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  #1  
Old 06-20-2017, 12:31 AM
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Default 4040PD

Thinking about buying one that's available...

I know .40S&W is on the outs, but I seriously doubt it'll be gone within my lifetime. The 4040PD seems like a neat concept that was flat out beat by the G27 and other plastic subcompacts.

Can you actually obtain anything for these? Magazines, holsters, parts, etc?
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Old 06-20-2017, 01:04 AM
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A 4040PD is a great gun, I have one, but rarely shoot it. The frame and slide are the same dimensions as the 3913/3914 lady smith and NL semi autos. Magazines are non existent and the finish shows handling marks and edgewear very easily. I bought 4 curved baseplate mags at an old gun store in original packaging years ago and haven't seen a reasonbly priced mag since. They have two ball bearings and different feed lips so 4013 single stack mags do not work IIRC.

For these reasons along with limited parts availability, mine rarely comes out to play and never gets carried. I'd rather shoot and carry my well used CS40. If you are adding to a collection of semi's its a must buy, and one day probably will be extremely valuable. You may want to think twice if you are going to carry and shoot it a lot. (By a lot I mean thousands of rounds)

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Old 06-20-2017, 10:20 AM
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I purchased a BNIB 4040 when they first came out and was disappointed when after only firing 100 rounds or so, the frame started to peen where the barrel mated with the frame. I saw the handwriting on the wall and dumped it quickly. IMHO: I suspect that S&W shoe horned the 40 cal cartridge into the 9mm platform not fully testing the pistol for longevity. I also suspect that the 4040 did not stay around long because of this??
It was a great concept and idea, but not well designed. Maybe if the original design had been beefed up a bit, it would of been around longer?
Just my opinions, I could be wrong?
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Old 06-20-2017, 10:35 AM
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Magazines? Try Brownells.
SMITH & WESSON MAGAZINE, CURVED BUTT PLATE, MODEL 4040PD | Brownells
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Old 06-20-2017, 10:51 AM
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They're nice guns. I wouldn't hesitate to buy it if I wanted it, based on what I know about them. Magazines are a bit hard to come by but they do come up for sale if you just keep looking. They are distinctive so easily spotted at gun shows. You only need three or four and the gun should already have two.

The gun is bound to hit a little harder than a 3913, so I suppose I'd expect it to show wear a little more quickly. I use Winchester Silvertips in mine because it is very accurate with them, and it's a pretty zippy load, but I think there are more abusive loads out there. I have not noticed the gun wearing more quickly than a 3913, but I don't shoot it a lot. It is semi-retired and only comes out for exercise now and then.

I think they are handsome little guns and I like them, but I would not pay a big premium for one. The market seems to consistently hang in the $500-$600 range for one in nice shape.
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Old 06-20-2017, 11:15 AM
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Not a .40's guy; but given the limited numbers made (2003-06) ......think I've only ever seen two, I see it as a nice collectible vs a carry/shooter
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Old 06-20-2017, 01:20 PM
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I'm sort of up in the air on its collectibility. It's always hard to predict these sort of things.

It could be a hot item in the future, or it could be like a Star or Vektor is now...a dud gun that never took off and can't be given away for anything reasonable. Rare but not collectible.
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Old 06-20-2017, 01:34 PM
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I'm sort of up in the air on its collectibility. It's always hard to predict these sort of things.

It could be a hot item in the future, or it could be like a Star or Vektor is now...a dud gun that never took off and can't be given away for anything reasonable. Rare but not collectible.
Guess my point was; if you're into collecting 3rd Gen Smiths for show; grab it.... it's a uncommon variation.... future value???... only the future will tell us on any gun .........who would have thought Model 28s would sell for $600+....................
but if you looking at it as a everyday concealed carry/shooter........................

then IMHO, unless you can round up 6-8-10 magazines I'd just pass.

