I have seen 3913 3953 magazines that are Smith & Wesson marked. Others that are supposedly factory mags that are not marked on the magazine body or the base plate.

I have S&W 59xx series magazines that are maked with the S&W Logo or have it on the magazine baseplate. Does anyone have the lowdown on when Smith and Wesson marked or did not mark their magazines for the 3rd generation guns?

I have purchased magazines from respected websites that were listed as S&W factory mags, but the magazines are unmarked. No Logo no roll mark.

I have magazines from the 10 rd mag ban time frame that only have S&W listed on the Restricted warning banner.

Every 45xx magazine I have seen has had the S&W Logo. It seems more of the stainless mags have the logo and less of the blued mags?

What have you seen?

Can't speak for 45xx mags at all (a 59 series person) but I do agree that I have seen the S&W logo on more, and later, stainless mag bodies. Don't recall seeing a S&W logo on a blued mag body at all.

I don't recall seeing a S&W baseplate that wasn't marked Smith & Wesson, or S&W, though.

I just took delivery today of 2 S&W factory mags new still in the package that had S&W logo stamped in the mag body but no markings on baseplate....they are for my new to me 4516-2......

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Based on what i've observed personally, and this only applies to stainless mags, the stamping of the S&W logo on the lower side of the mag body occured during the 1994 AWB, starting about September, 1994 when magazines with a capacity greater than ten rounds were also stamped on the front with the law enforcement restriction and number. After the sunset of the AWB, the front stamping disappeared, but the side logo remained. All factory S&W baseplates, whether plastic or metal should have the S&W on them, although the plastic baseplates have it in the recess towards the front bottom, and it is very small. I have never seen a factory plastic baseplate without S&W in the recess. As far as the blued mags, I haven't seen enough to determine if the same applies. My observations are based soley on magazines I received with pistols I purchased new, or magazines purchased new during this time frame. I should also point out that this only seems to apply to higher than ten round (double stack) capacity magazines, as single stack magazines would not have been affected by the AWB, although for some reason it seems compact model (3913,3914) magazines were never marked in either place with the S&W logo, as well as the compact double stack (6904, 6906) baseplates.....

6904/6906 factory mags have never, to my knowledge, had the S&W logo on them. The baseplates have NO markings whatsoever. The only markings on the factory mag bodies is an "S" on one side, near the bottom. However, NOT all such mags have the "S" - I have several that have a dimple on both sides (where the "S" would be). Go figure.

I think that S&W was/ (is?) inconsistent on this - some mags had the logo, some didn't, depending on model. I find this disconcerting, as in the beginning I couldn't tell a factory 6906 mag from a non-factory (and I ONLY use factory mags). However, I've learned to tell them apart anyway, so now it is no problem.

grif684,

I have a 4006, with the original magazines from the early 90's. I have some from S&W this year, and from MidwayUSA this year. I'll pull them later this morning to lake a look. I'm curious now.

The only thing I had originally noticed was the 2 that came with the 4006 looked better because the stainless steel seemed to be a higher grade. Maybe it's just because they are polished to an almost mirror like state. The others look more like galvanized metal looks. (I am not saying they are galvanized, versus stainless steel.)

I pulled out my 4 mags for my 4006. All are lettered Smith & Wesson in the front of the baseplate. Where they vary is in the stampings in the stainless. 2 have small lettering for caliber and numbers. The other 2 have larger lettering and numbers. Both small lettered ones came with the gun from the original owner. Other 2 came from another owner. Front of the mag below the bulge and above the indent is marked with 1 strike in the case of both originals and 3 or 4 strikes in the case of the newer ones. There is also a difference in the follower colors. 1 and 4 strike ones are light yellow while 3 strike is a mustard yellow. All have the S&W rollmark of the same size.

After spending considerable time learning S&W magazinology, I can definitively say that they are consistent in their inconsistency. I have a variety of 9mm magazines in various sizes from CS9 to 59xx and while they are consistent within model series, they are different between sizes.

Unless otherwise noted, all magazines are stainless.

I also have a 457 and a stack of magazines. Except for the two that I have that are marked for 4516-1 only, all of them have the S&W logo marked on the lower right rear corner of the magazine, with "45 CAL" immediately above that. The two 4516-1 mags have neither the logo nor the caliber marking. All of them also have "Smith & Wesson" stamped in that depression in the floor plate.

On to the 9mm mags.

All of the CS9 magazines have "S" and "M" marked on the right lower rear corner. Some of them have the logo, and some don't. The ones with the logo have "9MM" above the logo. There are no markings on the floor plates.

