Originally Posted by S&W59

My most recent pawnshop crawl yielded and unexpected discovery; a model 459. The pistol had a rough life and was evident in the condition and some small parts missing. Its of a condition that even if I could negotiate it to $300 out the door, it wouldn't be worth it.

Upon close examination, I did notice some things that put me in the mind that this was S&W's first budget-minded automatic. Aside from the aluminum frame, there seemed to be shortcuts on the finish and parts. I don't believe the pistol had ambidextrous safety levers and it didn't have the deep blue on the slide. I've seen examples of the 459 where the right-side safety lever was a smooth plug. Most of the time when they have a materials difference, the rest of the pistol's quality is the same, aka. 559, 659. But the 459 looks like they took a couple shortcuts to save manufacturing costs. Am I incorrect? Was this their first lower-end semi-auto or is the 915 still the holder of being first?