I've accumulated a lot of 3rd Gen 39xx guns..... 13s,14s and NLs.... they are great guns IMO......... but all mine are 9mm
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Old 06-20-2017, 03:10 PM
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I purchased a BNIB 4040 when they first came out and was disappointed when after only firing 100 rounds or so, the frame started to peen where the barrel mated with the frame. I saw the handwriting on the wall and dumped it quickly. IMHO: I suspect that S&W shoe horned the 40 cal cartridge into the 9mm platform not fully testing the pistol for longevity. I also suspect that the 4040 did not stay around long because of this??
It was a great concept and idea, but not well designed. Maybe if the original design had been beefed up a bit, it would of been around longer?
Just my opinions, I could be wrong?
Some peening is normal in any of the aluminum alloy frames, even when the aluminum has been alloyed with Scandium. It's still not steel. The SC aluminum is stronger in some ways than regular aluminum, though, which is why it's used to make lightweight Magnum revolver frames.

From what I was told, the reason for the 4040 being dropped from the catalog was because the cost of the Scandium aluminum frame added to the already high cost of making metal-framed pistols, in comparison of trying to sell metal-framed guns against plastic framed guns. The price point at which the 4040 had to be sold just wasn't something the average commercial buyer of compact .40's was willing to consider, and it didn't help that the 4040 was a single stack pistol, and the double stack's were more appealing to the average buyer. The 4040's SC aluminum frame pretty much priced it out of enough of a consumer desire to make it a viable model.

I picked up a 4040 just as they were going out of production. Mine was a LNIB demo model. It was a NIB T&E gun that saw very little use by a single agency (I know, because I did most of the limited shooting done with it ).

Shoe-horning the .40 S&W into the 3913 single stack frame meant it was a tight fit, but a thin grip frame. The increased recoil required a modification of the 3913's follower (the ball bearing), and the single recoil spring of the 3913 was replaced with the nested recoil springs of the 4013TSW (same as used in the compact .45, too). The mag springs were those used in the 3913 variants.

The 4040 was a dandy compact single stack .40, but it had some additional felt recoil compared to the 3913 (which in my case was eventually mitigated after a lot of shooting, much like previous instances where I had to become acclimated to the recoil of the .40 versus a similarly sized 9mm).

I have noticed that my own 4040 seems to really "like" the hard to find W-W 155gr STHP, but it exhibits very good practical accuracy with the 165gr & 180gr loads I've used in it. One caveat is that I've occasionally experienced the protruding brass jacket notching cuts/folds of 180gr Golden Sabre catching and hanging up on the magazine's mag catch window cut, stopping the rest of the rounds from rising. Never happened to me with any other bullet designs or bullet weights (and I've owned the gun since '05).

Another interesting quirk with the 4040 is that for whatever reason, even though they decided to make the slide from carbon steel (being a PD model?), like the newer production TSW slides they machined the 4040 slide to accept the optional spring-loaded, decock-only assembly.
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Old 01-07-2019, 07:48 PM
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Just picked up a nice 4040pd that appears to be unfired with box, fired case and all paperwork. This one has a dull silver slide and the black scandium frame. It has tritium nite sights (that are burned out as the gun was made in Dec, 2003). I thought that this model had a blued steel slide. Anyone have any observations? Bearmn56 Montana Territory
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Old 01-07-2019, 08:23 PM
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That’s a new one to me. I’ve never seen a 4040 that wasn’t black on black.
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Old 01-07-2019, 08:25 PM
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Just picked up a nice 4040pd that appears to be unfired with box, fired case and all paperwork. This one has a dull silver slide and the black scandium frame. It has tritium nite sights (that are burned out as the gun was made in Dec, 2003). I thought that this model had a blued steel slide. Anyone have any observations? Bearmn56 Montana Territory
There was some discussion on the forum (see link below) about a similar pistol a few months ago. Does your pistol have any model markings on the slide, or only on the frame?

Question about a S&W 4040
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Old 01-07-2019, 09:28 PM
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Yep, the one posted in the link appears to be just like mine. Silver slide with no markings and the black scandium alloy frame with the marking 4040. It does not appear to be messed with. Some speculation in the link but nothing definitive about the differences noted from source to source. Bearmn56 Montana Territory
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Old 01-07-2019, 11:43 PM
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Well, while "never say never" is prudent advice whenever it comes to something the factory may have decided to do for some special order, or some short run of a special configuration of gun for a distributor, etc ...

Unless your new-to-you 4040 was a 1-owner and had been traded in and then sold to you by the same dealer, I'd not be at all surprised if the 4040 in the new pics and in the other thread may actually be one and same gun. (This would easy to determine if the pic in the other thread could be enlarged to show the serial number, I suppose.)

