I heard from a nice fellow (who would know) that the West Virginia State Police have decided to stay with the 3rd generation 4566. I have not confirmed it yet from a second source but this fellow is reliable so I thought I'd share the good news.

They evaluated the Glock and Glock submitted an attractive offer.

Then S&W came in with the free M&P's deal in exchange for your 4566's - and were politely told "no thanks!".

He told me "S&W then pulled out the stops and worked a deal to keep the contract" and agreed "to continue making 4566's for the agency from the Houlton ME plant."

Hopefully some of the overuns will be available to the public.

Locally there are two agencies who have also remained with the 4566 and allow other S&W metal framed 45's to be used as well. I passed this onto their firearms guys. If they garner more info I'll post it here.

With LAPD currently running a course for those officers trained on Glocks to transition to S&W 3rd gen 45's, it would appear that S&W could probably benefit financially from a run of 4566's. I won't hold my breath.

I know I'll be retiring - in twelve more years - and on my last day there will be a 4566 in my holster. Reliable, accurate, durable, with a great trigger - and looks good doing all that! Regards 18DAI.

Makes perfect sense for them to stick with their 4566's. As the expression goes; if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I could see Smith & Wesson making a run of stainless .45's but if they do I bet they will put the overruns in their vault and leave them there for a long long time.

If I am not mistaken Fresno County Sheriff (California) switched from the 4506 to 4566 in the last couple of years. I just purchased a 4566 from an LAPD motor officer who went to a 1911. My agency still allows use of 4506, 4566.

It gets better. These 4566TSW's are supposedly going to be new integral rail and Melonite finish! Regards 18DAI.

WOW!! Best news I have heard from S&W in a very long time . Keep us posted and pray for over runs !!!!!

Wow, a State Police Agency with some intelligence and smart enough to not give in to the Combat Tupperware craze. As far as the integeral rail, melonite finish......I want, I want, I want.

I was told that S&W will make the newest full-size 4566/4006TSW's with either the riveted or integral frame rail, depending on LE customer desire.

Now, if the CHP keeps their 4006TSW's as long as they kept their original 4006's (20 years), S&W will be likely be making some occasional additional guns (and have to keep ordering some spare parts from vendors) for a while. Considering the heavy usage and testing the CHP uses in its selection of pistols, they might not be willing to change quickly. (We were told they were originally in negotiations with S&W to make a special Scandium aluminum framed 4003TSW for CHP consideration, when they were first preparing to replace their aging 4006's, but the agency eventually decided that since their original all-steel guns lasted so well under heavy use, they weren't particularly eager to change frame materials.)

Considering the state budget situation, I'd be a bit surprised if the agency were to adopt the M&P (or the Glock, etc) to replace the all-steel TDA guns, since adoption of a new platform ... even if S&W provided new M&P's and leather at their expense, in trade ... would likely require overtime money for transition training and a lot of extra ammunition. Dunno. Just thinking out loud, so to speak.

I have heard from a couple of factory folks that they have some existing 3rd LE customers who may not be willing to abandon the 3rd gen platform either easily, or quickly.

It would seem likely to help matters (for the 3rd gen aficionados) if LAPD started to generate some demand for the 4566's.

The Houlton plant ought to be able to keep up with any new orders as time passes, especially since they received some new CNC equipment and upgrades when the 3rd gen production was shifted there. Of course, the SW1911 line, Walther .380/.32 and S&W .22's are being made there, too.

FWIW, knowing of a handful of the riveted rails which suffered breakage on service guns, I'd think the integral machined frame rail was a long overdue improvement.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

It gets better. These 4566TSW's are supposedly going to be new integral rail and Melonite finish! Regards 18DAI.

AHAA! That's what the melonite pistol is in the center!

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N.R.A. BENEFACTOR Member

How does the melonite finish hold up to constant holster use?

Palm, did you take this pic? If you did shame on you for not picking either of those two up and getting some nice shots so I can add to my screen saver collection!

Here's that group buy opportunity. Somebody (more skilled than I) get a petition/signup sheet together and we'll get it off to S&W.

Not something I mentioned in my reply, but the black one next to the railed SW1911 does appear to be a .45, based upon the tall & short rear sight base.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

You're right, I copied the wrong quote. The post has been edited. Thanks.

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N.R.A. BENEFACTOR Member

For what it is worth, the Melonite© finish on my less than one year old M&P 45 has held up poorly.

