S&W 659

[IrvJr]

Can you tell me more about the Smith and Wesson 659? A local shop has a nice 659 for sale. it looks like it's stainless. I'm familiar with the 3913 and 6906, but I haven't heard of a 659.

Is this a reliable gun? Does it shoot well?

Thanks in advance.

 

[IrvJr]

Can you tell me more about the Smith and Wesson 659? A local shop has a nice 659 for sale. it looks like it's stainless. I'm familiar with the 3913 and 6906, but I haven't heard of a 659.

Is this a reliable gun? Does it shoot well?

Thanks in advance.

 

[handgunner356]

The 659 is the second generation verison of the 5906. All stainless full size 14rd 9mm. The 15rd 5900 series mags and some small parts fit.

 

[IrvJr]

Thanks handgunner 356. How is the reliability of the 659?

I've heard great things about the 5900 series gun. Are the 659's generally pretty good?

 

[TSQUARED]

The Model 659 is a stainless version of the Model 59. I shoot the Model 59, 659 and 5906. They all use the same 15 round magazines. All three pistols are extremely reliable. I have never had a malfunction with any of them.

 

[john traveler]

The M659 series were hot contenders for police holster guns back in the 1990s before the polymer rage caught on. Generally it was a tossup between the more expensive Beretta 92SF or the US designed M459 and M659 guns.

 

[norfdet]

I carried a 659 in the early 90's as a duty gun. Mine was utterly reliable and although it was heavy it was a pleasure to shoot and carry.

 

[IrvJr]

Thanks fellas. The 659 at the local shop was a beautiful gun. Nicely finished, with wooden grips. I kinda like steel and wood over plastic/polymer.

 

[submariner693]

My 659 is one of my favorite h-guns (it was like many now appearing on the market an old carry gun by the local police, ending up in a pawnshop), the weight and large grip make it a great shooter for medium to large hands. I've had mine since 98'
Do yourself a favor and only buy S&W mags, the aftermarket models are absolute junk (I know from bad experience). The only thing to show any wear on the entire gun has been the mag follower. New followers are available from Midway USA, pretty inexpensive so good for your rangebox. Do yourself a favor and use only SS recommended grease (like RIG). Gauling can occur on the slide to frame contacts (SS wears kinda weird) unless you have a thin coat of an approved lube. Don't count on regular gun oil for the barrel bushing, side/rail contacts and frame to barrel lockup areas.
Uncle Mike's at one time had a rubber over metal grip set, awesome and feels great on mine.
Count yourself lucky to have one with the original wooden sideplates, I've been looking at g-show's and online for years and haven't seen any. Will likely have to carve mine if I ever want any.
My trigger had a grittyness to it when unloaded. Old dirt and grease.
Flooding the mechanism with 1/2 a can of carb cleaner followed by a good squirt of CLP (call me old fashioned) smoothed everything and it's got a nice pull.
If you've picked up the gun you're likely very happy with the purchase!
Happy shooting!

 

[Win75]

I carried a 659 in the early 90's as a duty gun. Mine was utterly reliable and although it was heavy it was a pleasure to shoot and carry.

Same here except my LEO days were early to mid 80's. Great gun, I wish I had mine back.

Edit, I found another 659. I don't have to wish any more.

 

[TSQUARED]

My 659 has been totally reliable with a wide variety of bullet shapes and weights. Accuracy wise they are not as good as the current M&P line but sufficiently accurate for defensive purposes. Mine provides ca 3 to 4 inch groups at 50 ft.

 

[Handgun Man]

Hello fellow posters. This is my first post to this site and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the posts regarding the 659. I bought my first 659 shortly after they first came out and I couldn't have been happier with it. However, as my sons grew older and their teacher told the children in the class that they really needed to have access to a computer outside of the classroom. We were a bit low on funds for the purchase of a computer at the time, so I sold the 659 along with a few other things in order to have a home computer for the boys to keep up with their schoolwork, etc.. Now that the boys are both grown and on their own, I finally found another 659 that was in good shape, and bingo...I have a 659 once again. After having a local gunsmith do a little bit of work on it to take out some minor dings, it looks virtually brand new and I'm back in business. After doing some polishing here and there, and adding some Hogue Kingwood wooden grips, it's looking really sharp! Just as my original 659, my "new" one works great and can put the rounds right where I want them. I live in the Kansas City area, so if by chance, any of you might in this general area, please feel free to say hi and perhaps we can get together and squeeze off some rounds together sometime.

