Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyphil
Smith and Wesson got into the holster business during the 1960s,
when they were owned by Bangor-Punta, by acquiring Wally Wolfram's
holster business known as Wolfram Company.
I have seen references to S&W's holster catalogs from 1969 to 1978.
After S&W got out of the holster business it became Gould & Goodrich.
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Smith acquired Wolfram in 1969, and hired former Bucheimer man Al Kippen to handle startup in the new location (excellent coverage of the transition in Gun Digest's Holsters and Other Gunleather; I say excellent because it's not just an overview, it includes actual dates and everything!). Bob Gould was the Smith holster operation's product manager, and Smith wanted out so badly that they offered it to him for a song and he took it and ran with it, alongside business partner Jon Goodrich.
Smith was not in the holster business prior; but Colt had been since 1960 or so -- being made by Wolfram! So Colt had to hunt around for another maker that I deduce was Bucheimer (yet I don't actually know) and that lasted until the late 1970s. Perhaps not a coincidence that Colt was in, then Smith was in; Colt was out, then Smith was out. Colt's holsters were made by others than Wally, including -- Arvo Ojala and Hunter (they used a prefix on their holster models so they wouldn't forget who their vendor was: "O" for Ojala, "H" for Hunter, "W" for Wolfram, and a fourth I'm not recalling off the top of my head.