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

I have a 4566 that I purchased new in 1996 and carried on duty until 2003 when my dept transitioned to Glock. I really do not have a need for the 4566 any longer as it just sits in my safe..I has been very well maintained. What kind of resale does this 4566 have along with the 6 factory mags??

An extreme amount of drooling going on here.

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M&P .40, M&P 9c & Shield 45

An extreme amount of drooling going on here.

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M&P .40, M&P 9c & Shield 45

Thank you for answering my question. I have to say, for me, S&W 3rd gens do not look "right" in anything other than stainless steel. JMHO.

It's about time a major LE Agency has seen the light! S&W I hope they return to offering the 4566 or 4506 to the public also! I know as a Police Officer I'll stand in line to get one!

Nice, I'd snap one of those up in a heartbeat!

Good to hear, I agree it's nice to see good ole fashioned steel 45's in the holster of police. As for a civvie version, I'd have to sell something to get one but I would!

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Sie vis pacem parabellum

It is on my 108309 1911 that I carry at work....no wear at all with LOTS of holstering and re-holstering...(wok related and bathroom)

I just left the local Cop shop. They are a S&W distributor now.

I told them to: A) See if they can get confirmation that new Melonite 4566TSW's exist. If so....
B) Get me a quote on one with no rail and no holes in the dustcover. And without the "tactical" banner on the slide.

I'll let y'all know what they tell me.

FWIW the melonite finish on my special order 4566 has held up pretty well. It wore slightly on the edges of the muzzle and more on the decocker paddles and slide stop. Not bad though IMO. Regards 18DAI

Melonite is a Salt™ Bath Nitriding System (Nitrocarburizing Process), and while it can be done to stainless steel, it must be done right in order to prevent oxidation forming on the treated surface layers and compromising the inherent corrosion resistance properties of stainless.

S&W has reportedly had some batches of guns which experienced some rusting issues and were addressed under warranty.

It's been used for some S&W guns for some time, such as on the 5906 Militar, SW99's, some occasional special runs (4566's), SW1911's, etc ... and now the M&P pistols series.

I carried an issued SW9940 for a few years without any finish issues being experienced (carried in a Kydex plainclothes holster), and I never noted any obvious finish issues arise in some of the other SW99's in-service during that time. My personally-owned SW9940 and SW999c have likewise exhibited no finish issues.

Neither have my pair of M&P's (although the first one only goes back to early '08 production). Those M&P's see a fair amount of range use at an outdoor range, including in wet weather, and their finish has stood up pretty well. I have a plastic holster for one and both plastic & leather for the other. FWIW, I actually leave them stored in their holsters, which is a bad habit left over from my uniform days when I hung up my gunbelt in my locker at the end of a shift (if I wasn't carrying it home.) Of course, I carried a stainless 66 and later a 686 before the 3rd gen guns came out, instead of a blued gun like some of the older guys.

I still like to check and wipe down my pistols, even the stainless ones and those which have received some sort of nitrocarburizing on their slides & barrels.

Then again, I'm probably not as fussy about gun finishes as some other owners & users, too, having carried a lot of them for work and off-duty.

They're better than the blued ones when it comes to wear, though.

I think if I order one of the new Enhanced SW1911's I'll probably go for one without Melonite processing. Personally, I miss a plain stainless finish with all of the various black "tactical" finishes filling the market nowadays ...

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Let us know what you find out. I'll try to remember to ask the region LE rep next time he stops by and I'm there.

I haven't spoken to anyone about the TSW line since they moved their production to Maine (other than ordering some various parts).

BTW, the manual safety and slide stop lever assemblies don't receive the Melonite treatment, but just a "plain" black finish. I've sometimes ordered those parts in plain stainless finish instead of black finish.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Hmmmm, keep building and selling things people want to buy. What a novel idea.

Maybe the fact that my agency buys a few hundred, if not thousand, 5946s each year will help keep this trend going.

We need to get a distributor (Lew Horton, RSR, etc) to get in on a batch of these for us!

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NRA Certified Instructor

Or just take over S&W

I love the 4566 as much as the next guy, but could I PLEASE get a 4506 with an integral rail and checkered front strap..... I mean is that asking too much?

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

Yeah, I'd like to know about this new run also.

Until I can get one, though, I guess I'll have to be "satisfied" with my merely Plain-Jane 4566, an L.E. trade-in gun. My FFL grabbed it for me some years back when CDNN had them:



Once I cleaned it up and shot it a while, I decided to get it hard-chromed. The internals were in great shape, as were the tritium low-light sights, but the slide & frame had a few scratches as well as some holster wear.

