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12-29-2019, 10:47 AM
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Model 39 Aftermarket Mags? And another question...
I picked up a used Model 39-2 the other day that came with 7 magazines and a B-Square optics mount. What I'm curious about are the mags that came with it: 2 are factory mags, the other 5 appear to be aftermarket, with no markings, and 2 different styles of follower in them. They also have much longer floor plates on them than the factory mags, sticking out beyond the front of the grip. What I'd be interested in knowing is who made them, how reliable they might be, and why such a long floor plate? (Ease of reloading?) They honestly dont appear as if they were used that much, if at all. Pictures are attached below, the last two are of one of the factory mags for reference.
On a side note, this old gal has some minor condition issues, with minor pitting and finish loss. The most worrying thing however I discovered while cleaning the gun. I will note that the gun was filthy and caked up with enough **** to merit a full frame disassembly and detail cleaning. When I got to the slide however, after scrubbing the **** out of every recess, I dropped a couple drops of oil into the firing pin hole on the breach face, and depressed the firing pin a few times to work it in. When I did this, out came a blood red muck. It doesnt look like rust, and the firing pin itself still looks fine, but it has me concerned. Anybody have a quick and easy guide to disassembly of the the slide to remove the firing pin and spring? I've stripped many S&W frames, just never any slides.
Thanks and Happy New Year!
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12-29-2019, 11:18 AM
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Those non-S&W mags are ProMag magazines. They may or may not fit or function as well as genuine S&W mags. I would not rely upon ProMag magazines for anything other than range use, too much history of failures with ProMag's magazines. Why they put an extended floor plate on their Model 39 magazines is a mystery, as it serves no purpose.
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12-29-2019, 11:26 AM
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Mr, grw, I have found the S&W mags are marked on the base plate with S&W and some times 9mm. And there are short and long base plates.
The new followers are plastic and the older ones are steel, either flat or figure 8. Your other mags appear to be Pro Mag. Never owned one.
As far as slide and FP clean, been to long ago to remember.
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12-29-2019, 11:41 AM
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Removing the firing pin isn't all that hard. You'll need a couple of small punches, small screwdriver with a thin blade and possibly a gallon size zip-lock bag.
If you press the firing pin forward, you can rotate the safety/decocker down toward the "safe" mark while pulling outward on it. It should slide out of it's bore in the slide. You might have to wiggle it back and forth a bit. HOWEVER, there's a spring and plunger in the safety that you need to make sure you don't lose. That's where the large clear plastic bag comes in. Do your work in that.
Clean up the firing pin channel and all the various parts. Lightly lube and reassemble. Again, be very careful you don't lose the spring & plunger. The small screwdriver will be very handy for getting the spring and plunger into the safety bore. It gets a bit more complex when dealing with later generation pieces with the firing pin safety block.
You can check with gunpartscorp dot com for both skematics and possible magazine parts.
Last edited by WR Moore; 12-29-2019 at 11:43 AM.
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12-29-2019, 11:50 AM
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You can get new mags for it at Midway USA for $18.73 ea. They also have 9 round mags that will fit it for $10 more.
Never mind, those were Pro mags.
These claim to be factory original stainless 9 round mags for $28.53 ea
Smith & Wesson Mag S&W 39 439 539 639 909 952 3904 3906 3944 3946 9mm
Last edited by Bozz10mm; 12-29-2019 at 11:55 AM.
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12-30-2019, 08:55 AM
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I thought these might be Promags, however the lack of markings threw me off. Just glad they're not Triple K mags. This gun is to be for rage use only, so no real worries about function issues in a life or death situation, but still a sucky time at the range of the gun doesn't run right.
As for my other question on slide disassembly, I found a video on youtube that walks through the disassembly of 3rd gen slides. Would I be correct in my understanding that the process is essentially the same, save for the firing pin block and right side safety lever? An analysis of Numrich's parts diagram and parts list seems to suggest so as well. Can anyone confirm this?
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12-30-2019, 08:58 AM
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Yes the process is the same.
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12-30-2019, 08:59 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by squidsix
Yes the process is the same.
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Excellent, thank you!
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12-30-2019, 11:32 AM
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The "blood red muck" in the firing pin hole ... my first bottle of Lucas Gun Oil was a blood red color and rather thick . I wonder if the original owner had flooded the hole with thick red Lucas Gun Oil and some congealed in there .
