In 1873 William Algernon Sydney Smoot (1845-1886) patented a new single action pocket cartridge revolver that would become Remington’s answer to the Colt New Line series of inexpensive pocket revolver. Smoot was born in Norfolk, VA in 1845 and had served during the Civil War, initially as a 1^st Lieutenant in Company F of the 1^stMaryland Infantry (US), which he joined on December 24, 1863. About a month later he was commissioned a 2^ndLieutenant in the Regular Army’s Ordnance Department, where he served through the end of 1870. He was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant by Brevet on March 7, 1867. He spent the majority of his service at the Springfield Arsenal, where he performed a number of duties, including writing a short treatise on ordnance. After his resignation he went to work for Remington in Ilion, NY and took up residence in nearby Herkimer. 

Smoot received US Patent #143,855 on October 21, 1873, for “Improvements in Revolving Firearms” had two features that were considered unique and patentable. The first was the forging of the barrel, upper portion of the frame and the ejector housing as a single piece. The second was a rotating recoil shield on the rear face of the cylinder, a feature that is only found on the earliest of the Smooth series of revolvers and which was rather quickly eliminated in favor of a traditional recoil shield. The revolver’s frame was made in two pieces, with an upper section that consisted of the barrel, topstrap, ejector housing and backstrap, while the lower piece consisted of the lower portion of the frame, trigger housing and gripstrap. A less than eloquent modern comparison would be the concept of the “upper” and “lower” receiver of an AR pattern rifle. The lower portion of the frame was secured to the upper portion with screws. The revolver was a single action, spur trigger design with a bird’s head grip, a five chambered fluted cylinder and an attached ejector rod on the right side. The first model Smoot Revolvers, termed either the Remington No. 1 Revolver or Smoot’s Patent New Model Revolver in Remington literature, was produced only in .30RF caliber and was introduced in 1875. The guns had 2 13/16” ribbed octagonal barrels and 13/16” long cylinders. The first 650 or so of the guns incorporated the revolving recoil shield that was part of Smoot’s October 21, 1873, patent, but the concept was soon abandoned, and the balance of No. 1 production used a conventional fixed recoil shield with a cut out for loading and unloading on the right side. Remington produced about 3,000 No. 1 Smoot Revolvers between 1875 and 1877 with the model being replaced by the improved No. 2 Smoot Revolver. The No. 2 was produced in both the original .30RF caliber but also in the more widely used and accepted .32RF chambering. It is believed that only about 600 of the nominally 2,000 No. 2 revelers that were produced were chambered for .30RF with the majority of the production being .32RF. The No. 2 had a 2 ¾” ribbed octagonal barrel and a 7/8” cylinder and remained in production through 1885. 

In 1878 the No. 3 Smoot Revolver was introduced to the product line, with about 25,000 produced between 1878 and 1888. These revolvers were slightly larger than the No. 1 and No. 2 revolvers with 3 ¾” barrels and 1 13/16” long cylinders. The No. 3 returned to the convention screw in barrel system of earlier Remington production, so the only real Smoot feature that relevant in the patent was the two piece upper and lower frame concept. The No. 3 revolver introduced then larger .38 caliber chambering to the product line, in both rimfire and centerfire short. The No. 3 also introduced a square butt, saw handle frame in addition to the bird’s head grip frame. A final version of the Smoot, the No. 4, was introduced at about the same time as the No. 3 but this version eliminated the ejector system and was made with a shorter barrel, ranging from 1 1/16” to 2 ½”. The last Smoot variant also used the more conventional system of screwing the barrel into the frame, rather than forging it integrally with the upper part of the frame like on the No. 1 and No. 2 revolvers. This variant looked very similar to the Colt New Line series of revolvers and may be why the Smoots were long referred to as Remington “New Line” revolvers. In addition to the .38 short caliber chamberings of the No. 3, the No. 4 added .41 rimfire and center fire short chamberings as well.  About 23,000 of the No. 4 revolvers were produced before the Remington bankruptcy and reorganization of 1888 brought the production of all Smoot patent revolvers to an end.

In general, all of the Smoot revolvers were compact single action spur trigger revolvers with topstraps and five chamber cylinders. The standard finish was full nickel with color casehardened hammers and blued triggers and screws. Standard grips were checkered hard rubber, although some were made with wood grips and exotic materials like mother of pearl and ivory were available at an additional charge. Interestingly the Smoot series of revolvers were probably the first handguns to be made with celluloid grips. Celluloid was a new technology during the period with the patent for the material being issued the same year as Smoot’s revolver patent. Although never officially listed in company literature as an option, Smoots were available with celluloid grips that mimicked ivory in appearance and have become their own collecting niche for Remington aficionados.

Offered here is a VERY FINE condition example of a Remington Model No. 2 Smoot Revolver. The revolver serial number 258 and is chambered for the .30RF cartridge. The serial number is stamped on both frame sections, under the left grip. It appears that only the early production No. 2 Smoot Revolvers were produced in .30RF, and this caliber is confirmed by the following measurements. The bore is .285” with .29” chamber mouths and the rear of the chambers measuring .295”. Like a typical Smoot No. 2, the revolver has a 2 ¾” ribbed octagonal barrel with a 7/8” five chambered fluted cylinder. The revolver has a factory full nickel finish with a color casehardened hammer, fire blued trigger and screws and checkered hard rubber grips. The barrel rib is roll marked in a single line:

E. REMINGTON & SONS. ILION, N.Y. PAT. W.S. SMOOT OCT. 21, 1873.

The revolver remains in VERY FINE condition and retains about 90%+ of the original factory nickel finish. There is some flaked loss on the barrel web, forward of the cylinder and on the frame to the rear of the cylinder as well. There are also some small, scattered areas of flaked loss on the gun here and there with some more moderate areas of flaking on the cylinder. The areas where the finish has flaked show moderate oxidation and discoloration, as well as some surface roughness. The roll mark on the barrel remains clear and crisp. The hammer retains about 90% of its mottled case colored finish, with some thinning and fading, mostly around the edges and contact points. The trigger retains some traces of the bright fire blue and much of the underlying duller blue finish, and the screws retain some strong traces of dulling blue as well. The checkered hard rubber grips remain in very fine condition with only some lightly scattered minor handling marks and surface scuffs. The revolver remains in fine mechanical condition and functions exactly as it should, with good indexing, timing and lock up. The bore of the revolver is about good, with strong rifling and evenly distributed surface oxidation, some scattered surface rust and evenly distributed moderate pitting.

Overall, this is lovely example of one of Remington’s pocket revolvers from the 1870s and 1880s. These guns were all produced during a time when the west was still wild, and it is likely that as many of these reliable little pocket revolvers went out west in the pockets of those who needed a compact and concealable handgun as were carried in eastern cities for self-defense. Like so many of the guns in the original Remington product line, the Smoots did not survive the reorganization of the company under Hartley & Graham and were never returned to production. As a result, they never achieved the production numbers of the competing Colt New Line, but by the same token the design was never as successful as the New Lines were. This would be a fine addition to any Remington handgun collection, particularly one that concentrates on pocket revolvers. It is in lovely condition, works well and will not doubt be a great addition to your collection