I'll admit to these being less-than-desirable images but I just acquired this a couple of days ago and haven't gotten to a complete teardown and clean, anyway, after which I'll subject them to far better photographic conditions.

In the meantime, I thought it'd be fun for folks to take a look and try to ascertain, based on available information, the nature of this firearm.

Yes, I do have the original box and label, but seeing you all twist in the wind is just such fun!



Three obvious, expected marks found on the right side: Frame, above trigger, "Performance Center" Logo; "LPA" on right side of adjustable sight; and, the ubiquitous Smith & Wesson marque and logo on the wrapped grip.



Three obvious, expected marks found on left side: Frame, beneath stop, serial number "PCZ0116"; on the slide, just above slide stop cutout; and, the ubiquitous Smith & Wesson marque and logo on the wrapped grip.

Later.

PPC9....... prototype??

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Stocking Dealer (SD), 9, 356TSW or 40?

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

AK 47 Automatic Assault Weapon

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

smith & wesson model 52

.38 master

do i win it?

please?!

What I was thinking PC .356 TSW

Well the lack of any safety or hammer spur indicates that this is a DAO semi. Then there is the finish, to my eye that appears to be a Stainless Steel pistol, not a nickel plated on. Finally the rounded trigger guard to me indicates that this is a 4th generation S&W. So I believe that what you have here is a model 5946 Target and was probably a Custom Shop special variant of the RCMP Service pistol with a longer barrel and slide.

BTW, the above was pretty much a guess assisted by some poking around the Net. About the only S&W I am at all familiar with is my Brother in Law's model 59 that this particular pistol would look a lot like if it were blued and had nearly invisible minuscule sights.

I think only special order guns came DAO from the Performance Center in the 5" barrel length, and since this has the PCZ prefix indicating a likely one-off gun, it must be that this was something unusual. The combination of barrel length, full size grip, uncommon magazine base, bobbed hammer, and LPA sight make for a really mysterious gun. Not knowing the caliber, it could be just about anything.

Must be a project by one of the Performance Center craftsmen using an assortment of parts into a model that, for whatever reason, the PC decided not to produce. I got nothin' as far as a guess what it is...

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

There is one marking that should be present that you didn't offer as info-- caliber marking on the barrel hood visible through ejection port in the slide.

I would guess that it says "9mm Performance" and the pistol looks just like the 5" PPC-9 that was built in two different variations. This one with the square muzzle (that does look similar to the Stocking Dealer guns) seems to be the rarer of the two.

I cannot solve the obvious DAO configuration however, and my only guess is that it was shipped as a typical PPC-9 and later made in to a DAO by the PC. The odd hammer and lack of any hammer block thumb safety certainly makes the argument that it is DAO configured... which I don't mind saying that I find simply ludicrous, more so if you are familiar with exactly the kind of amazing single action trigger break that PC guns tend to have.

Have you called S&W and inquiered about it?

He said he has the original box and label, so he has no need to call.

He's attempting to "school" us.

And the sooner the better, 'cause I for one am spending way too much time thinking about this...

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I keep coming back to this thread hoping to see the update too.

Come on DCW, show us the label or tell us!

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USS ZELLARS
DD-777

In all honesty, this forum has a great bunch of people who are deeply interested in things S&W.

The reason I didn't, or haven't yet trotted out the label is because I didn't wish to, um, prejudice anyone and force them into a direction that may not lead to a productive answer.

Even though I will produce the label today - by popular request (er, "demand?") - I nonetheless seek to be schooled more so than "school."

This 9mm is an odd pistol that has escaped an exacting iD since I started working it Friday.

Later.

Definitely an AK 47 as someone guessed earlier. That makes it an evil black rifle and we know that black lives matter.

Demand and ye shall receive.

Okay, here's a little closer look at the label and its associated firearm.

And this one's for scooter, who gave it more than a NTS (Not Too Shabby) one paragraph and gets this closer look (that I would need if not actually here next to me).

i'm beginning to wonder the same thing . . . and . . . If only I could be so lucky, eh?

Leave it for an SWSC Brother to think, well, about as far out of the box as is Neptune to Earth.

Quite frankly, I just might strongly consider a trade for such.

I actually already have a long and short 3566, or 356 or .356 TSW.

