OK, I'm new to S & W firearms and the S & W forums as well. I'm interested in the purchase of a what appears to be a pristine Model 59 pistol. Serial A376xxx. The seller let me shoot it today. The first ammo I shot was new Blazer Brass 115 grain FMJ. Every 2nd. or 3rd. round would not extract and jam the action. It was a bit indiscriminate but would almost always have an issue with failure to extract. I put maybe 30 rds. thru it with quite a bit of frustration. OK, next up.New American Eagle 115 grain FMJ ammo was used. Perhaps 25 rds. shot without a single failure. The pistol ran wonderful. It uses 13 or 14 rd. mags. The mags are original S & W mags. The firearm and mags are clean. So, I guess the gun hates Blazer Brass ammo. Yes? Whatta ya think guys?

When you say a failure to extract, do you mean that the slide caught the case before it was out of the gun? Or do you mean the case stuck in the barrel. If it failed to eject as the former situation, I would think that the load itself was light. Especially since the second load worked fine. Forget the Blazer, buy the M59

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OK, the spent case only partially extracted from the barrel. Thereby causing the next round to hang up. The slide retracted only partially as well. Your last sentence was only partial. Forget the Blazer, buy the M-59.......... Thanks for your comment.

As I recall, the early 59's had some extraction problems. Smith provided a free upgrade (and may still??) which included a different extractor and magazine followers. The upgraded extractor had a single center punch mark on the front face of the extractor. If yours doesn't have the punch mark, it hasn't been done. I sent several back to Smith many years ago. Check for the punch mark and if the pistol gets along with different ammo, shoot that. If Smith is still doing the free upgrades and yours hasn't been done, I would consider it. The 59 is a nice gun.

I'll check for the punch mark. Is the extractor difficult to replace? Is it a gunsmith or Smith and Wesson only fix?? The pistols serial shows it as having a 1977 born on date. Is that considered early manufacture? For now I think that I will switch ammo brands and evaluate further. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my questions. LS

You are most likely also dealing with a nearly 40 year old recoil spring. I would make that $2 investment then evaluate further.

Smith & Wesson Recoil Spring S&W 5903TSW 5906TSW 5943TSW 39 3904 3906

Good advice on the spring. It's on it's way. Thanks. LS

Sorry, I forgot to add the period.

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I have new old stock punched extractors for the 59.

To remove/ replace the extractor you need to drive the pivot pin down from the top of the slide the hole is tapered, larger on the bottom. after replacing the extractor driving the pin home from the bottom, the existing pin hole needs to be punched to prevent the pin from working out. this can be accomplished by using a nail set with about a 1/8" end that has been rounded over (ball shaped) to close the pin hole slightly. S&W had a problem with the early 59's, they couldn't drill the tapered hole accurately, some times it would be forward a bit some times back a bit. so 3 different extractors were made a #1 a #3 and the standard #2 this took care of tight gage loose gage and correct gage on the extractor hook to breach face.
Paul

MMMMMMMM Shot Blazer bad. Shot American eagle good.
Sounds like it is fussy about ammo.
This has never been an uncommon occurrence with 1st Gen Smith 9s.
Just keep shooting what it likes and you will be happy.

OK, so how do I obtain a punched extractor from you if possible? I have no problem with replacing it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Extractor replacement is not a DIY job unless you are a qualified gunsmith. It requires fitting and use of a force gauge.
Probably doesnt need to be replaced if it runs good with one ammo and not another.
Try not to overthink this.
Jim

When in proper tune, this hand gun should process any 9MM you could find laying around on the ground!

Any gun should, but all did not. The 1st Gen Smith 9s are a good example of this. ISP experienced about a 12% malfunction rate. In a few of my own 1st Gen Smith 9s i experienced problems. In one of my 59s I did the whole spring extractor thing and still had FTEs. Guess what, when I went to hotter loads, the problems disappeared. The others were also ammo related. That is just the way it is with the early ones. It wasnt until 3rd Gen guns hit the streets that reliability improved dramatically.
Jim

I own 2 Model 59 pistols;one is NIB and the other is LNIB.

I shoot the LNIB every so often.It shoots whichever ammo I put in including Perfecta 115gr,Fed Aluminum 115,Am Eagle 124gr,Browning 147gr and Speer Lawman 147gr.I've also fired some subsonic without issue.

It has the original recoil spring and extractor.It's serial is A62532x.The NIB one is also an A62xxxx.

I keep the original 14rd mags wrapped in the S&W wax paper they shipped in and used Mec-Gar 15rd mags for my range sessions.

If you own a double stack pistol you should buy an UpLula Magazine Loader/Unloader.I use it to load 5,10 and the full 15rds into the 15rd mags.

The Model 5904 is also a nice gun to own.

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I have a 59 it is like NIB one shot and nothing. I need a gunsmith

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OK, I replaced the springs, the extractor, cleaned it all up and now this pistol will eat anything with zero drama. Thank you gentlemen, you have saved another one!

Good to hear it worked out. The model 59 was (and is) a mediocre pistol at best. It was considered S&W's "wonder nine" at the time. I bought one and wondered why I did.

It groups well at 30 yds. I shot 20 rds. of Blazer Brass and 20 rds. of Am. Eagle thru it w/o any issues whatsoever. I 'spose it was it's time for an update/tuneup/cleanup. The pistol and I are both happy a'gin. Happiness is a warm gun! Many thanks gentlemen. LS