Has none of the TSW stuff, nor a light rail, but it'll do what I need it to do, plus it looks NIB:

Who did the work? How much? How long ago?

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I miss my 4546 the most.

LOL...I am going to be barely able to scrounge up funds to get just one of my wishlist "Lew Horton Limited Edition 4566TSW"

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NRA Certified Instructor

Thanks, but I like my 4566 plain--S/S, no Mel; no rail, no "Tactical" on the slide. Like I'm gonna hold it up to some BG and say, "Do you want to mess with this?" with my finger pointing to the engraving.

What the heck...I emailed Lew Horton's. I figured it can't hurt.

As for the roll markings I couldn't care less if it said "Lew Horton Tactical Old School" or even something stupid like "Spec Ops." Hopefully the BG won't be close enough to read it

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NRA Certified Instructor

18DAI, you're information is quite correct. WVSP won't be going away from the 4566 at least until Col. T. S. Pack retires. From a conversation I had with him last year he regards the 4566 as the finest pistol he's ever used. ( I didn't and won't disagree with his statement) They flirted around with Glock 21's (which is what the WV DNR is using) and M&P 45's a few years ago but decided to stick with the 4566's.

Sorry I got back late on this thread. Sent it in to Virgil Tripp @ Tripp Research. His business was hard-chrome work, but he also sells 1911 mags for 10mms & .45s and offers pistolsmithing services.

This was about 3-yrs ago. If I recall correctly, it was $300 or so for the whole gun. They'll also do just the slide or frame.

J.W.

I'm in Ashland across the river from Huntington. My Dad recently moved and in his neighborhood I've already spotted three troopers by the cars in the driveways, hope to meet them soon. Can you tell me, besides the 4566, what firearms are currently used/authorized by WVSP? Thanks!

Good old Armalloy still does hard chroming, and they do it very well. You might check their prices, google them.


Cat

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Think for yourself.

It's always nice to hear when metal beats plastic.

I wish it happened more often, though.

S&W 4566/4506 family of pistols should still be in the catalog, alot of Police and Civilians alike prefer steel to plastic! I say again I hope S&W personnel read these posts and take note!

http://www.trippresearch.com/objects/chrome.html

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I miss my 4546 the most.

He didn't move into Putnam Co did he? You can't throw a rock there without hitting a trooper!


In addition to the 4566 w/ Streamlight M3, WVSP also issues a Reminton 870 and S&W M&P 15 to each trooper. For uniformed duty you have no choice but the issued sidearm. However, pretty much anything you can qualify with, .380 or larger is approved as a secondary. For non-uniformed duty (like the plain clothes BCI guys) or special details not requiring a duty belt you can carry your secondary.

Thanks for the confirmation J.W.!!

Do you happen to know whether the new 4566TSW's will be the melonite/integral rail variants?

Col Pack seems to be a "gunny" who knows a thing or two! Regards 18DAI.

That I do not know. I haven't talked to anyone "in the know" in a few months. Next time I do, I'll try to remember to as though.

Could be a good recruitment tool with all of the budget cuts going on:

"We can't pay you much, but we do offer the 4566 as your duty weapon."

Nah, still in Cabell Co.

Thats interesting on the off duties, figured there would be more restrictions. KSP (KY) has the Glock 35 and 27 and thats all for sidearms. They also get an AR and 870 like WVSP.

Ouch, thats no good. I like Glocks, but the sub-compacts don't fit me well at all and the 35 is obviously too big for concealment. Not approving the 23 for detectives and off duty is just plain stupid. Although I'd like to be able to select my own duty weapon I can understand the point behind standardization. Having such a restrictive off duty policy is goofy though.

WVSP is far from perfect, but they have a pretty good firearms policy.

Let me know what you find out, I would be interested in getting one with or without the rail! Man I love the 4506/4566 series of pistols!

I'll cross my fingers.......but am not ready to hold my breath yet at the prospects of new runs of civilian-available 3rd generation 4566's and/or 4506's.....but would definitely buy one......or more.
Does anybody have any idea what these guns would sell for today ???
I'm thinking they would have msrp's well over $800. Just look at the prices of all steel 1911's. I think that's one of the major decision issues for S&W. They probably know there's a ton of folks that love the 3rg gen. autos (I'm a huge 2nd gen. model 645 fan myself)....but they also are leery of a market for $800 ++ handguns given the competition. Not trying to pee on the parade here....I'm a fan, and would buy....but just a thought about some business reality.

Steven B.

I personally would be up for a melonite 4566 with the integral rail, especially if it had the bobed hammer like the WVSP model.