3913,14,53,54. All have the "S" and "M" markings as above. Some have the logo, some don't. The ones with the logo have "9MM" above the logo. None have markings on the floor plate except the one that has a base plate from an early 3913 TSW (7 round) that got swapped on to it. That one has both the logo and the words "Smith & Wesson" on it. The one blue magazine I have has absolutely no markings on it and the only way I know that it's a genuine S&W magazine and not aftermarket is that the follower is the same as the the stainless ones and the body of the magazine is built the exact same way. After market magazines are constructed differently.

3904/06. I have a mix of 8 and 9 round magazines. The 8 round are marked "S" on the lower right corner. One 9 round is marked "S" and "2", the other two are marked "S" and "M". None have logos on the magazine, but all of them have the depression on the base plated and are marked "Smith & Wesson".

6904/06

I'll note that I'm very careful when I buy these because I live in a state that bans standard capacity magazines made after a completely arbitrary date in 1994. All of my magazines are "pre ban".

The stainless ones are marked with an "S" in the lower right corner. None of them have the logo and none of them have the depression and marking on the floor plate. The two blue ones have no markings at all, but other than that and the color are identical to the stainless ones.

5904/06

Same note regarding pre ban magazines as above.

My stainless magazines all have the "S" in the same location as above. Floor plates have the depression and wording as above. The blue magazine has no "S", but the depression and wording as above.

From all of that, I have drawn the following conclusions.

The "S" stands for stainless. I don't know what the "M" or "2" markings indicate.

Curved floor plates don't have the depression and wording, bug flat ones due since the 45 magazines, the 3904 magazines, and the 5904/06 magazines are flat while the CS9, 3913/14, and 6906 magazines have curved floor plates.

Early magazines have no S&W or caliber markings, while the later ones do. Date of manufacture doesn't matter to me for 10 or less round capacity magazines, which is why my lower capacity firearm magazines are mostly logoed while the higher capacity magazines are not. Higher than 10 round capacity magazines made after 1994 that have a logo would not be legal for me to own, hence I don't have any with the logo.

Note about Mec-Gar magazines. I have three 15 round Mec-Gars marked "MG-SW59-15". One is stainless, two are blue, all are marked identically. Except for the markings they appear identical in every respect to the S&W magazines. The floor plates even have the depression, but without the wording as described above. From a side by side comparison, I would have to say that Mec-Gar made the OEM magazines for S&W. I don't know that, but it sure seems likely.

As proof that I'm the worlds geekiest 3rd gen magazine geek, I post this photo.

This is MOST of my magazines, except for the ones that are loaded and inserted into firearms. None are currently for sale and in fact I'm going on a road trip next week to try to find more.

Yeah, I'm totally addicted to 3rd gen 9mm firearms.

FWIW, all 10 of my single stack 9mm magazines (for my 3913LS, 3953, and CS9) are unmarked as to logo on body or floor plate (both flat and finger rest). All have S over M on the latch cut side of the body towards the rear of the magazine.

Great recap grif684.

My 4006 has a born date of 1995, day 191.
The magazines that came with it have no "restriction and number" and no patent number.

I'm guessing that S&W used mag's mfg before the ban date.

The two 11 rounders I purchased this year have no restriction and number, but do have the "AccuGuide Pat. 5014456" on it.
The two 10 rounders from this year have the same patent number, and, of course, no restriction number.

The orginal mags have yellow followers. The newer ones have blue followers.

All base plates, and everything else, are as you described.

Thank you. I appreciate the info.I need to print out this thread and carry it with me to gunshows.

I have 11 8-round magazines for my 908. All are stainless, with the curved floorplate. Only one has the 'S&W 9mm' stamping on it. They were all acquired before 2005.

I was at Kittery Trading Post earlier today looking for magazines. They take a lot of trade ins and for some reason all the extra magazines go into a large bin. I go a few times a year and just dig through the bin looking for 3rd generation magazines. Usually that takes me 30-45 minutes because the bins are so full.

Not today. The bins were almost empty and I was done in 10 minutes. I found one 12 round 69 series magazine, clearly pre ban.

I also found, but wasn't interested in, several .40 3rd generation magazines. They all had bright blue followers, were 11 round capacity, and had the S&W logo and the caliber marking on them. They were not marked for LE use only, so I don't know if they were made before the ban or after, but they weren't made during.

There were also some aftermarket magazines and some new, maybe M&P magazines marked "Made in Italy", but with the Smith & Wesson wording in that depression in the floor plate. I've never seen "Made in Italy" on a S&W magazine before and thought it was intersting.

6 of my stainless 469/6906 mags have a s on
lower right corner. One black mag has dipples on both
sides. Still have one in S W package.