More than a few times I've told everybody here about the variety of Smith 2nd and 3rd generation pistols that live in my safe and see carry in the rotation with other brands. One being an early 645, I do love this big hunk of iron but it's not my favorite.
Nope, my favorite is an older 5946 that I picked up used about two years ago, it has a few battle scars, but for a DAO pistol it's blessed with one smooth 7-8 pound continuious pull and once I WHACKED its rear sight back into alignment, this old street warrior started stacking 124+P Gold Dots on top of one another at 25 yards!!
Now I've shoot all manner of pistols, Colts, Rugers, SIGs, even HKs. But I keep coming back to this old Smith! Why, you ask, well one thing is RELIABILITY, it should be etched on the 3rd Gens. bookmark! And then there's the feel of this pistol, it just fits me better than anything else! And the slimness, for a double stack 9mm it's fairly compact!
Yeah it's heavy being all steel, but like one New York cop told me;"Great thing about dis pistol is, if yas run out of bullets, just drop the mag and beat the skell with it, it'll be fine."
I hope some day S&W does bring back these magnificent pistols! Dale