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Ref. Firearms developed and manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000. By Kenn Gillie. Credit for this information goes to Pretoria Arms and Ammunition Ass. All rights are reserved. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored, manipulated in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any mechanical, electronic or digital form or by any other means, without prior written permission of the publishers. Any person who engage in any unauthorised activity in relation to this publication shall be liable to criminal prosecution and cliams for civil and criminal damages The Smith & Beecham 380 ACP pistol as manufactured in the mid 1980s, by Smith & Beecham Technologies, who were based in Johannesburg. The principal designers after who the pistol was named, are Roy Smith and Steward Beecham. This neat, compact pistol would not be considered elegant by any standard. It is unfortunate that it’s premature demise never gave it the time which was needed for the concept to be refined. How-ever it has some redeeming quirks, combining as it does, a number of different ideas from other firearms. In excess of 2000 units are said to have been produced of the Smith & Beecham pistol, but it is thought that fewer than 500 of these pistols exist today. The S&B 380 is a neat compact pistol with a steel slide and polymer frame, which houses a split mono block containing the hammer and trigger. It operates as a locked breech pistol and incorporates a tilting barrel system. The S&B has no mechanical safety, instead it adopts the SIG Sauer follow-through system. When the slide feeds a round into the chamber, the hammer follows the round forward to rest on the firing pin, but without the energy needed to fire a round with the inertia firing pin. Trigger operation is double action only, and that means no hammer spur or half-cock notch is necessary. The recoil spring sits under the barrel over a full length guide rod. The slide stop, operated by the magazine follower when empty, is short but accessable and locks the slide to the rear when the magazine is empty. The barrel is a two-piece unit, manufactured from EN19 steel. The barrel has 6, button formed, grooves with 1 in 9 inch, right hand twist. The barrel is pressed into a machined chamber block and pinned. The top of the chamber block has a tapered square section that locks into a corresponding cut-out in the slide. At the bottom of the block is a simple am system to lock and unlock the slide. The back of the cam surface doubles as a feed ramp. The slide is machined from a solid block of EN19 steel with provision made for a separate breech block, what houses extractor, inertia firing pin and their springs. This block fits tightly into the slide and is pinned into position. The slide has unusually wide finger grooves, cut into the front and back of the slide. It is comfortable to use. The investment cast trigger is conventially shaped and has a protusion at the rear to reduce over travel. The front sight blade is a fixed blade, machined integral with the slide and the rear sight is dovetailed into the slide and retained with a screw, can be adjusted for windage. In what appears to be an after-thought a black polymer block is fitted on the back of the slide to create a hamer shroud, to keep dirt out. (missing from my pistol) A split machined monoblock with integral slide rails, is joined together with three capscrews. This houses the hammer strut and spring, trigger and spring, slide stop and spring, as well as the dual cocking arms, which is connected to the trigger and the fixed ejector. Integral with the monoblock is a machined angle surface acting on the barrel cam, causes the barrel to cant up and down from the locking recess during cycling of the firearm. This unit, once assembled, fits into the polymer frame. The two roll pin which hold the monoblock in place also double as axis pins for the trigger and hammer. The magazine release is pinned to the bottom rear of the frame and is push to the rear to release the magazine. The black polymer magazine holds 7 rounds, but can be fitted with a +1 shoe. The pistol grip has a rough texture but is not checkered Situated on the left-hand side of the slide, the engraved model designation “380”, sits alongside a stylish S&B logo. The following lettering is mould into the right-hand side of the polymer frame- “WARNING BEFORE USING GUN READ INSTRUCTION MANUAL FROM SMITH & BEECHAM TECHNOLOGIES cc RSA”. Further on the frame “REG DES NO 92/0799” is also moulded in. . The firearm serial no is engraved on the right-hand side of the chamber block and is visible through the ejection port. Cosmetically the slide and all external parts are matte blued, while the barrel has a polished surface. No South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Springbok horn proof-mark.was found on the firearms examined. However a Capitol “T” was stamped on the underside of the barrel block, which may be an indicator of the firearm being proofed. The pistol is 150 mm long, 114 mm high and weigh 598g. Ref. Firearms developed and manufactured in Southern Africa 1949-2000. By Kenn Gillie. Credit for this information goes to Pretoria Arms and Ammunition Ass. All rights are reserved. No part of this information may be reproduced, stored, manipulated in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any mechanical, electronic or digital form or by any other means, without prior written permission of the publishers. Any person who engage in any unauthorised activity in relation to this publication shall be liable to criminal prosecution and cliams for civil and criminal damages

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