OK before I get jumped on I’m talking about a 4513. I’m not talking about the 4513TSW, the 4513 45TSW, or the 45 Recon’s and or Shorty’s.

I recently picked up a 4013, (not a 4013TSW, 4013 40TSW.)

It is a very nice pistol even if it’s a .40 caliber. It seems to be a perfect balance between weight and caliber.

I’m just wondering why S&W never made a 4513. My early 4013 left in 1991, (according to the box,) and S&W started production of the 4516’s in 1990. Why didn’t they make the same in .45? It would have been a great option, (and I’m assuming a big seller,) but they waited 5 years to sorta do it in the 6rnd 4513TSW. Were they just trying to “push” .40 sales since the .45 offerings were doing so good?

Jim

Good question. Gun rag writers at the time were asking the same thing. And pressuring the company to provide a compact lightweight 45.

IIRC, S&W wasn't sure the aluminum frames would hold up to a lot of shooting. So they spent a lot of time, years, testing to make sure. The 457 and the Shorty 45 hit the market first, again IIRC. I have a copy of a 1996....or 1997? Combat Handguns article that detailed the making of the guns.

The 4513TSW wasn't mentioned. At all. I think the 1st time I learned about the 4513TSW was from a hand out sheet at the local S&W LE dealer. And they were hard to get. At the time I was carrying a 4516. I had a standing order at the shop for a 4513TSW. Took a few years to get one.

Oldtimers is acting up, but thats how I remember it. And I do recall the 7 round 4513TSW being pretty plentiful back in the day. My gunsmith did a lot of business dropping the stupid rails off them and plugging the holes in the dustcover with plastic plugs.

I agree with you. A rail free aluminum framed 4516 would have been a good seller. But the 457 value line gun was what they ran with. Regards 18DAI

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7 +1 Rounds of hope & change

I’m sure an aluminum framed .45 was a concern for S&W not really knowing long term effects. Heck I was apprehensive about aluminum frames to begin with too. (Not as much as PLASTIC frames “back then” when they first came out. )

Jim

Back in '98 they told us at an armorer class that S&W was just wrapping up their exhaustive R&D and finalizing the aluminum-framed .45 compact.

We were told they'd decided to offer a standard model compact and then a more refined compact, and that their marketing studies indicated people (especially cops) wanted something a lot lighter than the 4516 for a compact.

I ordered my CS45 in mid-'99 when the stainless (slide) version was released. I'd previously handled a friend's early production CS45 in black, as well as his CS9 (also in black), which he'd bought at the same time. Neat little guns, but I'd decided to wait until the stainless models were being shipped.

Then, toward the end of '99 I also ordered and received a 4513TSW, because I didn't want the early carbon steel 457 (and the 457S wasn't yet being offered). Hey, I'm lazy and wanted stainless.

It wasn't until the next year (2000) that I decided to add a .40 compact, but by that time it meant I ended up with the railed 4013TSW.

I was in my early 3rd gen acquisition phase in those years, having started when I ordered a 3913 in '98. I was buying a mix of metal and plastic from 2000 on. I finally ordered a CS9 in '02, and I think the last 3rd gen's I bought were a T&E 4040PD ('06), and then a 3913TSW, as a former duty weapon ('15).

The various T&E and former duty weapon choices I could've bought included the early production 5903/6906's, late production 4003/06TSW's, 4563/66TSW's, 4013TSW, 4513TSW & that 4040PD. I probably ought to have bought the 4563TSW T&W model, but I was more interested in the 4040. I still sometimes kick myself over that one.

I never got interested in ordering any of the larger 3rd gen's, having had my fill of carrying the larger ones as issued weapons since '90. However, another one of my regrets was not ordering a late model 6906 before they suddenly ceased production, dammit. Comes to that, in retrospect I wish I'd not turned up my nose at ordering a 3906 before they went out-of-production.

Oh well.

Now, if only they'd made an all-stainless 3916, or even a 3916TSW, double dammit.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer