Today I picked up a new to me, but far from new 1978 vintage Model 59. She is well used, but the action felt reasonably smooth and tight, with a little wiggle between the slide and frame. For the low, low price of two unwanted guns traded, it was worth taking home. This is not my first classic S&W semi-auto, having owned a 39-2 and a 5906 previously, and I am fairly familiar with them inside and out. The one thing that strikes me as odd is the coloring of the slide. As can be seen in the photos below, the frame is anodized black, and the slide looks almost like bare steel, however there is a small amount of bluing color left, as any holster wear spot shows brightly as opposed to the rest of the slide that has a very faint dark hue. What I am curious about is what causes the bluing to fade like this? I have other S&W guns of the same age, that don't show this level of fading, so there must be another factor rather than just age. I don't see any sign of an attempted refinish, nor abuse with steel wool, so that does not look like a reason either. Also, there does not seem to be any sign or corrosion, so I believe there is some finish left that is protecting the steel.

On inside of the gun one can truly see its age. The aluminum frame shows wear through the anodizing along the rails with only one spot of concern to me: The tops of the front rails are worn in deeper, and each has a couple of burrs where the wear marks end towards the rear of the rails. Would my analysis be correct that this is caused by the unlocking of the barrel from the slide under recoil? I feel no hanging up in the action, in fact it is as smooth as any other S&W semi-auto I have owned. On the subject of frame wear, is there a hard limit to how many rounds a 59 frame will take before failure? To try to slow the wear from my use, I keep most of my firearms a bit more wet with oil than most folks would, however my guns are strictly range guns, seeing mostly clean indoor environments, as well as being subjected to regular comprehensive cleaning and lubrication.

One other observation: The magazine that came with the gun, a non S&W brand 10-round mag (no markings on it so I don't know who made it), shows a wear spot just behind the cutout for the slide catch notch as if the slide rides against it under recoil. Has anyone seen this before? Personally, I have not on any other gun S&W or otherwise.

The bottom line on this gun is, despite not being the best looking gun in my collection, she is at least a damn fine shooter. I did make a poor choice in ammo for my afternoon range trip, leading to some feeding issues, however otherwise all in all, she is a great old gun.




Here she is, Cleaned up for a second time today, once before the range, and once after mostly to look for any signs of trouble. I have a thing for old well loved guns and this one certainly fits the bill:





As I said, she shoots nicely. My grouping was fairly tight, granted this was at around 10 yards. The stragglers below my target area and to the right should not reflect on the gun's performance, but rather mine. Having shot striker fired guns almost exclusively over the last couple months, I found myself anticipating the break a little sooner, thus throwing me off a bit. Generally, she performed well.





I even scored a free holster for her. It is not original to the gun, but is an old DeSantis 5900 series holster, lightly used, but broken in prefectly.

Looks to be in decent shape to me. Had one back around 78-79 and it fed most ammo reliably. Paid around $170 for it new back then. I did enjoy my 39-2 a bit more due to the more slender grip for informal target to tell the truth. Hope yours gives you years of trouble free service.

Had a new 59 back in the 70s. Missed it enough to pick up a 6904 a few weeks ago. I think you will like that 59. It's a great gun. Enjoy.

Those are nice. . .the M39 and then the M59. Real classics. Smith took their lead from the old WWII P-38 and came up with a pretty good gun.

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Dr. B

Not going to lie here, I agree with you on the 39-2, mine was maybe 80% condition with the factory box and paperwork, and was a complete joy. I traded it away for something I wanted more, but not a day goes by that I don't regret letting it go. The desire to have another S&W classic semi-auto resulted in the purchase of a 5906, that despite looking near new was a poor shooter, which I attribute to a poor fit between the barrel and bushing, not to mention the grip being a bit too big for my hands. The 59 by contrast feels much better in my hands, not quite as good as the 39-2 did, however close, and a lot better parts fit than the 5906.

I will have a 39 again, the factor is cost however. The last 39 I had cost $300, now the only others I have found locally are selling for $500+ in lesser condition and without boxes and paperwork.

Know what you're saying. These models do not come cheap these days. I paid $125 for my 39-2 back in 1974. Quite hard to find Third Gens out my way. Saw one minty one last year for $650. Jumped on a CS-9 when they came out and not lettin this one get away! Sure seems to me more folks holdin onto the vintage stuff these days even rifles and shotguns as it seems not much to move up to these days unless one has very deep pockets.

Living 20 minutes from the mothership has its advantages I guess, the local market here in CT has a ton of S&W firearms. Vintage revolvers are getting a little harder to find, but the first thru third generation semi-autos are fairly prevalent. The shop from whom I bought the 59 has a second 59 without a mag, two 39s, one with stag horn grips, a 469, and nearly a dozen police trade-in 5906s without mags, in addition to a few compact DAOs that I can't recall the model numbers of. The 45s are also getting harder to find locally, but they do pop up every once and a while, usually when I lack the funding to take them home.

I forgot to add that another shop I visit occasionally has some of the best vintage S&W guns I have found for sale, though the prices are well beyond reasonable at this particular place. This shop is where you want to go to trade in a couple guns toward another, I often receive more than fair trade credit there, but buying a gun outright usually costs quite a bit more than any other local dealer. I will say though, nowhere else have I ever laid eyes on a Model 52, and they had two the last time I stopped in. Again, the prices on them are way out of my reach, and I'm not sure I want a semi-auto that I would need to load 38 special WCs for anyway... They do have the occasional good deal though, I grabbed a late 80s 4" 422 for about $200 from them last year(ended up not being one of my favorites though), and my beloved 28-2 came from them as well.