En este articulo de Shooting Times viene algo sobre el frame K, pero menciona algo de la historia del frame I, .32 Hand Ejector Frame.
Smith & Wesson's 12 Most Important Guns
38 Hand Ejector (1899)
The .38 Hand Ejector Military and Police Model of 1899 (its full factory title) was the first Smith & Wesson Model K (K-Frame) revolver and was also the first gun ever chambered for the .38 S&W Special cartridge. It is the earliest S&W model that remains in continuous production today (with refinements and improvements, of course). If that’s not enough to earn it a place on this list, consider that S&W’s sales of K-Frame guns, all models, still exceed the combined sales of all other handguns the company has ever produced.
The term “Hand Ejector” refers to the solid-frame, side-swing cylinder design, which requires the shooter to use his hand to push the ejector rod to free the fired cases from the chambers (as opposed to the automatic-ejection system of the top-break design). It would eventually replace the top-breaks entirely because it could handle more powerful cartridges in a smaller form than the older system. The Hand Ejector was developed largely in response to the accelerating development of smokeless-propellant cartridges during the 1890s.
That being said, it is interesting to note that the smaller S&W Model I (I-Frame) five-shot hand ejectors for .32 S&W Long were introduced first, in 1896. (Reason: the K- and I-Frame models were both designed at the same time in 1894-95; the engineers simply signed off on the I-Frame first for production.) And it is important not to forget that the original .38 Special cartridge was a blackpowder load and not smokeless. The Model K was first intended to fire the .38 U.S. Service cartridge (.38 Long Colt), but D.B. Wesson wanted the S&W side-swing gun to be more powerful than its rival’s namesake, so he suggested the case be lengthened to allow its powder charge to be increased from 18 grains of fine blackpowder to 21.5 grains and upped the standard bullet weight from 150 to 158 grains–creating a “magnum” .38 Long, if you will. When later loaded as a smokeless round, the new case allowed room for considerably more powerful charges, which led to the .357 Magnum, and so on.
It is often asked why S&W was later than Colt in offering double-action revolvers and solid-frame side-swing revolvers when it earlier had so little trouble in staying ahead of its rival with the original cartridge guns. The historian will answer: Monopoly inhibits creativity. Having beaten Colt to the cartridge era and developed a superior product in its large-frame top-breaks compared to the solid-frame SAA, S&W saw little reason for major changes until it was forced by the market success of alternative ideas. After being beaten, Colt was hungrier and became more aggressive. The ebb and flow of different competing companies taking turns playing lead and catch-up is a characteristic of the firearms industry (indeed all industries) even today.
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Smith & Wesson's 12 Most Important Guns
