I'm coming up on CCW license renewal and need to list all the guns I can carry and qualify with them.

I'm mostly a revolver guy, but I'm considering my 3913LS as one of the three.

But I'm wondering about carrying a gun that's 25 years old.

Not sure why this worries me, as some of my revolvers are older than that.

So who carries a 39, 3913, or one of the other 39 series guns (or the budget versions of them).

Who carries them most days? Or just for nostalgia reasons a couple times a year?

Should you ever have to use it for selfdefense you will lose it for some time. No one will take care of your pistol in the evidence locker like you do at home.

During the spring and summer, I use to carry my 3914NL fairly regularly - off duty. These days I still carry it occasionally, but it has largely been replaced by a CS9.

As good as the 3914 is - and I think the entire 39XX series are the finest 9mm carry guns made, by anyone - the CS9 is just easier to carry and conceal, for me.

And I can drop the CS9 in a pocket when it has a flat based mag installed. Something I cant do with a 39XX. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

I do occasionally carry my 3914 or 469 when staying close to home (nostalgia) but most often it’s the sig p938 or CZ compact.

I have zero concerns of reliability with any of those but as mike said, it would suck for one of my smiths to end up bouncing around an evidence locker for 2 years.

I carry my 3913 often and have no concern about reliability. I completely agree with 18DAI about the 39 series. I also have a 3913NL.

I have been carrying my 3913 since I bought it last summer. I tried to replace it with the 2.0 Compact, but it just does everything a concealed pistol needs to do.

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Plastic has no soul

Bought this a few weeks ago and have
been packin it.
As I have aged the model 39-2 makes a lot of sense.
Safe to carry, packs well, and fits the hand.
Ez on the eyes.

I have many Model 39's and would never use then for a carry gun for the simple reason you can't add night sights or a laser to them. Other than that, one of the best semi auto pistols ever made.

I carry a 3913TSW (pre rail) most days when I don't have to carry a pocket gun. Occasionally I'll carry a 457 and once in a while a 3914NL.

Guns don't wear out like say, cars, so I don't worry about the age.

There was an interesting article in a recent "Shooting Illustrated" regarding service life of pistols. The military keeps their guns for years and year and only replaces them when they are truly worn out. LE agencies generally trade their guns in far before they have become unserviceable. Non LE people should be able to get decades out a pistol or revolver provided they don't abuse it, clean and lube on a regular basis, and in the case of pistols replace recoil and maybe a couple of other springs on a regular basis.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Best looking semi auto they ever made, Nickel, imo.

Carry my 3914 most days... no malfunctions yet... no worries


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That there is at the top of my list. I'm envious!

Yes. 3913, 6904, 3953.

yes...3913NL everyday I'm not carrying a .45.....and I'm more likely to malfunction than the 3913

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witty signature goes here

I occasionally carry my 3953TSW or my 3914DAO. But then again, I do occasionally carry the 59xx/40xx guns as well.

I've been carrying a 3914 and 3913TSW recently (when not carrying revolver). Either in a Milt Sparks Executive Companion or TT Gunleather.

Call me "old school"! I regularly carry a 39-2.

About 7 or 8 years ago, I acquired a beautiful 39, no dash. I carried it only once in a while, due to the nice finish and possible extractor problems.

Then, I found a 39-2 that was cosmetically challenged. It shoots great, and it's one of my favorites to carry. And no worries about the finish.

I do currently carry a 39 no dash, as it is very accurate

I have carried my model 39 and I have carried its big brother the model 59 on occasion. Since the advent of the Shield line, I then went to the 9mm and now carry the .45.

With the move from the 39 to the 59 it was capacity, the move from the 9mm Shield to the 45 Shield was knock down power.

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James Redfield
LM #497

I usually carry an LCP pretty much everyday, just because of how light and compact it is. However, when I want to carry a 9mm, it's always my 3913. The only exception is when I'm at the farm. I usually have my 59 then.

Been carrying some version of the 39xx since they were introduced... in 1990/91...........for the past 20+ years it's generally a 3913NL in "The Burbs of the Burgh"........



I've got backups to my backup..........

3913 is my truck/house gun.
J frame goes where I go.
Plastic guns are in the safe.

I'm with ya there ladder13!
image1.jpeg

25 years old ........ doesn't mean it's had 25 years of use!!!!!

Was at the NE Ohio S&W Bunch last weekend.......consensus was that my Registered Magnum has never been fired since it left the factory in 1939. There is barely a mark on the recoil shield........ it was per the "Letter" it was sighted in at the factory for 25 yds w/ a 6 O'clock hold

My "back-up" 3" 66 I bought in 1988 ( for $270 OTD) has only had 6 rounds fired since leaving the factory................ cleaned up and put away.

Carry a 3913 daily in a Kramer IWB holster (horsehide), it has never failed with any ammo. So, in MY world it is still the King of Concealed Carry!!

Randy

3914 is my normal one. Dave_n

Those nickel 39’s are special.

I carry a 39xx gun (or another TDA S&W 3rd Gen) 98% of the time that I carry. Right now I have an early 3914 on the hip, and I will probably switch it out for a 3913TSW pre-rail for the Summer months. My around the house gun is currently a 5906.

