I am the owner of a relatively rare Model 4596, which has served as my duty weapon and carry piece for years. Apparently, less than 400 of these pistols were made. I am interested to know the experience of other owners of this pistol with its reliability and durability. Thanks for any information you can offer.

First off, welcome aboard. If I recall, that 4596 was marketed as a Lew Horton gun, wasn't it? Squared off trigger guard? I believe I have a friend who uses one and I'll see what he has to say.

I moved your thread.
You'll get more info here.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Yes this was a Lew Horton gun. A 4506-1 frame matched with a 4516-1 slide. All of the 45XX series are excellent guns.As to reliability you are a testament to that, you carried this gun as a duty weapon.Somewhere between 380 and 500 were produced.

Thank you all for your responses! ...and, yes, the 4596 is a Lew Horton gun with a square trigger guard. The factory says about 380 were made all on the same day in 1990. I bought mine in 1990, which was as soon as the agency I was serving would permit .45s. I've carried mine since. In about 20 years of service and approximately 14,000 rounds, it has had virtually no malfunctions, stoppages, etc. and only one problem: Two months ago I noticed a crack in the main body of the safety/decocker. S & W replaced the part totally free of charge (they even paid the shipping) and returned the gun in about 15 days. I was astonished at how good their service really was! They did all that was promised in the warrantee, no hesitation or nonsense.

I'd like to know some more about these excellent weapons. (1) Why did Lew Horton have them made; (2) How many are still in service? (3) are other 4596 owners experiencing the same reliability in daily service? I'd be grateful for any information you can offer.

Welcome aboard.

Photos are always appreciated here.

Besides, I'm not certain that I've seen this variation before.

Thanks!

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N.R.A. BENEFACTOR Member

Not the OP's, but this is a 4596.

I'm saw one 9MM like that and they call it a SSV,

True. They made a 5903 SSV and a 5943 SSV (short slide variation). I believe both were two tone guns however. With the 4596 they just gave it its own designation. I suppose they could have named it the 4506 SSV.

check out the flattened slide stop lever and decocker lever. that is factory.

made for concealment?

That's pretty cool. Now I know I've not seen that model before. Thanks.

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N.R.A. BENEFACTOR Member

Thanks to all of you for the warm welcome to the new guy. Thanks especially to Handejector (Webmaster Lee Jarrett) for moving my inquiry to the place it needed to be. Palmetto Sharpshooter and Sniper 47 have suggested I post photos of my pistol. I will do that ASAP. At the moment I'm still having difficulties attaching photos (.jpeg files) to my postings.

Feel free to email to me and I will post it for you. Otherwise follow this tutorial here: http://smith-wessonforum.com/forum-o...tos-forum.html

Cool pistol, I've never seen one either thanks for the pic!

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Sie vis pacem parabellum

Thanks to mlk18 for the tutorial. Hopefully, this will work and you will find a photo of my 4596. The pistol was originally furnished with a straight backstrap grip. I discovered early-on that my accuracy in rapid fire strings could be improved significantly by substituting the curved backstrap grip available from the factory.

Good eye! Check out the later photo I posted of my 4596. Notice that my slide release and decocker are flattened, too, but not as flat as this one. In a production run of less than 400 pistols, this makes me really curious. I wonder if they just cobbled these together from parts on hand at the factory.

early guns utilized the thinner levers and then the more modern wider levers replaced them.

funny how times revert back. on a duty or plain clothes carry, I would prefer the flatter/thinner levers.

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.

hay mlk18 I was on gb and i saw a 5967 it look like a ssv from the pics , but they call it a 5967.

Thanks for the info. on your 4596! I've had a somewhat different experience: My 4596 has served first as my duty weapon, then as my carry piece for about 20 years with virtually no failures, stoppages or problems, save for a crack recently discovered in the main body of the safety. (S & W promptly fixed that free of charge and in a big hurry). I am a big fan of the 1911 design, too, and I own two of them, but I continue to be astonished at the robustness and reliability of the 4596. I first posted here to find out whether the other owners of this limited production gun have had a similar experience. Cheers and have a safe and happy New Year!

Thanks for the reply! I'd prefer the flatter, thinner levers, too, but that is not what was furnished with my pistol. I should be quick to add, though, that I regularly use my pistol as a carry piece and have not found it to be much of a problem.

I too, have the infamous 4596. However mine does not sport the combat trigger guard. For what I could find out they, at one time, changed the production. How they could do this in a one day production run is beyond me. There are more stories about the 4596 than there is about Bigfoot.

Nice 4596! Congrats!

The only ones I've ever encountered had silver hammers/decockers/slide stop. The black looks sharper, to me.

So they only made 300 of these, in one day only?

And all the trigger guards were concave? No rounded trigger guards?

I seem to recall an officer who had one telling me there were two runs of these. Anybody have more info? Regards 18DAI.

Capt Chumbucket,

We need a pic of your 4596. It sounds different that the others posted here.


Cat

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Think for yourself.

There is one on Gunbroker right now that has the original flash chromed hammer, trigger and levers.