Why? Well ...

The rear night sights aren't what S&W typically used at that time, for one thing, so even if they'd made at least 2 examples of some special configuration, I'd be prone to think they'd have used the same Novak night sights on it/them that they commonly used on the 4013TSW of that time.

I'd not be surprised to learn that the slide, manual safety and slide stop assemblies have been plated. Also, something that lends itself to this supposition is that the one magazine shown with the 3 blued ones is likely plated, to match the slide (and slide stop and safety assemblies) which would've been something very likely done by someone sending the gun and its primary magazine to some company for plating. It was pretty common for people to do that sort of thing when having their guns plated many years ago.

Dunno, and it really doesn't matter if you managed to get yourself a gun you've really wanted, anyway. Just some thoughts out of idle curiosity.

Congrats.
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Old 01-07-2019, 11:51 PM
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Fastbolt, did you notice the gun only is marked “4040” - not “4040PD”? What do you make of that?
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Old 01-07-2019, 11:56 PM
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Fastbolt, did you notice the gun only is marked “4040” - not “4040PD”? What do you make of that?
The actual model is "4040". The slide is marked AirLite/PD, indicating that the 4040 uses a Scandium alloyed aluminum frame and is part of the PD line.

4040PD is a popular way to identify the model, but the frame is only stamped 4040.

My 4040 is marked the same way, on both slide and frame.
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Old 01-08-2019, 12:01 AM
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Hmmm. I guess I will have to check mine. Would have sworn they said 4040PD. Could be and likely am a victim of memory fade. I’ll have a look and get back here if I’m correct. Thanks for your reply.

Edit - As is usual for him, Fastbolt is correct. The gun closest at hand does indeed only say Model 4040.

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Old 01-08-2019, 12:12 AM
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Hmmm. I guess I will have to check mine. Would have sworn they said 4040PD. Could be and likely am a victim of memory fade. I’ll have a look and get back here if I’m correct. Thanks for your reply.
Dude, I had to check mine (I just carried it out tonight) to confirm I was actually remembering it correctly (even though the parts list I had to look at earlier today also just listed "4040" for the model).

Then again, like I said earlier, trying to predict something done by S&W is a "never say never" situation, at best. I won't exclude the possibility that they may have stamped some number of frames with 4040PD. Maybe.

However ...

My '98 production 3913 came from the factory with a slide machined for the then-brand new spring-loaded/decock-only option, but with a standard safety. The machining for that option was ONLY done by the PC at that time, and even the early compact TSW's being produced before the rails didn't come with their slides pre-machined.

When I called back to order the spring-loaded assembly I asked a couple of the guys I'd come to know why my particular 3913 slide had been modified for the option. Nobody had a clue. They were just as surprised as I was. Nothing was listed in the serial number, apparently, but that doesn't mean the unnumbered slide may not have received some special treatment before it had been grabbed to be used to assemble a new gun.

One guy said that it was entirely possible the PC had grabbed a stock slide to modify, either for a special order or as an idea of special model they were thinking about in an idle moment... and then either the order was canceled or the PC smith(s) lost interest ... and then they sent the slide back over to be tossed back into a parts bin for production use ... and then I ended up with it on my 3913.

