From LewRockwell.com:

It was a crown S&W wore proudly, albeit briefly.

The rising popularity of handgun hunting for big game (spurred largely by the .44 Magnum itself) prompted the introduction of newer and significantly more powerful revolver cartridges.

Many powerful enough that they had to be chambered in single-action handguns because existing double-action designs could not contain the recoil forces and pressures they produced.

Since S&W does not make single-action revolvers, and no double-action frame at its disposal could handle the new loads, S&W was effectively...

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