So I was looking at pictures of a 39-2 I'm thinking about buying and something just kept making me feel like something was off about the gun. Well after about 20 minutes of me staring at the pictures I finally figured it out. The slide is blank. All of the other S&W semi-autos I've owned or looked at had "SMITH & WESSON" and "MADE IN THE U.S.A........." stamped into the left side of the slide. This one is completely blank/smooth (except the serrations just in front of the safety). Is this normal? Everything else looks right. It's serial number is A2341xx if that helps.

Any and all advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Do you have any Photo's that you can post?

baldeagle8888

That's not normal. It should be roll stamped on both sides of the slide.

Here is a pic. Sorry it is not that great.

Attached Images

32-2 slide.jpg (20.1 KB, 165 views)

Looks like a re-finish to me, a really poor one. That may explain the anomaly. Better pics would probably solve the mystery.

That's the first thought that popped into my head. Took about 0.1 seconds to come to that conclusion.

Ok. That's kinda what I thought. Thanks for the confirmation guys.

Never saw a refinish done with a bench grinder.

Rather than start a new thread, I have another question regarding nickle Model 39-2s. I am not real familiar with these semi autos but I have owned a nickel 39-2 for many years. My gun while nickel, has most of the assembly components blued. The rear sight, hammer, extractor, safety selector, trigger, trigger pin and the hammer pins and frame plate are all blued on my gun. I was just looking at another nickel gun that only had a blued rear sight and trigger. Was there this much variation on the finish of the components with these guns ??

Yeah, that's a real prize, there. "Don't buy it" is the advice you would get from me.

Wow. Someone polished the foo out of that.... I wonder if removing the rollmarks was intentional or just the consequence of a very enthusiastic soul with access to a grinder?

I have a couple of nickeled guns: they're the same as yours. However the 'no dash' 39s often have a bunch of those parts nickeled. Someone who is an expert on 39s may show up and explain this.

The other one I saw with the nickel parts was also a 39-2?