I didn't know much about this pistol.

It's made in S&W's Houlton Maine plant.

It was an approved off duty carry piece for the NYPD, I'm told that's no longer the case.

It's a real DAO, not the typical Smith pre-cocked trigger like most DAO S&W pistols (think 5946).

It's in pretty good condition, it has been carried, I don't think it's been shot much at all.

Has all the paperwork, the fired cartridge dates it to October 2012.

It came with a total of 6 factory mags. Bonus! I can share them with my 3914NL that I posted earlier.

Anyway, interesting, not too common pistol.

I got it off the For Sale section of the Forum.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

Looks like you’re well on your way to getting one of all the third gens��

Well if I hit the Match 6 tonight on the PA Lottery. that would be an idea.

Otherwise, I'm happy with what I have.

PS - I got another somewhat rare 3rd Generation pistol recently, I'll probably post that tomorrow.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

You snagged that at just the right time.. I was looking for one also. I checked to see if your sale would go thru. I have since found one. I requested a historical letter from Roy..

A great looking rig to add to your collection. CONGRATS!!

I have one as well. Nice guns. Mine came in the box, with three magazines. It was owned by a NYPD officer who went a different agency. That agency had different requirements for sidearms, so he decided to sell his.

The Houlton guns were later production, early guns were made in Springfield. I expect that all of the frames, regardless of where the final product was assembled, were forged and machined in Springfield.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Frames on Houlton ME guns have S/N as part of frame on right side - marking is totally different from Springfield MA S/N marking system. Not sure what that means.

Typical Maine Frame S/N indentation right side - have seen similar indentation on 3914DAO from Maine. 3914DAO from Springfield have S/N on right same location but no indentation

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Not sure why you think that.

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Waiting for the break of day

If one of you guys ever has yours apart, please photo-doc the hammer profile in the notch area.

I had never seen a Springfield gun with indentation.

I have a NOS 3914DAO UCZ6xxx marked as Springfield, MA that SW dates to 10-30-2017 per SW that has S/N on right but does not have the indentation.

Have also seen a 3914DAO UCZ S/N from 11-2015 without indentation. And 3914DAOs UCU and UCT S/N marked Houlton ME from 2012 with indentation.

All dates were checked with SW - wondering if your UCW was a transition gun with frame from ME but assembled after they moved production back to Springfield?

Someone got a nice 3914DAO on GB last month - Pictures borrowed to illustrate late (2015?) 3914DAO marked Springfield, MA with non-indented UCZ s/n.

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I was the buyer of this gun, sent for historical letter.. I did call S&W and they had no information on other than build date which is on the label and no recalls..

I shot it a couple of weeks ago, the double action pull is stiffer than I would like. Functioned perfectly and accurate..

What would be the difference between a 3913 DAO /3914 DAO and a 3953/3954?

Brushed stainless instead of blue melonite..

Dont know that there was ever a 3913DAO - Technically the 3913/3914 should be alloy frame TDA (Traditional Double Action) - First pull is DA if safety has been engaged then it goes to SA unless you reengage safety.

The 3 as last digit signifies alloy frame stainless slide, 4 as last digit blued alloy frame with blued steel slide. 1 as third digit should be TDA, 5 as 3rd digit is DAO. The 3953/3954 were the DAO versions of the 3913/3914 respectively.

And then there were the 3913TSW / 3953TSW etc that were the Tactical Versions both of which were made in early 7 round configurations and later in 8 round variations.

The 3914DAO is an odd animal that some say should not exist - should have been a 3954 or a 3954TSW but the 3914DAO were apparently made as early as 1998 specifically to meet NYPD requirements that were somehow different from a 3954 or 3954TSW. No doubt someone more knowledgeable can explain the mechanical difference between the 3914DAO and a 3954

The NYPD 3914 DAO has IIRC second strike capability .... the 3954 the slide has to be racked to get a "second" strike..... but you also eject the round!

