Revolver

In 1875 the US Ordnance Board granted Smith & Wesson a contract to outfit the military with model 3 revolver incorporating the design improvements of Major George W. Schofield (known as the "Schofield revolver"), providing they could make the revolvers work with the .45 Colt (AKA ".45 Long Colt") ammunition already in use by the US military. Smith & Wesson instead developed their own, slightly shorter .45 caliber round, the .45 Schofield, otherwise known as the .45 S&W. When it became obvious in the field that the two cartridges would not work interchangeably in the Schofield (although they both worked in the Colt), the U.S. Government adopted the shorter .45 Schofield cartridge as the standard cartridge. Despite the change, old stocks of the longer .45 Colt rounds in the supply line caused the Army to drop most of the Schofields and continue with the Colt. Major Schofield had patented his locking system and earned a payment on each gun that Smith and Wesson sold, and at the time his older brother, John M. Schofield, was the head of the Army Ordnance Board and the political situation may have been the main issue for the early end of army sales.

Many of the S&W model 3 Schofield revolvers saw service in the Indian Wars, and there are reports of them in use as late as the Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War. Like the other Smith and Wesson Model 3’s, they were also reportedly popular with lawmen and outlaws in the American West, and were reportedly used by Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin, Pat Garrett, Theodore Roosevelt, Virgil Earp, Billy the Kid, and many others. While the standard barrel length was 7", many Schofields were purchased as surplus by distributors, and had the barrels shortened to 5", and were refinished in nickel.