Almost all of my 3rd Gen collection was purchased to use rather than collect. They are safe to load&unload as well as to carry, affordable, accurate, and are extremely reliable with a wide variety of ammunition. It's everything I'm looking for in a pistol.

I'd imagine that if I ever actually have to use my 3rd Gen in a defensive situation, I'll have bigger concerns than the potential loss of that gun to evidence. And like BAM-BAM, I have backups to my backups (a good reason to collect more 3rd Gens ).

I carry my 669 almost every day. Other days I carry the 380 Bodyguard.

My wife and I carry 3953's, with 6946's for back up and car guns and 5943's for backups to the back ups.

I have, on occasion, carried my 439. Mike from St Pete makes a good point about defensive shootings. Odds are it will be confiscated and held as evidence, uncleaned, no one caring if it rusts, gets dropped, scratched, etc., until the investigation has ended and no charges can be brought against you. I have also heard that weapons held in evidence are sometimes lost and never seen again. That does concern me with carrying expensive or vintage firearms.

I have been known to carry my 3953 and I love it. I have a 39-2 and I love to take it to the range, but I don't carry it.

I've been carrying a 3953 since I bought it from a Forum member a couple of months ago. It replaced my Walther PPS40 while fashion will allow a compact vs subcompact pistol. I use a Bucheimer-Clark 14C-79 IWB holster for the 3953.

And there is no firing pin safety. Familiar with a police shooting where an officer tried to get compliance from the driver of a get away vehicle, by tapping on the driver’s door window. Gun discharged and killed the driver. Not judging the tactics, but the gun has an old style inertia firing pin.

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Metro Man

18th MP Brigade. Combat MPs. I salute you.

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Metro Man

So an inertia firing pin struck a primer with sufficient force to fire the cartridge due to the force created by "tapping on the driver's door window". Now that right there is one for a physics case course, for sure an certain!! WOW!!!

Ralph Tremaine

Xfuzz, that is a spectacular pistol you have there. About 2000 later than my serial #, and mine shipped in June of 1976, so about the same vintage. That nickle is beautiful!!!

Keep thinking about carrying this one that I found last fall, but I haven't been able to work up to shooting it yet!! I believe it to be NIB. I had one back in the middle 70s that I loved to carry, and I will probably carry this one sometime in the future, they first the hand perfectly, light weight, good looking, and have a lot of historical significance. What's not to like?!?



Came with all the goodies!!



Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I'll trade you straight across for one you won't think twice about shooting...and I'll even pay the shipping both ways.

I sometimes carry a 6906, its fatter twin. As long as the gun is reliable, accurate, you have functioning magazines for it, and it shoots your ammo of choice, why not carry it? Unless you want to keep it as a collectable and in top condition.

I used to carry my old 39-2 regularly, still do on occasion.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

Admittedly there may of been some over exuberance on the part of the officer, but it involved a quickly occuring narcotics takedown and I will not judge his actions. However, my Dept. banned the carry of the 39 until a subsequent generation pistol came out, which was a shame because I had to sell mine. I’m certain that civil litigation followed and it could be speculated that the event may have had something to do with the redesign of the firing pin system in that pistol. Who knows?

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Metro Man

There is a 39-2 in a lined pancake holster at my right waist right this minute. Matching magazine carrier with a 3904 mag on the left side.

If you are 100% confident and proficient with it, why not carry a model 39? Yes, you might have to use it, meaning actually firing it to defend yourself (a tiny fraction of defensive firearms encounters, on the order of 0.1% if I recall correctly) but to me the potential of the gun being damaged against being alive to tell the tale is a good trade off.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Regardless of previously mentioned issues with the pistol, a blue steel 39 with wood panels may be the most attractive pistol ever.

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Metro Man

I carry a 3953 95% of the time, and a CS9 when I need deeper concealment or my attire requires pocket carry. To me, the 3953 is the perfect carry pistol.

I own multiple 39 series pistols with night sights... My EDC is a 3953 that I added night sights to.

For those of you that have the original 39, with the long extractor and are afraid to carry worrying about breaking the extractor and not being able to find a replacement. Jack First has newly made long extractors. Not cheap but you can put that 39 back in business. I ordered one as a spare, and it was right about $70.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Wow that is sweeeeet.....You were telling us about that one at the Bunching last weekend......

You need a Texas Ranger style floral carved holster and belt w/ double magazine pouch.......... for attending; West by God Va.; BBQs!!!!

Maybe that Indian at the other end of the State can whip you up something.... if he really exists* He's got to be close to your Cabin**




Footnotes:

* In the old pre-PC days I would have had a Ringo Kid and Tonto joke in here somewhere!!!!!!

** How far are you from Somerset Co. Pa.......... we talked about it once; or it might have been SubbyFan......recall one of you were not far as the crow flies...... by W. Va. roads/mountains it was a bit longer.

Night sights are nice, but many old school cops were taught that, minus a flashlight, the first round will provide all of the light you may need to see the sights. Try it sometime in the dark.

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Metro Man

Does anyone here remember the ejection port dust cover S&W sold for these? I've looked everywhere but, have never seen one for sale, anywhere.
Steve