I've always thought the Lucas Gun Oil looked , felt and smelled like Lucas Automatic Transmission Fluid !
Gary
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12-31-2019, 08:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stansdds
Those non-S&W mags are ProMag magazines. They may or may not fit or function as well as genuine S&W mags. I would not rely upon ProMag magazines for anything other than range use, too much history of failures with ProMag's magazines. Why they put an extended floor plate on their Model 39 magazines is a mystery, as it serves no purpose.
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Maybe the extended floor plates are an easy way to readily identify the ProMags from the original S&W magazines. Quick way to sort the "good" from the "bad".
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12-31-2019, 11:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BigBoy99
Maybe the extended floor plates are an easy way to readily identify the ProMags from the original S&W magazines. Quick way to sort the "good" from the "bad".
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That could be.
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01-05-2020, 12:08 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gwpercle
The "blood red muck" in the firing pin hole ... my first bottle of Lucas Gun Oil was a blood red color and rather thick . I wonder if the original owner had flooded the hole with thick red Lucas Gun Oil and some congealed in there .
I've always thought the Lucas Gun Oil looked , felt and smelled like Lucas Automatic Transmission Fluid !
Gary
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There's also a homemade clean/lube concoction called "Ed's Red" with recipes floating around on the internet. One of the components is ATF, which would also give you the red color.
The previous owner may have dunked the slide in some of that stuff and let it soak, but never got it all out of there.
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01-05-2020, 08:41 AM
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Update: I spent a couple hours today stripping down the slide to inspect and clean the firing pin and its channel. I got a little worried because the ooze started to seep out under the rear sight and out the rear of the firing pin, where the coloration took on a slightly brownish hue, making me worried that I actually had a corrosion issue.
Stripping down the slide was pretty easy, I did most of it inside a zip lock bag to contain the parts, yet I still lost and spent about an hour of the process searching for the detent safety plunger spring which disappeared when I gently plucked it from its recess. Turns out while I was looking all over the surrounding floor, it had falling into the firing channel and was still with the slide thank God!
I would also like to note: While the disassembly of the slide is largely the same as as the third gen guns, the big difference is with the location of the safety detent plunger. I was expecting the plunger to be located in the safety lever itself, as detailed in the parts schematic on Numrich's site and in the aforementioned video of third gen slide disassembly I found on youtube. Instead it is located in the right side of the slide (the side without the lever), hence how I managed to loose the spring into the firing pin channel.
Anyway, after stripping down the slide what I found was that the previous owner must have packed the channel with some sort of thick red grease. It was caked all over everything, and very sticky. The grease looked a lot like bearing grease, or like what you might find in a general purpose grease gun. I wonder if that may have lead to light striking issues with the amount packed in there... (grease induced hydro-lock?) I went ahead and thoroughly scrubbed everything clean and reassembled with a light coat of Rand HAWG grease, my preferred flavor of red grease for guns. Now, no more ooze, and everything is nice and smooth! Thanks all for the thoughts and ideas! It is greatly appreciated!
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Last edited by mainegrw; 01-05-2020 at 08:44 AM.
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01-05-2020, 09:23 AM
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When I had my 39 I bought an extra mag from Numrich. It's their brand new reproduction mag. Worked great.
But...for kicks I bought a ProMag knowing full well the history of PM's! To my surprise it worked great as well.
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01-05-2020, 09:52 AM
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I would not use any sort of grease in the firing pin tunnel area. If really worried about corrosion, a very, very thin film of oil, Corrosion X or Rem Oil.
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01-05-2020, 10:11 AM
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Lucas Red-N-Tacky is a red color , lithium bearing grease , very thick and sticky ...hence the name Red and Tacky .
It's an excellent grease and a probable candidate for what the original owner used .
Glad there was no rust and you didn't loose any flying small bits...I hate when that happens .
Gary
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Last edited by gwpercle; 01-05-2020 at 10:13 AM.
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01-05-2020, 10:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stansdds
I would not use any sort of grease in the firing pin tunnel area. If really worried about corrosion, a very, very thin film of oil, Corrosion X or Rem Oil.
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I used a very thin film, not much more than a little Lucas gun oil would leave.
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