I picked up one today, and am very happy with it. Mine has the same marks on the exterior of the barrel as in the photos skjos posted. It has the tightest frame to slide fit of any of my S&W 3rd gen pistols, including my 5906TSW and 4566TSW. The pistol was relatively clean when it arrived (it appears to have been fired very little). I disassembled and lubricated it, then took it out to the range to testfire. The last round out of the first two magazines I fired failed to chamber (180 grain Federal aluminum case ammo that has worked flawlessly in my California State Parks 4006), but the problem did not recur after that. I fired 48 rounds of the aluminum ammo (the two rounds that didn't feed had the bullets pushed back into the case, so I discarded them), and 20 rounds of Federal 165 grain HST. It is a very accurate pistol, and I look forward to shooting it more. Does anyone know the significance of the marks on the magazine follower made with a red marker?