I had a 4596 as my first handgun, it was pretty decent, but didn't quite fit my hand right and the sideplate (located under the left side of the grips) on it broke twice on me (once while a S&W armorer was cleaning the gun and once while shooting). It lingered in my safe for many years as I moved on to other things, and I eventually sold it because I had become used to the 1911 thumb safety and kept flipping the safety on the 4596 the wrong way, so I eliminated it to avoid confusion. If I remember correctly, they were only produced for one year, 1991 I believe.