Never say never. They'll often surprise you.
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Old 01-08-2019, 09:32 AM
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OK Fastbolt...you win the prize!! I checked out the other 4040 in the link much closer. Yes, this is most likely the gun that I bought. The man who posted the thread has the same first name as the guy I bought it from on Gunbroker. The gun also has Trijicon nite sights that are timed out. However, this still doesn't really answer the question about the originality of this gun. BTW, according to the paperwork that came with this pistol, it was manufactured and final inspected in Dec, 2003. I was fortunate to be able to get two more new in factory packaging magazines at a reasonable price. The plating is an interesting idea. I have seen some hard chrome plating and this doesn't really have the same sheen. I don't know what other types of plating that are out there that would give this dull silver finish. One of the main reasons that I am checking out this pistol is that I don't want to shoot it much if it has some additional value because it is unusual. If I can establish that it has been messed with, it can then go into my stable of regular shooters/carry guns. Respectfully yours, William Smith
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Old 01-10-2019, 04:36 PM
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Follow up. Contacted S&W customer service and gave them all of the pertinent info on this pistol. This 4040 was manufactured on the 17th of December, 2003. It left the factory with a blued steel slide. So, the original blued finish was removed, either by bead blasting or some other method, after it left the factory. So far there doesn't appear to be any discoloration or corrosion of the bare steel. As this pistol looks virtually unfired, it will be a nice addition to my shooter/carry guns. Loaded with 7+1 rounds, it is light and handy. It fits into a Sig 239 Tagua cross draw holster like a glove. In addition, it fits well into my Bianchi Black Widow holsters for my other S&W 3rd Generation pistols. Happy Shooting. William Smith, Montana Territory
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Old 01-10-2019, 05:09 PM
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Follow up. Contacted S&W customer service and gave them all of the pertinent info on this pistol. This 4040 was manufactured on the 17th of December, 2003. It left the factory with a blued steel slide. So, the original blued finish was removed, either by bead blasting or some other method, after it left the factory. So far there doesn't appear to be any discoloration or corrosion of the bare steel. As this pistol looks virtually unfired, it will be a nice addition to my shooter/carry guns. Loaded with 7+1 rounds, it is light and handy. It fits into a Sig 239 Tagua cross draw holster like a glove. In addition, it fits well into my Bianchi Black Widow holsters for my other S&W 3rd Generation pistols. Happy Shooting. William Smith, Montana Territory
Does the top of the frame rails show wear, such as some mild peening, which would be caused by the dropping of the barrel onto them at each side, during live-fire cycling?

My own 4040 has some typical wear/peening marks, although the rest of the frame rails are very clean (I keep my 3rd gen's reasonably lubed, whether I'm using a CLP, lightweight synthetic oil or a non-lithium synthetic grease).

I still rather suspect that the finish of the slide, slide stop and manual safety may be a nicely subdued, matte electroless nickel, or something similar, but it's hard to tell in pictures. A company who specializes in firearms plating might've easily removed the extractor, manual safety assembly, rear sight (and plungers & springs underneath) and the slide stop lever's roll pin, plunger & spring for the plating work. Ditto the single magazine.

It looks rather nice. If I owned it, it would see a fair amount of range work.
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Old 01-10-2019, 08:03 PM
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Fastbolt, I haven't disassembled the pistol yet. Want to take my time and go through it thoroughly...clean, lube etc. Actually, your suggestion that the slide might be electroles nickeled has merit. Everything metal on this gun is magnetic. That actually doesn't really mean much as most of the stainless steel used in firearms is of the magnetic type. Hoping to get this little jewel out to the range....here in Montana the weather has not been optimum. Not a lot of snow here but it has been fiercely windy at times. The range is part way up on the east side of McDonald Pass (which crosses the Continental Divide). Very windy at times. Nice range though. Sight in,Handgun, Rimfire, 100, 200, 300 &400 yd rifle. William Smith, Montana Territory
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Old 01-11-2019, 05:17 PM
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Follow up to the follow up. Finally got around to looking at this pistol more closely. I talked to a long time friend here who is also a gunsmith. He suggested testing the slide in an inconspicuous place with cold blue. VIOLA!!! The slide that now rests on this pistol is STAINLESS STEEL!! Again no markings of any kind on the slide...I even looked closely in good light to see if any markings might have been removed....no vestige of any marks. Kinda neat....will be a great carry gun....no possible rusting of a carbon steel slide. Now to get this custom jewel cleaned, lubed and out to the range!! William Smith, Montana Territory
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:02 PM
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Follow up to the follow up. Finally got around to looking at this pistol more closely. I talked to a long time friend here who is also a gunsmith. He suggested testing the slide in an inconspicuous place with cold blue. VIOLA!!! The slide that now rests on this pistol is STAINLESS STEEL!! Again no markings of any kind on the slide...I even looked closely in good light to see if any markings might have been removed....no vestige of any marks. Kinda neat....will be a great carry gun....no possible rusting of a carbon steel slide. Now to get this custom jewel cleaned, lubed and out to the range!! William Smith, Montana Territory
Well, I'd not get too excited about it just yet.

First of all, the slide of your 4040 has the unique angled dustcover profile of the 4040 slide, not a stainless 4013TSW slide.

