There is one piece of irony, Smith and Wesson originally invented a lever-action pistol. They could not make a commercial success out of the gun, and were forced to sell the design to Oliver Winchester. Winchester used the design for building his famous lever-action rifles. Winchester became synonymous with rifle. Now, S&W may take over the plant and be making Winchester Rifles.
True. S&W first produced the Volcanic pistol in 1856 which used the same receiver that was used on the Henry rifle in 1861 and later the Winchester model 1866, model 1873 (The Gun that Won the West) and models 1886 and 1894.