber to small for military or self defense and the barrel flipped up, not down, making it harder to load. The model 1 1/2 was the same except in .32 caliber, increasing the power, but not enough. People bought them, however wanted improvements.
Smith & Wesson Model 1 1/2
Smith and Wesson then got it very close with the Model 3, they put the swivel so that the barrel swung down and installed an ejector to push out the empty cartridges when the barrel was opened. Making it very easy to unload and reload. The original Model 3 had break latch that pushed up and the Army loved them, however the Calvary didn't, because it took two hands to load and unload. A big fan of the Smith & Wesson Topbreak was Major George Schofield, a hero of the Civil War and had a good mechanical mind. Schofield decided to improve it for the Infantry, so he redesigned the opening latch to pull back with just the thumb and hardened the steel to make the opening latch more durable. Then he patented his idea. After talking with Smith & Wesson, who loved his idea and gave him a commission from every sale of what now would be called The Smith & Wesson Schofield, Schofield showed them how a horseback soldier could hold the reins and revolver in one hand and open the latch, flick their wrist ( which opened the barrel and engaged the revolvers ejector to eject all six empty cartridges ) then the man would just drop in new cartridges with his free hand and flick the gun shut. All while maintaining control of his horse. Nothing even close to this was ever possible before, making it state of the art then and now.
Soon after Schofield got Smith and Wesson a chance to obtain a chance to get the exclusive U.S. Military sidearm contract. Of course, by this point the cartridge patent had expired, so Colt now had the famous Colt Army Revolver in .45 Long Colt caliber, so there was a competition held.
The competition included speed of fire, speed of reload, power and accuracy. Both revolvers were tied in accuracy, the Colt was more powerful, both were as fast as could be had for single action revolvers, but it was the reload time that won the Schofield the majority of the contract. The Smith & Wesson Schofield could be reloaded in 30 second, while the Colt Army took over a minute to reload.
The U.S. Military ordered a lot of Schofields, 100's of thousands of them, but with the request for them to be chambered in .45 long Colt. For some unknown reason Smith& Wesson said okay, but delivered guns chambered in .45 Schofield. That was a huge mistake.
The .45 Schofield round was powerful, but after awhile, as more Colt Army guns where showing up, causing some troops to have both guns in the same troop. An ammunition problem came up. The troops were sometimes sent only one or the other cartridges instead of both. This didn't prove a problem to the soldiers with the Colts, but it did to those armed with the Schofield.
The .45 long Colt was a longer bullet. Both bullets being the same diameter was ok, but the length difference became a problem. The Colt armed soldiers could shoot either cartridge in their guns, but when only .45 long Colt cartridges came to a troop, the Smith & Wesson revolvers wouldn't load because the bullets where to long to fit. This left large portions of men unarmed. When soldiers are fighting wild Indians and outlaws, this is a major problem. Also a major mistake by Smith & Wesson for not just clambering there guns in .45 long Colt because the Army soon stopped ordering more Schofields and discontinued the use of them altogether. Replacing them and equipping the men with Colt Army revolvers.
The .45 long Colt is on the left, the .45 Scofield on the right. Clearly showing the length difference.
The army soon surplused the Schofields they had. Companies like Wells Fargo bought them up at dirt cheap prices, had the 7 inch barrels cut to 5 inches and equipped their stage coachmen with them.
The Wells Fargo version of The Smith & Wesson Schofield
The public also bought them, so did gunsmiths cutting them down to pocket pistol lengths is about a 3 inch barrel. Making them popular with gamblers who now had six shot, reliable revolvers instead of mostly one shot Derringers.
There was also plenty of ammo, since it was still being made and sold in stores.
Smith and Wesson also received huge orders from Russia for a special Russian model. The Russian model is a bit wierd looking, but Russia loved them and ordered hundreds of thousands of them.
This is no doubt a great reproduction of the gun that started Smith & Wessons fame. It was calibered in .45 long Colt.
I've since traded this revolver for a Remington R1 1911 Centennial Edition, but would like to get another one some day.
Out of five stars this revolver gets 4 1/2 stars.
Cost at 4 stars - I think $1100.00 is steep for any reproduction Cowboy revolver. I understand that this revolver has more machined parts than most because of all the moving parts that aren't usually on a gun. With the Topbreak action, it also has too have thicker steal that has to be hardened longer, but I still think the price is expensive.
Accuracy is 4 stars - Most Cowboy guns don't come super accurate right out of the box, but this was more accurate than most since the sights are basically an older version of the fixed sights S&W uses on some of the guns today. The main problem was the visibility. Being iron sights they are harder to line up inside or at a black target.
Shootability is five stars - the revolver is a nice weight, doesn't kick to much, loads easy and emptying is a snap literally.
Weight and size is 5 Stars - As far as cowboy guns or any revolver goes, this is a beauty. The weight is like most revolvers and the size is perfect. The 5 inch barrel gives a good sight picture and accuracy.
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