Where would you suppose a stainless steel 4040 slide originated?

If you lower the manual safety to the on-safe position, can you see the machined steps and open spring hole in the area normally covered by the lever when it's in the up, off-safe position? The 4040 slides were machined for the optional spring-loaded decock option.

Secondly, the factory said they shipped the gun with the standard carbon steel slide.

Thirdly, I certainly don't claim to know how all of the various cold blue do-it-yourself solutions may work on electroless nickel (or hard chrome, etc), but I'd be hesitant to consider dabbing a spot of cold or Perma blue on the slide to be a conclusive "test" that the slide is stainless.

Are you able to contact the seller to ask if they were the original owner, and whether they'd had the custom work done, or knew whether it had been done by the original owner?

I tend to suspect that whoever had the slide work done either had the original black finished extractor replaced with a plain stainless .40 extractor, or perhaps they had it plated, too.

The newer revisions of the .40 extractors (also used in the standard SW1911, BTW, but not the Enhanced, which uses a wider PC extractor) have a secondary machined, beveled spot behind the hook (which ought to be visible if you empty the gun and remove the slide, looking at the extractor hook "from underneath", with a good light).




Don't claim to know, but I've never heard of a stainless slide having been made for 4040, and the 3913TSW slide not only had a different dustcover profile, but had a breech face machined for the 9mm. Perhaps BMCM might chime in on his thoughts of what might be involved in machining a different slide to work on the 4040.

At the end of the day, it's a simpler answer for someone to have had the slide and other parts and assemblies plated, as that's not exactly an unusual "enhancement" for many gun owners to have done over the years.

Nonetheless, you have acquired an interesting variation of the somewhat limited production 4040, though.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:03 PM
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A 4040PD is a great gun, I have one, but rarely shoot it. The frame and slide are the same dimensions as the 3913/3914 lady smith and NL semi autos. Magazines are non existent and the finish shows handling marks and edgewear very easily. I bought 4 curved baseplate mags at an old gun store in original packaging years ago and haven't seen a reasonbly priced mag since. They have two ball bearings and different feed lips so 4013 single stack mags do not work IIRC.

For these reasons along with limited parts availability, mine rarely comes out to play and never gets carried. I'd rather shoot and carry my well used CS40. If you are adding to a collection of semi's its a must buy, and one day probably will be extremely valuable. You may want to think twice if you are going to carry and shoot it a lot. (By a lot I mean thousands of rounds)

SVT28
I don't think 40 s&w is necessarily going out of style. I have a few guns in that caliber and they are great. One is my H&K USP. 40 S&W is it's original caliber and I love it. The other is my Glock Gen 2 model 22. I shoot 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 acp, 10mm and 44 magnum loads and I mean full power loads in my S&W model 29. Recoil is subjective in my opinion and too much is made of it.

I would pickup a 4040 in a heart beat and never look back.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:25 PM
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I'd not think the .40 is actually "going out of stye".

It's more that a lot of new pistol owners and shooters, and LE firearms trainers who are responsible for training a lot of newer shooters (especially including folks who are somewhat recoil sensitive, or have never fired a gun until they got hired and who aren't "gun enthusiasts"), have found that the venerable 9mmP offers some benefits.

Often cheaper to shoot, too.

This is just another of those inevitable recurrent "trends"among gun owners/users we've seen over the decades. I remember when the death knell sounded for the .45ACP in LE work, only to see it make an even stronger comeback several years later.

The .40 won't really go away, at least not to the extent that the 357SIG and 45GAP have been in the process of doing.

Granted, the .40 does ask more of the shooter (and some guns) than the lighter recoiling 9 or the .45ACP, but many folks either don't mind it, or they claim not to notice it. (So why isn't the .40 replacing the 9mm minor & major in the hands of competition shooters? )

As much as I like the relatively gentle recoil impulse of my 9's (using standard pressure , + & +P+ loads), I've come to really enjoy shooting my handful of .40's (only 5 of them).

