Things may have changed and a definite specification may now have been established for what is referred to as "Hood clearance". This is the distance between the end of the barrel hood and the breech face, and is the only place this can be directly measured. Even if there is a specified clearance now I doubt it is far from what I was told in 1974.
This was directly from Eddie Mitchell who was at that time the "Automatic Foreman" at S&W. This position is really a department manager and closer to what most companies would refer to as a "Vice President". He was the man directly responsible for all automatic pistol production at S&W at that time. The only models then manufactured were the Models 39, 59 and 41/46.
A little background. My department issued Model 39s at the time, and I was Department Armorer. We were experiencing severe battering of locking lugs on many of our Model 39s which would eventually cause the slide to lock somewhere between fully open and fully closed and locked. It was so severe the gun had to, literally, be beat apart and both the barrel and slide replaced. NOTE: This was not a result of any defect in the pistol.
While at S&W that year, working for two weeks in production/range repair as they didn't have an Armorer's School for Automatics at the time, I asked Mr. Mitchell just this same question, but as it related to the battering we were experiencing.
Question: What is the specification for hood clearance for the Model 39?
Answer: There really is no specification, but we don't like it to exceed .004".
So, if your S&W pistol has hood clearance, which directly corresponds to locking lug clearance, exceeding .004", it is time for this to be addressed for longevity of the pistol, completely disregarding its effect on accuracy.
NOTE: When barrels & slides were fit to stay within the maximum .004" clearance indicated by Mr. Mitchell we had no more cases of locking lug battering!
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