Hmmm. . . I'm already left wondering the quantity of names for this thing.

Not yet, inasmuch as it wasn't until late Friday that I was able to start work on it but I have a feeling that an S&W call might be in order.

Certainly, no less than something from S&W Historian and SWCA Chairman Roy Jinks!

Very nice 9MM WISCHO Limited

Do you know if it is one that was reimported to the US? Or a left over demo pistol that never made it to Germany?

Sevens, you're so good that it is spooky at times.

Yes, I did forget about the barrel hood. It indeed states "9mm Performance" but must be laser etched. Perhaps it's my own lack of knowledge about PC equipment and a laser etching is to be expected, but I darn sure ain't roll stamped.

It's not a DAO only. It must be racked into battery for the first shot to be squeezed - and it's slicker than snot on a wet dock when it, well, looses the hammer. Talkin' about "spooky." Wow.

Of course, when a round is discharged it's shortly afterward again in battery and just a slick, smooth trigger pull for a following round.

And, one of my thoughts, eventually borne by but before I even read the label, is that it was a stocking dealer item. However, I can't find anything about it in Leggs or similar stocking dealers. But the pictures are kinda cool.

Well, should it reach an obsession, then you definitely need to shut down the thoughts, vigil.

On the other hand, I need those thoughts!

I saw the "WISCHO Limited" but (revealing ignorance but happy to strike such from the "***?" list) have no clue.

Can you please help fill in that six-letter acronym blank?

Given your question, though, I've seen no obvious import marks unless the two little hash marks appearing just above the magazine release serves as such. There is absolutely nothing else in the traditional sense, like the near-ubiquitous "CAI."

How about it?

Well, it helps to search Ye Olde SWForum, huh?

I see now that it is, as you, yourownself once put it, Colt, "Germany's Lew Horton" and here I was thinking that they might be an "RSR." Geesh. What luck.

WISCHO is to Germany what Lew Horton was to the United States.

They are a big Smith and Wesson distributor that orders exclusive pistols from both the production floor and the Performance Center.

If the pistol was reimported to the US, the German proof marks should be on the frame. If there are no proof marks, it is a left over that never got shipped to Germany.

670040 is now included on the Performance Center list.

The Complete 3rd Gen PERFORMANCE CENTER Model List

I have a question...
On the box label down in the bottom right, next to the serial number, it says "used" and this makes me curious because I also have a S&W handgun with an original box and end label and it, too says "used" but the condition of the gun (revolver, in my case) argues otherwise.

Are we to assume that perhaps it was a demo or display piece for a trade show or a company rep traveling "look at this" gun, and this is how an end label is issued with the notation of "used" ?

I wondered the same and for the same reasons, sevens.

The original thought of mine was PCZ0116 had been discharged but the number of times, of course, was up in the air.

However, when I got down and dirty the residue on which I based my initial, visual opinion was unlike any I've ever encountered. It was a dense, dark black that was greasy as all get out.

It came clean but only after multiple discharges of Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber and corresponding applications of elbow grease.

PCZ0116's cosmetic condition was as if someone or "some-ones" treated it with reverence for absent are dings, scrapes or other undesirable markings one might expect. It is, as one is want to say with every gun passing through a collection, "pristine."

Later.

You know, I feel right honored in having provided a new model entry on your PC list, its expanse and the serious research that went into compiling it having been duly noted in earlier times.

Later.

Those are just two of the reasons that a firearm is considered to not be NEW.

There are many more. Some are only handled and remain unfired since leaving the factory while others actually are shot, for example, the firearms at the S&W Academy, then you have the Testing and Evaluation (T&E) guns that go out to the Press Corp or the ones loaned to Agencies during trials, not to mention all of the Agency/Departmental trade-ins. I am sure there are more reasons that I can not recall at the momemnt.

When any of these USED firearms leave Smith and Wesson the product code is changed. Instead of starting with a 1, the USED firearm starts with a 6. The remaining 5 digits are unchanged. This makes for easy identification between NEW and USED, also looking up a used firearm's configuration is very easy since you know the original SKU

Wow -- two new entries on the same day! This one and the 1006 Performance Center Classic Series described in the other thread. An embarrasment of S&W riches indeed!

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Ukraine -- now more than ever