FWIW...I have two S&W 9mm both are DAO but different. The 3953 has a pre cocked hammer which provides a shorter trigger pull than the TDA pistol but no double strike. The cs9 does not have pre cocked hammer but has a longer trigger with double strike capability.

The trigger position of the 3914 DAO relative to the 3953 (which is the DAO version of the 3913) appears to be more forward like the trigger position of the cs9. This would indicate that the 3914 DAO probably has the same DAO trigger mechanism as the cs9.

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Just a quick explanation for those who might be interested:

On S&W "TDA" (Traditional Double Action, better known as DA/SA) pistols the double action first shot consists of the trigger pulling the draw bar and the draw bar double action hooks pulling on the hammer's double action notches, until the draw bar moves far enough forward for the draw bar double action hooks to slip out of the hammer's double action notches, allowing the hammer to fall and strike the firing pin.

The TDA pistol slide then recoils and pushes the hammer to the rear, full cock position, where the hammer's single action notch catches on the sear.

Pulling the TDA pistol's trigger in single action pulls the draw bar forward and the draw bar yanks the sear out of the hammer's single action notch, allowing the hammer to fall and strike the firing pin.

This cycle repeats until the hammer is manually decocked.

That explains the operation of S&W TDA pistols.

S&W has employed three styles of DAO (Double Action Only) operation:

The first and most common is the "staged hammer" style as found on the vast majority of S&W DAO pistols.

On the most common type of S&W DAO pistols (the "base" models, 3953, 5943, 4046, 4586, etc.) the hammer must first be "pre-staged" (partially cocked) by a rearward movement of the slide (such as in chambering a round) and the hammer then catches a notch on the sear, in a somewhat "half cocked" position.

Pulling the trigger pulls the draw bar forward and the draw bar's double action hooks pull on the hammer's double action notches until the hammer slips off of the draw bar's double action notches and falls, striking the firing pin.

When the slide recoils, the hammer is pushed back until it once again catches on the partial cocking sear.

Unlike the TDA models, the draw bar never yanks the sear out of a single action notch.
The sear exists only to catch the hammer in "half cock", shortening the double action trigger stroke.

On the "Base Model" S&W DAO pistols, the rear of the slide and frame are extended to shroud the partially cocked hammer.

This same style of DAO is also employed on the S&W TSW DAO pistols, which I refer to as the "second style" of DAO.

To simplify manufacturing, S&W elected to use the standard length slide and frame, and simply "pre-staged" the hammer a little less, requiring less shrouding of the partially cocked hammer.

This is why TSW DAO pistols have a longer trigger stroke than base model DAO pistols.

The third style of DAO employed by S&W is used on the 3914DAO and CS9D pistols and is often called "second strike" capable because no pre-staging of the hammer is needed and the trigger will fully cock and drop the hammer (the definition of double action) the second time or as many times as the operator chooses to pull the trigger.

The double action on these models is identical to that used on the TDA pistols.

The difference from the TDA pistol is that the "second strike" DAO pistol's hammer has no single action notch, and therefore no single action.

I hope this helps.

John

I converted a 457 to a 457D by filing the single action notch off the hammer. A forum member gave me some guidance on what and how to do it. It's essentially what S&W did to make the 3914DAO and CS9D.

I converted it back and sold it because it had a lonnnngggg trigger pull.

In theory, I have the parts to make a 3913DAO, if I could find a 3913 to use as a victim.

From a previous thread here, the 457D came in two flavors. Early ones were just converted from TDA by doing what I did. The later ones had a prestaged hammer and worked like the regular DAO guns.

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Can open, worms everywhere.

Do the precocked 3rd gen DAOs work like HK's LEM system?

Information like this is exactly why I love this forum! Well done sir!

I'm sure it's a nice gun and glad you're happy. I have to admit I'll stick with my regular DAO's but that's just me. I look forward to a range report.