S&W 3rd Gen Semi Autos

[kaveman]

Hi, I've been lurking around this thread because I'm a big fan of the old Smiths. I saw where Gander had the 6946's and was able to order one monday, was pretty excited they were only $299 plus $25 shipping and got another $20 off coupon. I went to pick it up yesturday, total bummer!! It looked like it had been literally dragged behind a truck!! The rubber grip was so wore out that you coundn't even see the logo anymore. At least they gave me a complete refund, the guy behind the counter was very apologetic, he hadn't seen one that bad.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Which Gander was it and was your gripe primarily about the grips(rubber Hogues I would assume)or was the entire pistol beat up pretty bad? Swapping out grips is pretty easy and I have boxes of decent rubber take-offs as well as wood Hogues that would screw right on.

Here's my gander 6946 from last week(and one page back). Far better deal,....they were originally listed at $269 with a $40 off coupon. Shipping and tax totaled $272 out the door from the Merrillville store. Bottom pistol is the new one,.....upper pistol is an LE trade I picked up from GB a couple of years ago for $390 with an extra mag. This last one is in a bit better shape and a far better deal.

 

[kaveman]

Yeah the trade in's or special prices are a crapshoot. I'd rather go to cdisales on Gb and look at the S&W's they have and buy. Though when I got my 5946 from gander from online it was in great shape.

I've bought dozens of pistols from cdisales on GB but haven't seen anything worth picking up in a year or two. The quality and variety have dropped and the prices have shot up considerably since Gary passed away. I've never seen a DAO 3rd gen listed in their auctions but did pick up a 915 and several 1st gen 39-2s a few years back. The last few 39-2s they've listed have been twice the price and in horrible condition compared to the earlier imports. I guess the good old days are fading away.

These 39-2s were $239, $219 and $209 with the cheapest being the best and the most expensive being the worst,.....which is why I ended up with three of them. Every time I bought one, Coles would list another bunch cheaper and in better shape and I'd pick the best of the bunch. I ended up with these three Smiths and a couple of others I don't remember(because 5 pistols at a time ship for free!). That's what I mean by 'the good old days'. I would expect 39-2s to be listed at $400 today and I'd be surprised to find any this nice.

Coles was a great source of bargains a few years ago. I still check their listings weekly but just can't find anything to bite on.

 

[rhino]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Which Gander was it and was your gripe primarily about the grips(rubber Hogues I would assume)or was the entire pistol beat up pretty bad? Swapping out grips is pretty easy and I have boxes of decent rubber take-offs as well as wood Hogues that would screw right on.

Would you happen to have a factory 5906 grip with the flat backstrap that you no longer want?

 

[smasherofall]

It was the one in Castleton, the finger guard looked like somebody took a dremel to it, the nose looked like they had dropped it repeatedly in the same spot over and over, it had really bad holster wear like it was inserted in and out a couple thousand times, and it sounded like a baby rattle it was so loose.

 

[smasherofall]

Here's a pic of my 659

 

[kaveman]

Would you happen to have a factory 5906 grip with the flat backstrap that you no longer want?

I can check my spares. I generally prefer the arched backstrap myself but I find it convenient to keep the straight grips on the 40xx guns to differentiate them from the 59xx guns(I have about a dozen of each). I don't dislike the straight,....just prefer the arched. I've probably put the best condition straight grips on guns and kept the worst condition grips for stippling,......but I may have one or two 'in-betweeners'. What I have boxes of are take-off Hogue rubbers,.....those I don't like at all and when I get Hogues on a gun I swap the wood grips on them.

 

[kaveman]

It was the one in Castleton, the finger guard looked like somebody took a dremel to it, the nose looked like they had dropped it repeatedly in the same spot over and over, it had really bad holster wear like it was inserted in and out a couple thousand times, and it sounded like a baby rattle it was so loose.

That sounds crappy. Glad you got your money back and they didn't hold to their policy of no refund on shipping.

 

[rhino]

I can check my spares. I generally prefer the arched backstrap myself but I find it convenient to keep the straight grips on the 40xx guns to differentiate them from the 59xx guns(I have about a dozen of each). I don't dislike the straight,....just prefer the arched. I've probably put the best condition straight grips on guns and kept the worst condition grips for stippling,......but I may have one or two 'in-betweeners'. What I have boxes of are take-off Hogue rubbers,.....those I don't like at all and when I get Hogues on a gun I swap the wood grips on them.