Once again, I just wanted to say hello and thank you all for what you've already posted here, I've really enjoyed your posts.

 

[Handgun Man]

My 659 is one of my favorite h-guns (it was like many now appearing on the market an old carry gun by the local police, ending up in a pawnshop), the weight and large grip make it a great shooter for medium to large hands. I've had mine since 98'
Do yourself a favor and only buy S&W mags, the aftermarket models are absolute junk (I know from bad experience). The only thing to show any wear on the entire gun has been the mag follower. New followers are available from Midway USA, pretty inexpensive so good for your rangebox. Do yourself a favor and use only SS recommended grease (like RIG). Gauling can occur on the slide to frame contacts (SS wears kinda weird) unless you have a thin coat of an approved lube. Don't count on regular gun oil for the barrel bushing, side/rail contacts and frame to barrel lockup areas.
Uncle Mike's at one time had a rubber over metal grip set, awesome and feels great on mine.
Count yourself lucky to have one with the original wooden sideplates, I've been looking at g-show's and online for years and haven't seen any. Will likely have to carve mine if I ever want any.
My trigger had a grittyness to it when unloaded. Old dirt and grease.
Flooding the mechanism with 1/2 a can of carb cleaner followed by a good squirt of CLP (call me old fashioned) smoothed everything and it's got a nice pull.
If you've picked up the gun you're likely very happy with the purchase!
Happy shooting!

If you're looking to find some nice wooden grips that fit the 659, I eventually found some really nice ones at Hogue, and they were quite reasonable compared to other grips I've seen. I believe they were appx. $39.00 for the ones I ordered. I chose the Kingwood grips and they really look nice compared to the original black plastic grips. No, I do not work for Hogue, but considering how long it took me to find some nice looking and reasonably priced wooden grips for my 659, I just thought I would pass it along to others who may he looking for something similar to what I found.

 

[TSQUARED]

During the standard capacity magazine ban (1994-2004) I purchased some pre-ban 15 round Triple-K magazines designed for the S&W59 and Marlin Camp gun. They have performed flawlessly in my S&W 59, 659 and 5906.

 

[W.E.G.]

Movie: Reservoir Dogs http://www.imfdb.org/index.php?title=Reservoir_Dogs

from http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...l-659-re-visit-update-pics.html#post135818422

Maybe this post will increase the demand...

 

[Strike1]

Love the 659

My girlfriend (now wife) bought me one for Christmas in 1985. It is still the best looking gun that I have ever seen. The thing is built like a tank, solid SS. It loves FMJ, there was one box of cheap Walmart JHP that it didn't feed but after I got through that all other ammo feeds great. It likes hot rounds, slide is heavy. The thing is too heavy for CCG (39 oz) but has no kick and is very accurate. I want a Kahr for a BUG and summer CC.

 

[sniper47]

Here is mine. It is wearing the discontinued Uncle Mike's rubber grip panels. I prefer these to the really nice nylon factory units. I hate to admit it, but I like this better and shoot this better than my 5906, which is my very first gun.

 

[Jerry944T]

I own one with 15 round preban mags marked for police only. With one in the chamber that's 16 rounds. I like it. I'm a Bullseye shooter so for me the trigger pull is heavy but smooth.

Mine sports Uncle Mike's grips, as seen in post 17, which are very nice in feel. BTW these grips are still available if you search the online gun auction sites. Most replacement grips are way thick. Uncle Mike's are not.

The 15 round magazines are readily available on the online sites as well. Do not consider anything but S&W magazines

I consider the gun reliable and accurate. I have a CCP but don't carry it because of it's weight. Of course the weight dampens recoil so it's a light recoiling 9mm. It resides in the door pocket of my car.

 

[weasle94]

659

My 659 went back to the factory 3 times , The last time for a cracked slide. They did not replace the slide,It looked like they milled it out and welded it and remilled it.I then sold it

 

[TripPowers]

I wanted to add I bought a 659 ( round trigger guard ) a couple of weeks for 300 . It was in utterly terrible shape. Completely filthy. It still shot fine but upon cleaning it & taking it down I found a crack in the cheap black plastic back strap/insert that holds the spring for the hammer , after messing with it a little it soon completely broke. I've had a hard time finding the part. I've called smith twice , numeric was out of stock but Jacks first gun parts had them in stock. Maybe I'll post some pics .