The seductive Model 39s as collectors' subculture.

[gmborkovic]

Hello Keith, kind of! No, not at all. It seems if the factory sent blanks,
there are manufactures that could bore, and chamber them. Those German gun manufacturers have kind of a talent in that field.

 

[Green Frog]

I'm wondering whether there is a stash of replacement 7.62 barrels in some German warehouse. IIRC, you should be able to simply field strip the 9mm Mod 39-2 and replace the barrel. Everything else would still work (except maybe the recoil spring?)

I've never shot any gun in 30 Luger and don't plan to start at my age, but it would be an interesting "convertible."

Froggie

 

[PeteC]

I'm wondering whether there is a stash of replacement 7.62 barrels in some German warehouse....

There is a good chance there is one in the US. A long-time owner of a LGS told me recently that the factory sold off unused spare parts by weight a few years ago. As he put it, "by the ton", and a few people took the best advantage of it that they could. Some of them never sorted through all the parts, just took out what they wanted, and the rest are probably sitting on pallets in a warehouse somewhere.

 

[peterdeb]

Have any of the 39 lovers noticed the price of Factory mags lately?
Even the later plastic followers have taken a real leap.
Any thoughts?

I have also noticed that when buying a few. They ain't gonna get cheaper either IMHO.

 

[gmborkovic]

As a young lad, I was fortunate to visit the old warehouse of Inter-Arms,
in Alexandria, VA. owned by Sam Cummings. The pistol room was full of
everything. I remember he picked up a C-93 Borchardt.
So somewhere there is a stash of parts and pistols.

 

[Green Frog]

Well, I've intruded into several other threads with discussion of this project, so here's the summary.

Once I got my inherited 39-2 set up the way I wanted, I decided it was too nice to allow it to be abused, and with the aluminum receiver would be too easily damaged. My solution was to get a Gen 2 or 3 gun in 5XX or 6XX. I had an orphan 439 slide assembly in hand and decided I wanted to build a retro looking two tone, so I found a beater 639 and put the 439 slide on it. My old eyes are having a hard time with the little non-adjustable sight, but red fingernail polish on the front blade helped some. I tried to fit a 910 slide with better sights, but they are incompatible.

Anyway, now it's ready for its next trip out to the range and should be a good EDC so long as I'm wearing sufficiently bulky clothing to conceal it. I'm still working on accuracy, but I don't know whether that's a problem with me or with the gun... it is completely reliable though. It's been an interesting project and completely out of my field of experience, so several people on this forum have been very generous with help and advice. Thank you each and all!

Green Frog

PS The mag with the X is not bad... I just wanted to distinguish which one was added from the one that came with the pistol.

 

[gmborkovic]

Hey Froggie, looks like a nice clean project. Good shooting.

 

[NDFRC]

I usually find no markings inside a 39 slide that relate it to the frames serial number, what ensures that a given slide is original to the frame?

 

[gmborkovic]

Mr. NDFRC, true not numbered to frame. You have to kind of work off of characteristics and configuration of the the slide. Markings are a good hint as is the type of extractor. I guess there is no definitive way to prove that slide was fitted to that frame when it left the factory.

 

[NDFRC]

Thanks for the response..
I found a model 39, no dash with a serial number that starts with ‘A’
I didn’t think there are no dash 39s in the Axxxxxx serial numbers? But here’s one..
Thanks

 

[kwill1911]

That one was one of two (A120192) that shipped to Oshman's in Houston on 2/19/1970. It is correct. There are also a few Model 39-2 pistols without the alpha prefix.

 

[AJ]

This is sort of a Model 52/39 post. About a year ago a friend of mine was about two steps ahead of me at the local gun show. He stumbled into an extremely good deal. A gentleman was selling a Model 52 S&W with several magazines and a spare set of grips for $1100.00. My friend bought it. Then the gentleman said I will sell this spare upper in 9 MM with a couple of magazines that fit that frame for $200.00 more. That was a no brainer. Along with the whole set up came some paperwork. It seems the Model 52 was used by the Illinois State Police Pistol Team. Their armorer bought M39 uppers directly from S&W and fitted them to the Model 52 frames. The 39's do not shoot as well as the 52's, but still do pretty good. Wish I had been in the lead that day.

 

[gmborkovic]

That must have been one busy day on the 39 assembly line.
The final inspector was moving those guns to shipping. Get the invoices out in the mail and get paid. This was a titbit I was unaware of. Thanks Kevin.

 

[gmborkovic]

That must have been one busy day on the 39 assembly line.
The final inspector was moving those guns to shipping. Get the invoices out in the mail and get paid. This was a titbit I was unaware of. Thanks Kevin.

 

[NDFRC]

That one was one of two (A120192) that shipped to Oshman's in Houston on 2/19/1970. It is correct. There are also a few Model 39-2 pistols without the alpha prefix.

Thanks, does that mean A120192 would be technically the last known m39 no dash made?

 

[kwill1911]

No. As is often the case with S&W (and Colt, and others) there is not a clean break between old and new models on the numbers or the ship dates. There are higher numbers with Model 39 features and lower numbers with Model 39-2 features. There are also a few guns with "Model 39" roll marked and the "-2" added with a hand stamp through the finish. Even if one had access to the factory shipping records I think it would be hard to determine what "last" and "first" really means since features, numbers and ship dates all overlap.

 

[bigl1911]

This is the earliest SN I have..

 

[gmborkovic]

Beautiful pre-39. can not make out Sn.? Is the left grip panel correct?

 

[cougar015]

bigl1911,
You have one of the 20 known Class 'A' engraved pre-39's. There may be more but it's hard to know for sure with the records that S&W kept. I have traced the current owner of 9 of them (I have s/n 2152) however R. McMillan's s/n 1738 just sold recently at auction. Not sure who the new owner is. I have factory invoices for the 20 I mentioned but unfortunately, they don't include the serial numbers. Great gun to have

 

[cougar015]

Originally Posted by kwill1911 View Post
That one was one of two (A120192) that shipped to Oshman's in Houston on 2/19/1970. It is correct. There are also a few Model 39-2 pistols without the alpha prefix.

Kevin, knowing your expertise on these guns I'm sure it was just a typo but I believe the 2 consecutive serial numbered 39-2 pistols sent to Oshmans in Houston on 2/19/1970 are s/n A120182 & A120183.