Model 469 - The original "shorty"

Found a neat one at the LGS today. It's a model 469, the original "shorty". Serial number is A862xxx, placing it in 1983, the first year of production, according to SCSW. I've been into the metal framed Smith autos for a while, but this is my first 2nd generation pistol. Couldn't resist for $200. No box, but did come with a spare mag. A couple of tiny rust spots on the slide, but cleaned up well. Runs and shoots great! Very accurate!

Make sure it passes the recall test - http://smith-wessonforum.com/139617057-post5.html

The 469 "Mini" That is a great piece of S&W history IMO. I have owned a couple of them in the past. They are nice little shooters.
It was S&Ws 1st attempt a a concealed carry semi auto. +1 on the above post recall test..
The 3rd gen 6904/6906 where much improved and the 3913/3914 brought a slimmer package in a single stack but that was 5 years later as I recall.
Congrats.

Thank you both for the recall information. Mine passes, thankfully.

mbliss57,

I agree with your summation completely. I happen to also have a 6906 and while it is much improved (mine has much larger and easier to see factory Novak night sights), the 469 is a great piece of history and still a great shooter. What's cool is the mags interchange between the 469 and the 6906. I didn't have a 2nd gen in my collection, and couldn't resist it for the price. What I can't understand is why no one wanted it. It sat for several months and was marked down 3 times. I guess everyone wants polymer. Smith was really ahead of their time because the current Sig P365 XL has pretty much the same specs (3.5" barrel, 12 shot mag) except for being polymer and striker.

Those are nice pistols. I have one I picked up surplus from the Indiana State Police in apparently unissued condition many years ago. It is a nice carrying and nice shooting weapon.

$200 with 2 mags! WOW.

While a great piece of history..... it's got grips like a 2x4.......traded mine for a 6906 ASAP

I agree with mbliss57, and a great price! What a steal.

I agree with all abut the 469. The accuracy exceeds expectations. I picked up my 1983 model in 2005. The previous owner had stripped the frame, removed the "hook" on the trigger guard, and checkered the front of the trigger guard and the front strap. It has one of the smoothest and triggers in double action and light in single action. It currently serves as my bed table gun, but my wife seems to have taken a liking to it.

My 469 has a ser # A8664##, so it’s just above the upper number on the recall list. Does anyone know what part was changed for the recall? Some of you may know how much I despise the hammer on the compacts, & that I replace them with hammers from full size guns, so I can cock the hammer for the first round. So on my Gen 3 4516, & 3913, I used hammers from a 5906, but on my 469, I couldn’t find a 459 hammer, so I used one from a 5904. No half catch on the 5904 hammer, so that problem is gone. So what part was changed on the recall? GARY

This was the gun that started my path down the SW auto obsession.

A LT in charge of the CID unit at a sister agency carried a 469. He bought it when they went from revolvers to semi autos and carried it till his retirement in 2012.

When last I saw him, he was still carrying it in retirement. Very nice gun. Regards 18DAI

N4KVE said:

My 469 has a ser # A8664##, so it’s just above the upper number on the recall list. Does anyone know what part was changed for the recall? Some of you may know how much I despise the hammer on the compacts, & that I replace them with hammers from full size guns, so I can cock the hammer for the first round. So on my Gen 3 4516, & 3913, I used hammers from a 5906, but on my 469, I couldn’t find a 459 hammer, so I used one from a 5904. No half catch on the 5904 hammer, so that problem is gone. So what part was changed on the recall? GARY

Click to expand...

I am also curious about the recall. My 469 is SN A845xxx and it is subject to recall and it does what the recall says it "isn't" supposed to do.

Frankly, I have no interest in sending it off to anyone. I've never had any issue with it. I'd like to know how critical this is.

Anyone have opinions?

I like my 469 a lot, but haven't shot it since I initially bought it. I need to get it out and get more time in with it.

My dept issued the 469 for several years to plain clothes and upper command. I had been carrying my personally owned 459 that had been tuned when I got my 469. I never cared much for the 469 and very rarely carried it. My 459 shot a lot better and even tho the 469 was the dept's gun I continued carrying the 459 until we went to the 3rd gen S&Ws. The 469 did not have the trigger nor as accurate and the sights were smaller than the 459. It was an OK gun but just wasn't my favorite.

Sevens said:

I am also curious about the recall. My 469 is SN A845xxx and it is subject to recall and it does what the recall says it "isn't" supposed to do.

Frankly, I have no interest in sending it off to anyone. I've never had any issue with it. I'd like to know how critical this is.

Anyone have opinions?

Click to expand...

I have an early 669 that I bought new. I discovered right away that you couldn't automatically engage the safety from half cock. I didn't realize it was a defect. I carried it on half cock and my routine at days end was to simply point the barrel in a safe direction and then carefully pull the trigger a smidge and engage the safety. Not a big deal. I did send it in for the "fix" when they announced the recall but I never really had an issue with it and wouldn't have ever "noticed" anything was "wrong" with it had they not sent out the recall.

So, how critical? For me it wouldn't be. I was fine with it the way it was.

That's a great deal for only $200.

My EDC is a 669 with a 6906 slide and better sights.

I Yam Wit Dat Guy, Sevens

Couldn't help but use an oldie but goodie.

I hated the 469 (of which over 97k were produced in its run) so much so that I've got six of 'em; another four Model 669 and (yep, still more) added three 6906s. I even went so far as to acquire two "RSR 6690s and one 4690 Transitional/s."

Then there is the loss of yet another 669 - among the purely suh-weet-test carry (and shoot) sidearms I've ever owned - to the TSA when I checked in for the starting leg of a business day trip and forgot it was in my briefcase.

Between that loss (plus a duty holster) and a $1,500 fine to Homeland, I figured it was the price one pays for not going to jail. (And no, being an ex-LEO didn't matter one iota. Even a local CoP of a large department got popped for improperly stashing his secondary on his ankle and missed his desired flight dealing with his transgression)

I at least didn't face prosecution but the whole deal was a huge professional embarrassment to me. I mean HUGE. A local, young LEO pissant started lecturing me on "ALWAYS knowing where your weapon is." Heck, that 669 and I were seeing action before he stopped crapping his diapers.

I'd like to make it clear that I was not angry with Homeland Security or its TSA: I plainly screwed up and paid a price I wished not to have paid. But the whole deal was on me.

Nevertheless, it's clear the originator of this thread got a darn decent deal for $200 and I congratulate him.

As for Sevens: The issue for the 469 recall revolved around the half-cock position. Like he, I'm just not into sending any weapon off for service as long as the issue is manageable - and I certainly believe such to be the case in this situation. Most of my 469s haven't had a projectile go for a trip down their barrels in years.

At sometime in the future - after I've kicked the bucket - someone else will have to wrestle with the subject. I hope he, too, will be disposed of managing the situation instead of sending it away to the Smith & Wesson of tomorrow. Hopefully, subsequent owners will be disinclined of returning any of my former 469s for the work until sometime in the 23rd Century.

Now THAT is something I'd like to see.

Later.

DC