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1. Smith & Wesson Model 41 Serial Numbers Date Of Manufacture
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3. Smith & Wesson Model 41 Serial Numbers

Eamonn Butler's Condensed Wealth of Nations, which includes a section on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, is available to download here.

Why Adam Smith is important

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist who is best known as the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations (1776), one of the most influential books ever written.

The old view of economics

In Smith’s day, people saw national wealth in terms of a country’s stock of gold and silver. Importing goods from abroad was seen as damaging because it meant that this wealth must be given up to pay for them; exporting goods was seen as good because these precious metals came back.

So countries maintained a vast network of controls to prevent this metal wealth draining out – taxes on imports, subsidies to exporters, and protection for domestic industries. The same protectionism ruled at home too. Cities prevented artisans from other towns moving in to ply their trade; manufacturers and merchants petitioned the king for protective monopolies; labour-saving devices were banned as a threat to existing producers.

The productivity of free exchange

Smith showed that this vast ‘mercantilist’ edifice was folly. He argued that in a free exchange, both sides became better off. Quite simply, nobody would trade if they expected to lose from it. The buyer profits, just as the seller does. Imports are just as valuable to us as our exports are to others.

Because trade benefits both sides, said Smith, it increases our prosperity just as surely as do agriculture or manufacture. A nation’s wealth is not the quantity of gold and silver in its vaults, but the total of its production and commerce – what today we would call gross national product.

The Wealth of Nations deeply influenced the politicians of the time and provided the intellectual foundation of the great nineteenth-century era of free trade and economic expansion. Even today the common sense of free trade is accepted worldwide, whatever the practical difficulties of achieving it.

Social order based on freedom

Smith & Wesson Model 41 Serial Numbers Date Of Manufacture

Smith had a radical, fresh understanding of how human societies actually work. He realised that social harmony would emerge naturally as human beings struggled to find ways to live and work with each other. Freedom and self-interest need not produce chaos, but – as if guided by an ‘invisible hand’ – order and concord. And as people struck bargains with each other, the nation’s resources would be drawn automatically to the ends and purposes that people valued most highly.

So a prospering social order did not need to be controlled by kings and ministers. It would grow, organically, as a product of human nature. It would grow best in an open, competitive marketplace, with free exchange and without coercion.

The Wealth Of Nations was therefore not just a study of economics but a survey of human social psychology: about life, welfare, political institutions, the law, and morality.

The psychology of ethics

It was not The Wealth Of Nations which first made Smith’s reputation, but a book on ethics, The Theory Of Moral Sentiments. Once again, Smith looks to social psychology to discover the foundation of human morality. Human beings have a natural ‘sympathy’ for others. That enables them to understand how to moderate their behaviour and preserve harmony. And this is the basis of our moral ideas and moral actions.

Self-interest and virtue

Some people wonder how the self-interest that drives Smith’s economic system can be squared with the ‘sympathy’ that drive his ethics. Here is his answer:

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.

In other words, human nature is complex. We are self-interested, but we also like to help others too. Smith’s books are complementary: they show how self-interested human beings can live together peacefully (in the moral sphere) and productively (in the economic).

The Wealth Of Nations is no endorsement of economic greed, as sometimes caricatured. Self-interest may drive the economy, but that is a force for good – provided there is genuinely open competition and no coercion. And it is the poor that economic and social freedom benefits most.

The Smith & Wesson Model 57 is a large frame, double-actionrevolver with a six roundcylinder, chambered for the .41 Magnumcartridge, and designed and manufactured by the Smith & Wessonfirearmscompany. The gun was designed as a weapon for law enforcement agencies. However, due to size and recoil it found more favor with civilian target shooters and hunters.

Development[edit]

In the early 1960s, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, and Skeeter Skelton, all noted firearms authorities and authors, lobbiedRemington Arms and Smith & Wesson to introduce a new .41 caliber police cartridge with the objective of filling a perceived ballistic performance gap between the .357 and .44 Magnums, thus creating a chambering which they believed would be the ultimate for law enforcement purposes.^[1]In April 1964 Remington responded by introducing the .41 Magnum cartridge, and in concert, Smith & Wesson launched the Model 57 revolver chambered for the new ammunition.^[1]Elmer Keith originally proposed the name '.41 Police' for the new cartridge, but Remington instead chose .41 Magnum, hoping to capitalize on the notoriety and popularity of its earlier Magnum offerings.^[1]

Features[edit]

First introduced in April 1964, the Model 57 was produced with 4', 6', 6-1/2', and 8-3/8' barrels in both highly polishedblued and nickel–plated finishes. Using the S&W large 'N' frame, the Model 57 was one of the companies’ premier products, offering superb fit and finish, basically the same pistol as the famous S&W Model 29, except in .41 instead of .44 caliber.^[2] Like the Model 29, the 57 sported a red insert front sight with a white outlineadjustablerear ironopen sight, as well as a targettrigger, target hammer, and oversized woodentarget grips.^[2]

