This week, I’m joined by Weerd Beard to discuss the auto-loading pistols produced by Smith & Wesson.
Some people say you need a decoder ring to make sense of the Smith & Wesson handguns, and, while that may be true, there is a method to the madness.
Smith & Wesson uses a numbering system that denotes the material of manufacture, capacity and other things. For example, a model number with a “6” as the first digit indicates it is made of stainless steel. The last two digits being “39” indicate a single stack, and the two numbers “59” indicate a double-stack magazine.
So a Model 659 is a stainless steel, double-stack 9mm, and a 639 is a stainless steel single-stack magazine 9mm.
Before they were known for their polymer M&P handguns, which is S&W’s entry into the striker fired polymer handgun market. S&W made a plethora of stainless and carbon steel handguns like the Model 39, Model 59, 659 and so many others.
They are handguns that have a certain character to them, and many people love them, with an equal number of people hating them. The slide-mounted safety/decocker is definitely a disadvantage compared with the relatively easy and accessible decocker of the Sig-Sauer pistols.
Weerd Beard and I discuss the merits of the S&W autoloaders and how you can determine which is which. Listen to the podcast here.