When I came on in 1986 everyone was issued and/or had personally owned S&W revolvers, except for SWAT which had the 459. In 1988, S&W autos were authorized, and I bought a 645. Our first issue ammo was Remington 185 gr JHP... some lots had inconsistent rim dimensions and caused malfunctions. A couple years later the Federal 230 HS was issued - the original bullet shape was a truncated cone and did not feed consistently. Federal later changed the bullet to a roundnose HS and it fed fine.

I carried the 645 for 5 years, and the large size and big bore was intimidating and got a lot of respect from offenders arrested at gunpoint. The slide was relatively light like the 1911, and so if the recoil spring wasn't changed every 1500 rounds functioning became spotty. Looking for something more compact for concealed carry, I acquired a 4516. That gun never was reliable, all kinds of malfunctions. The armorers, gunsmiths and S&W couldn't make it work, even with three changes to the magazines. Finally the factory came out with the 4516-1, and they replaced my slide with the 4516-1 version. The -1 was subststantially heavier and thicker, which sort of negated the purpose of a compact pistol in the first place.

When the 4506 was introduced, S&W made the slides thicker and heavier than the 645. The 4506 was completely reliable, but it was a bigger and heavier gun than the 645, which was already at the edge of viabilty for concealed everyday work. When the factory came up with their version of the SIG decocker-only, they applied it to the 4506 line. The 4586 - 4" barrel decocker-only - became a favorite of mine and replaced the 645 for awhile. One I had which I wish I hadn't sold was the rare 4505 - all blued carbon steel.

With age and experience, my desire to pack heavy iron all day every day waned, and the SIG P220 replaced the 645 for me. The SIG was more accurate and lighter, although the recoil was heavier. But I also didn't care for the poor durabilty of some of its small stamped steel parts. When the .40 polyguns arrived and became authorized, I made the switch and never looked back: lighter, more rounds, more compact and plenty of ballistics for a pistol.