Please tell Bert that the guys in the forum would LOVE if S&W packed the house with a slew of guys that used to be around when all of these guns were in their heyday. Seems all we see out of the Mothership these days are plastic guns, cheap rimfire pistols that haven't been beta-tested and squirrely revolvers that spend more time in warranty service than they ever did being built.

As for the jargon and the terms... the current trading market is what it is, for better or worse. I have two different 3906 pistols, one with the early style pre-Novak fixed rear sight and one with a Novak night sight, including the machined ledge at the rear of the slide. Beyond simply the rear sights, these two slides appear about as different as two stainless, full size S&W 9mm slides could be, you would almost wish to call one or both of them "transitional" but that would sure be a reach since RSR never had any and there were no 639's with a Delrin one-piece grip that I've seen. I have heard of the 'AIP' pistols but never seen one, information seems nearly as rare as the guns themselves.

Hmmm, to be honest, besides a single pair of grip panels which attach view screw, the removable barrel bushing, all the ergonomic cuts and shaping done to improve the handling characteristics of the handgun... (none of which my 3906's and the subject gun in this thread HAVE), I'm at a loss to figure exactly what these "2nd Gen" and "transitional" features are that we are discussing.

Is all of this sour discussion based on the old style trigger guard?

Does this mean that both my 3906's are transitionals? Each has an 80's style hooked trigger guard, but remember that the lettering on the slides simply couldn't be more different.

For better or for worse, the terminology evolves. This conversation has gotten for more personal than it ever needed to be, the entire idea has been to SHARE thoughts and perspective, nothing more.