They also make me a better 9 & .45 shooter.
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:40 PM
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The previous owner of this pistol was also asking on this forum about the pistol. He apparently got it from some other party. My gunsmith friend (who has been a gunsmith for some 35 years) looked at the slide and said that the color and sheen of the metal suggested stainless steel as well. He said that the color pretty much ruled out hard chrome and nickel plating. So far, I can find no signs of plating and some of the cocking surfaces are polished from a small amount of wear and these do not respond to cold blue either. In any case, the slide should not tarnish, corrode or stain from sweat in a carry scenario. Will post some more pics of the areas that you mentioned. William Smit
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Old 01-11-2019, 06:44 PM
bearmn56 bearmn56 is offline
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Here are some pictures of the slide, extractor and safety. William Smith
Attached Images
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File Type: jpg 100_0648.jpg (50.8 KB, 47 views)
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:29 PM
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The extractor hook would have to be viewed from below in order to see the extra beveled cut behind the hook. Looks just the same from all other angles.

Back when I bought mine, I was talking to one of the older employees (now retired) and he said he'd never heard of any plans to offer the 4040 with a stainless slide, and it wasn't around long enough to see any variations. Never say never, though ... except ... S&W told you the 4040 had shipped with the standard blued steel slide, right? They only list one slide assembly for the 4040 on the last parts list, too, and no optional versions.

Might the Performance Center have produced a special stainless slide for a 4040 project commissioned by some customer? Never Say Never ... but even if they'd agreed to do so, it might've easily added another $300-$400 dollars to the cost of the gun (not being a standard production slide they could run over and grab from the factory, making it a special production project). Less expensive to just plate the slide and associated parts.

Then, there's the 4040 mag that has the same finish in your pics. If someone had tried to convert a stainless 3913 mag to make that one shiny 4040 mag, it would have the numbers stamped next to the witness holes (which the 4040 mag bodies lack).

The 3913 mags were also folded and welded on the left side, toward the front, while the 4040 mags were welded in the rear, like some other 3rd gen mags (the ground down line can be hard to see, as they did nice grinding and polishing of the mag bodies). BTW, for trivia, I was told by someone at the factory that the "open" part of the weld line at the top of many of their mags was intentional, and the weld wasn't done and closed at the top as a way to reduce stress on the weld, and it actually helped prevent stress cracks.

The 4040 mags were stamped M4040, while the 3913 mags were stamped with a S and a M on the bottom right side ("s" was for stainless, I thought I remembered).






Dunno.

I'd still not be surprised if it turned out to be a case of some version of one of the metal plating processes that may have been used. One with which your friend may not have first hand experience (as done by some particular vendor).

Like I said, very interesting.

If you use this 4040 for a lot of shooting, look to see if any copper flashing might appear at hard wear points, or if some flakes might pop off (depending on whether it's plated, and the amount of prep work that may have been involved).

I've got an early 70's Commander I had electroless nickel plated in the 80's, with a subdued satin finish. It took some time, but eventually signs of some small flakes coming off began to appear in some hard wear spots. Kinda of looks like brushed stainless to the casual eye.

Still a nice find, though. If it were mine, I'd shoot the dickens out of it and enjoy it.
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Old 01-11-2019, 08:32 PM
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I was interrupted by a long call and had to space out completing my previous post. You might need to refresh the page to get all of the comments and all 4 pics I posted.
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Old 01-12-2019, 10:03 AM
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Fastbolt, Just one last thing. I weighed the pistol on a super accurate digital scale and it is exactly 25.5 ounces with an empty magazine inserted. Test fired it yesterday and recoil is surprisingly mild. Of course, I shoot a lot of .357 and .44 mag...so, the 40 S&W is no big deal. Happy Shooting. William Smith, Montana Territory
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Old 01-19-2019, 09:35 AM
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Finally got the time to disassemble the 4040. No appreciable wear...some marks where the barrel contacts the frame....but nothing significant. Virtually no wear on the frame rails. I removed some metal on the underside of the slide in a hidden spot...enough metal to be sure that I was down to the base metal of the slide. I tried cold blue again with not staining or blueing. Showed the slide again to my gunsmith and he is convinced that the slide is stainless steel. Also, the slide, slide stop and barrel are uniquely numbered with the same 3 digit number (that does not match the serial of the pistol). Again, the slide has no markings of any kind. I now suspect that this is a custom pistol...maker unknown. Shot it on my 25yd range here at home and the pistol shoots flawlessly with 150gr-200gr handloads and factory Corbon Pow r' ball 135 grain ammo. Kinda interesting and unique. Also, have a 4013 on the way to my gunsmith. I also own a 4006, and a square trigger guard 5906. Have developed a real liking for these all metal 3rd gen pistols. Just can't get excited about the newer Tupperware weapons. Guess as I get older (73), I am staying with "Old School". William Smith, Montana Territory
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Old 01-19-2019, 01:30 PM
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I have a chance to pick a nice 404PD up for a really low price, unfortunately it comes with only one magazine. Brownells says you can back order them, but I'm not sure that they will ever be back in stock. Ebay has a couple of them listed, but they are asking $95.00 each. Even though the price is low, I just can't justify buying a pistol that if the magazine goes down, it becomes a very expensive paper weight.