Model 57 variants[edit]

Ammunition[edit]

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Remington originally offered two ammunition loadings in its .41 Magnum cartridge lineup. The first was a full-power 1300-1400 ft/s hunting or heavy-usage load using a jacketed soft point bullet which rivaled the stopping power of the mighty .44 Magnum while boasting less recoil and a flatter bullettrajectory. The second loading was a less powerful 1,150 ft/s 210 grain leadsemiwadcutter intended for law enforcement usage.^[1][3]

Market response[edit]

Due to a number of factors the .41 Magnum unfortunately never became the 'next great police loading' that its developers and supporters envisioned.^[1] First, the majority of departments and rank and file officers were perfectly content with their traditional .38 Special revolvers, and if more stopping power was needed, cartridges such as the popular .357 Magnum were available.^[2] In addition, when senior police officials could be convinced to evaluate the .41 Magnum, many complained that even the lighter .41 Magnum 'Police load' was unpleasant to fire, while the .357 Magnum offered adequate performance without the bruising recoil and muzzle blast associated with the .41.^[1][3] Also, the marketing decision by S&W and Remington to dub the cartridge a 'Magnum' ended up working against them in their desire to address the law enforcement market. Police organizations found the connotation of a high-powered 'Magnum' hunting-type weapon to be unpalatable in an era when they were struggling with political correctness and pursued positive public relations to offset any possible public perception of police brutality.^[4] Although the .41 Magnum was adopted as a police departmental standard by a few cities such as Amarillo and San Antonio TX, and San Francisco, CA, most chose to pass.^[1] In addition, introduced in the shadow of its limelight-grabbing 'big brother' the .44 Magnum Model 29, the Model 57 struggled from its onset to garner much market share. The .41 Magnum's bullet (at 0.410″) is only 0.019″ smaller than the destined-for-greatness .44 Magnum (at 0.429″). The popularity gap widened further when Clint Eastwood used a 'most powerful handgun in the world' Model 29 in the popular film Dirty Harry. In the aftermath of the film's release, many contemporaries of the .44 Magnum, including the .41, somewhat fell out of favor with the general public and American firearms market.^[2] Finally, a series of hugely popular and successful lighter and smaller-framed revolvers crafted from stainless steel emerged in the mid 1980s. These police-issue oriented firearms, exemplified by models such as the S&W Model 66, accelerated the Model 57's demise. Overall, the Model 57 and its variants failed to generate the interest (or sales) which had been hoped for.^[1]

Variants[edit]

Smith & Wesson offered an all stainless steel version of the Model 57 as the Model 657.^[5] The Model 657 was introduced in 1986.^[6]

A very rare 5' model 57 was^[7] produced in the custom shop. All known examples included the traditional short underlug/ejector shroud.

Smith & Wesson Model 58[edit]

On July 10, 1964, S&W introduced a more basic and inexpensive .41 Magnum intended for procurement by police departments. This budget version of the Model 57 was similar in principle of design to the .38 Special S&W heavy-barrel Model 10, or .357 Magnum Model 28 Highway Patrolman. Weighing in at 41 ounces, the Model 58 featured a 4' barrel, fixed iron open sights, and simpler standard 'magna service' grips.^[1][3] Finish options were the same as its upscale Model 57 brethren, blued and nickel, but shortly after the Model 58's introduction S&W decided a less expensive 'matte' bluing treatment would be more appropriate for the basic 'workingman' model. The no-frills Model 58 also lacked an ejection rod shroud, but retained the pinned barrel and counter bored cylinder of the more expensive Model 57. The Model 58 was manufactured from 1964 to 1977 and roughly 20,000 were produced. In 2008, it was released again by S&W, both in bright nickel and bright blue finish.^[3]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefghi“Smith & Wesson’s .41 Magnum”Archived 2008-08-20 at the Wayback Machine, Free Patriot Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
2. ^ ^abcd“S&W Model 57”, Notpurfect Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
3. ^ ^abcdMiller, Payton. “Smith & Wesson Model 58”Archived 2008-06-19 at the Wayback Machine, Guns and Ammo magazine Web site. Accessed August 5, 2008.
4. ^'The .41 Mag: if only we could do it over', Guns, April 2005. Accessed August 5, 2008.
5. ^Boorman, Dean K. (2002). The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms. Globe Pequot Press. p. 86. ISBN978-1-58574-721-4. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
6. ^Supica, Jim; Nahas, Richard (2006). Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson. Iola, Wisconsin: Gun Digest Books. p. 268. ISBN978-1-4402-2700-4. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
7. ^44, Doc. 'Model 57, Rare 5-inch Barrel, A 'Tool Room' Job'. The Smith & Wesson Forum. http://smith-wessonforum.com/.External link in |publisher= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)

Smith & Wesson Model 41 Serial Numbers