Yeah, the Hogues are too big for my short fingers.

 

[kaveman]

No luck on the straight back grips. I've got one grip so worn that the checkering is almost completely gone and I've held on to that one to experiment with stippling. It's not even in good enough condition to throw away. Seems like what I've held on to is single-stacks and compacts since they're a little harder to find when you need a set.

 

[rhino]

No luck on the straight back grips. I've got one grip so worn that the checkering is almost completely gone and I've held on to that one to experiment with stippling. It's not even in good enough condition to throw away. Seems like what I've held on to is single-stacks and compacts since they're a little harder to find when you need a set.

Thanks for checking!

 

[mcapo]

Here is something for the third gen collector that has everything....

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog...sed+Smith+&+Wesson+3566TSW+Performance+Center

 

[1775usmarine]

Would you happen to have a factory 5906 grip with the flat backstrap that you no longer want?

I'll check too. I may have one that is kinda worn, and a few others too not sure if straight or curved. I prefer the straight back grips myself.



I'll also be sending my 4506 barrels and slide to AllenM so he can work his magic. Will post before and after when I get it back.


Kaveman I think you were wanting one of my 5946's in the past. If I had known you had several 39-2's I would have made a straight trade, as well as going mag for mag up to 4 mags.

 

[1775usmarine]

Here's a pic of my 659View attachment 54386

She's a beaut.

 

[1775usmarine]

Here is something for the third gen collector that has everything....

https://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog...sed+Smith+&+Wesson+3566TSW+Performance+Center

If I had the money and could see real pics I would probably splurge and get it.

 

[kscessnadriver]

For what it's worth, if anyone travels around quite a bit, a couple of the Gander Mountain's in the Detroit area had a number of those 6946's that were on their website. I work in Detroit and live in Indiana, so from time to time I stop in to check what they have in inventory. Some of the 6946's were beat, some of them just displayed normal holster wear that you would expect on a duty firearm.

I can't wait for my 3953TSW I picked up new to get to the FFL, it should be a good shooter.

 

[mcapo]

This round sure had the potential to be a popular option.

View attachment 54410

 

[Bigtanker]

Learn something new every day. I'd never heard about this round. Did a little research (not much) and it looks like a longer case 9mm but shorter than a .38 super. Anyone have any ballistics on it? And what nitch was it supposed to fill.

 

[mcapo]

Copied from: the Smith and Wesson forum.

Here's more from an article by Massad Ayoob :
the .356 TSW round that Smith & Wesson and distributor Lew Horton debuted in 1995. It failed at the time because it was sold as an IPSC combo and was unnecessarily hot for that application. However, with the Cor-Bon 124 grain jacketed hollowpoint at a true 1,450 feet per second, the .356 now equaled the best .357 SIG and .357 Magnum of identical ballistics!

The .356 TSW (formerly: "Team Smith & Wesson"; now, more wisely: "TacticalSmith & Wesson") has an advantage over the .357 SIG. The SIG is a bottleneck round, a .40 S&W casing necked down to 9mm. The .356 TSW is a straight 9mm casing (9X21.5, for those who like details) and, thus, more rounds can fit into a magazine.

The only 16-shot .357 SIG is the Glock 31. It can reach full capacity using .40 caliber mags, but your customer must find grandfathered Glock 22 (.40 caliber) hi-cap magazines, which were only made for five years before the "no more than 10-round" ban. With the .356 TSW, your customer has ready and affordable access to millions of Smith & Wesson 9mm magazines made for a quarter century. They are still legal and will work fine with the TSW round.

The .356 TSW didn't sell the first time around because it wasn't marketed to where it had the most potential. Smith & Wesson won't make the same mistake twice. Mate this gun with 124 grain Cor-Bon hollowpoints, and you've got a winner. Pete Pi at Cor-Bon tells me he hasn't produced the round in years, but the last fresh stocks are available to you from one distributor who had faith and stocked up.

View attachment 54412

 

[1775usmarine]

Rhino I looked and all I have are 3 curved grips.

 

[rhino]

Rhino I looked and all I have are 3 curved grips.

Thanks for checking!