First post, glad to be here. Just bought a Model 639 ss adjustable rear site in very nice condition. I think it is a later model with sn TAU5551 and has ivory white plastic grips. Can anyone confirm the year of manufacture and is it possible the grips are stock? Thanks for your input.

Welcome to the Forum,
Your pistol shipped with checkered walnut stocks with silver S&W medallions.
A pistol with a serial# prefix of TAU=1987ish

Welcome to the forum. An excellent purchase, the M639 much underrated IMHO.

I’m basically a revolver guy when it comes to S&W, so when I decided I wanted a “modern” 9mm, I looked long and hard and decided that the 639 came as close to perfect as I would find. Mine came with the fixed sights, but has also acquired a couple of other (blued) slides to become my “Franken-Smith”. I’d say you chose well. Welcome to the S&W Forum!

Froggie

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Thanks everyone for your input. I am looking forward for some range time with the new pistol. Seems like they have a dedicated following. It doesn't look to bad with the existing stocks, but I may search for the similar walnuts. -Brian

FYI, here's the 639 I purchased (I hope). Picking it up today.

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Other than the color, those look like the same aftermarket resin grips I found from Tillander Gun Grips for my 639. I use them so the original wood grips won't get scratched up and I prefer black grips on stainless pistols anyway.

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Definitely aftermarket stock panels. Tons of others are available if you decide you don’t like them. Like friend jsbethel, I prefer darker color grips on my stainless guns, but that’s why they come in different colors; you can get what you want. My original wood grips already had a few minor scrapes and dents, so they just stayed in place.

One important caveat. That screw that holds on the right side safety lever sometimes will develop an annoying tendency to loosen and eventually fall out, allowing the lever to fall off and get lost. On the slide I have with that style ambi safety I had to develop the habit of checking it fairly often until I finally put a drop of nail polish on the threads and solved the problem.

Froggie

Congrats and welcome to the forum! The 639 was the pistol that got me hooked on S&W autos in the mid-80's.

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Trey Gorbett, SWCA #3676

That's a later production Model 639 as evidenced by the hooked trigger guard. The stocks are not original. You might want to look for some S&W factory wooden stocks, but if you find the pistol lacking in grip, you can still find Pachmayr rubber stocks on eBay and they are often pretty cheap. As much as I like wooden stocks, I do think that rubber looks ok on stainless pistols.


Looking forward to reading a range report on this Model 639.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Thanks, I actually did order the Pachmayr grips for it on Ebay. Eventually I will order the factory stocks just to have, but they are pricey....

A 639 is the first S&W semi auto I bought , and it was from a buddy here . All I had was revolvers until one day I joined a discussion here in this section . I was PMed with an offer for a 639 and I bought it . I thought it was the greatest semi I'd ever shot . Soon I stared buying up 2nd and 3rd gen's , followed by my discovering PC's . It's been a great journey , though I wish I'd started earlier . You will find a lot of great people here and an awesome amount of info .

The factory wood grips with the ambi safety cut are not as plentiful either.

I have two they are great guns . Enjoy it and shoot it often.

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God save the SOUTH

I built mine. I have a 439 with a clear anodized frame, and just bought one of the pistol "kits" from a destroyed receiver pistol. 639 pistol minus the frame. Adj sights, and pristine grip panels with bronze/brass S&W medallions. And now I have a spare of everything.

I don't think I've seen a 439 with a clear/silver anodizing. All the 439's I've seen have been black anodized or nickel plated, just like the 39 and 39-2.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

While I don’t have anywhere near the experience with S&W autos a lot of you guys do, I’ve never seen any indication of a silvery aluminum receiver ever being available from the factory. It would look pretty cool though.

OTOH, it would also be simple to nickel plate a steel (539) receiver, but IIRC, they are less numerous than 639s, so “never mind. (in a high pitched falsetto voice)

Okay either I’m not exactly understanding what you’re saying or…

Every 3rd Gen they ever made that was an alloy frame gun with a stainless slide has a silver colored aluminum alloy frame. Easiest example is the 3913. Earliest example would be the Model 669. It’s evolution is the 6906. The 4013 is a .40cal example. The 4513 is a .45 chambered one. In the value line, the “S” Model, such as the 908-S.

Depending on the light and often on exactly how the picture captures the light or angle, it’s often quite easy to see on these models that the frame color and the slide color don’t really match. These alloy frames sometimes show a slight yellow hue, again, depending on the picture — but you can see it in person also.

Oh jeez. Re-read your post again and NOW I’m thinking that you meant you’ve never seen a silver color alloy frame in a 2nd Gen full size single stack.

Haha, it was the tiny bit about never seeing anything like that from the factory that got me all twisted up.