I carried a 3953 for many years. I consider it to be one of the finest auto pistols Smith made for carry. It has a "fast action" meaning the hammer is already half cocked when you start to pull the trigger. The early forged parts guns have better trigger pulls than the early MIM guns. The later MIM guns are OK.

Forged parts are silver. MIM are black. Early 3953's have a serial number that starts with T and don't have the later, more open ejector port. They seem to work fine.

I wish I had kept a 3953 as they have dried up. The only bad things about them are no parts and the mags are getting harder to find. They are good guns though.