\\
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Old 01-19-2019, 02:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SVT28 View Post
A 4040PD is a great gun, I have one, but rarely shoot it. The frame and slide are the same dimensions as the 3913/3914 lady smith and NL semi autos. Magazines are non existent and the finish shows handling marks and edgewear very easily. I bought 4 curved baseplate mags at an old gun store in original packaging years ago and haven't seen a reasonbly priced mag since. They have two ball bearings and different feed lips so 4013 single stack mags do not work IIRC.

For these reasons along with limited parts availability, mine rarely comes out to play and never gets carried. I'd rather shoot and carry my well used CS40. If you are adding to a collection of semi's its a must buy, and one day probably will be extremely valuable. You may want to think twice if you are going to carry and shoot it a lot. (By a lot I mean thousands of rounds)

SVT28
I bought two of them when they first came out. I still have one but sold the other.

After only limited firing, one of the magazines sort of self destructed and was replaced by Smith and Wesson. It's been a while but I think the captive ball bearing "went a missing".

Not long after that I had another failure, not of the magazine but a parts breakage issue with the gun itself. Smith repaired that as well.

Those two parts breakages in a short amount of time sort of got me thinking the gun might be marginal for the caliber.

Maybe I just got unlucky but with limited parts available today I rarely shoot the thing.

I really like the 39** series and the 4040PD has some of the goodness of that with a bit more "oomph". Seemed like a great idea.

I wouldn't worry about the 40 cal round going away. It will be with us for a long time. As it now is a little out of fashion and not the flavor of the week there are deals to be had on good, used 40 cal handguns.

It's still an effective round. It's not its lack of effectiveness pushing it out of the limelight.
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Old 01-19-2019, 08:21 PM
bearmn56 bearmn56 is offline
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you might try Joe's pawn shop...just Google the name...I purchased two original 4040 mags from him......William
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Old 01-19-2019, 09:59 PM
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CDNN has 4040pd mags for $30 in flat and curved bases.
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Old 12-19-2021, 01:02 PM
RedCardinal RedCardinal is offline
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I remember reading a post sometime back about a PC pistol with a black slide being sent to S&W to have the slide flats polished. Although the description for the model stated it had a blue carbon steel slide, it was in fact, a stainless steel slide finished in black. I believe it was referred to as "Black Magic". The finish on the 4040 AirLite PD does not look like the classic blued slide but looks a lot like the blackened stainless steel. Of course, there is no one currently at S&W who knows.

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Old 12-19-2021, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by RedCardinal View Post
I remember reading a post sometime back about a PC pistol with a black slide being sent to S&W to have the slide flats polished. Although the description for the model stated it had a blue carbon steel slide, it was in fact, a stainless steel slide finished in black. I believe it was referred to as "Black Magic". The finish on the 4040 AirLite PD does not look like the classic blued slide but looks a lot like the blackened stainless steel. Of course, there is no one currently at S&W who knows.
After I bought my 4040PD from S&W (LE T&E gun), I asked if they were ever going to offer a 4040S (so to speak). The regular LE customer service gentleman told me that he'd heard of no plans to offer it with a stainless slide, and that they'd used a carbon steel slide like they did with the 457, 908, 410, 411, 3914, etc, in order to keep cost as low as possible. (However, at the same time they'd machined the 4040's slide with the extra cuts needed to accept the decock-only option, but they didn't do that with their budget models, so go figure. )

Of course, the cost of making the gun using a Scandium aluminum frame soon priced the cost of making the gun out of the little competition it had in the market (SIG P239/.40), and the model was discontinued.
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