Devel 39 Range Report

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mbliss57

mbliss57

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I took my new to me Devel 39 to the range today (finally).
I was very impressed. I also took the 3914. As much as I like the 3914...The Devel has a much nicer trigger and the sights are easier to see. Of course there is the cool factor too. There 310 model 39 Devel full conversions...and thousands of 3913/14s. I love it. If it weren't so expensive and irreplaceable I would carry it daily...






 
You sir just made me drool. Devel and ASP both are on my bucket list. Or you just sent me yours. Send it now ;)
 
"Expensive and irreplaceable" - I think that describes your life, not your gun.

Of course, if you think one of the others can do as good a job of saving your skin then there's no sense mooning over the one at home in the safe.
 
Buford57 said:
"Expensive and irreplaceable" - I think that describes your life, not your gun.

Of course, if you think one of the others can do as good a job of saving your skin then there's no sense mooning over the one at home in the safe.
Click to expand...

Well in the material sense it is irreplaceable. They only made a few hundred.. Much like a SW 1046 10mm. But as detriment to my life if it were lost/stolen or broken beyond repair...it's very insignificant.

As far as it saving my life over a 3913/14 or any other CCW..I am a much worse shot/marksman under duress than the inherent accuracy/ease of shooting will ever make a difference. I just hope I have practiced and studied enough that if that day ever comes I have the "where -with- all" and wits to make quick and accurate decisions and shots.The difference between the Devel and the 3914 is not nearly enough to compensate for my inadequacies.
 
A full devel conversion 39 is a rare thing. Yours seems to be in great shape. It doesn't even have the crack in the plastic grip window under the screw. I'm sure it wasn't cheap but you have a grail gun there, enjoy it responsibly and it should be a lot of fun too.
 
Nice. The DEVEL guns are great to shoot. I have taken mine to our semi-annual qualifications a few times. They always garnered a lot of: "What the heck kinda gun is that?". (An expensive one.) As much as I enjoy my 39, I like my FH 59 even more. Because the grips are so thin, the gun doesn't feel much bigger than its reduced capacity counterpart. My 59 also has a better trigger, but I suspect that it because it was carried and used a lot more than the 39. Congrats on a great purchase.
 
FirebirdV8 said:
A full devel conversion 39 is a rare thing. Yours seems to be in great shape. It doesn't even have the crack in the plastic grip window under the screw. I'm sure it wasn't cheap but you have a grail gun there, enjoy it responsibly and it should be a lot of fun too.
Click to expand...

Those cracks are there.. just good or bad photography. I almost passed on it because of those little cracks. They are circular like a BB hit a car window. Or like when you tightened the screw down the plastic cracked..
Then I figured based on the design and small # made it was probably a design flaw. So there would be only a few safe queens with out them. That changed my mind and I bought it anyway..character marks.
There was a LNIB 59 but the Grips on the 59s are put on with a design that fixed this issue. Another reason I figured this must be a common problem.
 
Bliss, what materials is it made of? And was the clear sided grip designed just to look different and cool, or was it for a purpose? Interesting pistol, and handsome in its way. What were some of the other differences it incorporated other than the sights, fluted slide, and grip? Anything internally that makes it nice? I guess this was wayyy before the Performance Center, so were these a special production item that would have been comparable in its day to the later PC guns as far as hand-fitting, etc.?
 
vigil617 said:
Bliss, what materials is it made of? And was the clear sided grip designed just to look different and cool, or was it for a purpose? Interesting pistol, and handsome in its way. What were some of the other differences it incorporated other than the sights, fluted slide, and grip? Anything internally that makes it nice? I guess this was wayyy before the Performance Center, so were these a special production item that would have been comparable in its day to the later PC guns as far as hand-fitting, etc.?
Click to expand...

The grip windows allowed the operator to see the amount of rounds remaining. If I recall correctly, the corresponding windows in the magazine were cut by a LASER. The 39 grip windows do crack; the solution is to have a set of NOS grip windows in your collection (I actually found a set of these). As far as internal modifications, the Full House DEVEL 39 had a small roller at the top of the feed ramp. Some say it was to aid in feeding, but I'm pretty sure it was to keep the top round of the magazine from moving forward under recoil. (I believe Accu-guide Dimples in some S&W magazines perform the same function)
 
vigil617 said:
Excellent article, Grog! I learned a lot from it, and now I understand the ASP and Devel pistols much better than before. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!:)
Click to expand...


I found it in a quick search, more detailed info that I had known too. I saved it as a PDF for future info :D
 
As a young cop in the middle to late 1970's, I read all of the articles on the Devel and ASP handguns and really wanted one of them.....but it was not to be on a young cop's salary back in those days!

Anyway, Congratulations on obtaining one of the handguns, that I always really wanted...... They really are a "Work of Art"......

Also for my 2 cents worth, I would shoot it and carry it... What a great carry gun it would be !!!
 
Grip material Micarta

vigil617 said:
Bliss, what materials is it made of? And was the clear sided grip designed just to look different and cool, or was it for a purpose? Interesting pistol, and handsome in its way. What were some of the other differences it incorporated other than the sights, fluted slide, and grip? Anything internally that makes it nice? I guess this was wayyy before the Performance Center, so were these a special production item that would have been comparable in its day to the later PC guns as far as hand-fitting, etc.?
Click to expand...

This is the best article I could find on Micarta. The red part of grips are made of Micarta with what I believe to be clear lexan in the middle to have a see through window. It's from The High Road Forum April 2005 by dfariswheel

"Micartas aren't' "just" plastics.
Micarta is layers of wood, canvas, linen, or paper bonded together.

To produce it, sheets of material are impregnated first with colored dyes, then with a phenolic resin.
The sheets are then stacked together to the desired thickness. The stack is put under tremendous pressure and heat, which bonds the whole thing into one solid sheet.

The advantages of Micarta are, it's pretty well impervious to weather, most oils and solvents, and is EXTREMELY durable and tough.

Since it's made up of thin layers, the more angles and cuts you make in the material, the more the "grain" shows.
In the wood micartas, this can make extremely fancy grips, in which the actual wood sheets themselves are fairly plain wood.

Canvas Micarta makes extremely durable grips, with a natural rough texture which offers a good grip, without checkering.

Linen Micarta, made from linen cloth, makes fine-grained material that can be polished to a glossy surface, or checkered.
This was the earliest of the micartas, and usually came only in dark reddish brown, which was used in electronics, for which purpose Westinghouse invented it.
Today, it comes in black, green, maroon, brown, and some multiple colors like maroon layers with other colors intermixed.

White paper Micarta is the closest synthetic to real elephant ivory.
Since ivory grows in thin layers, the thin layers of paper Micarta have a grain that looks very much like real ivory.

Micartas are sold under a variety of trade names, including Dymondwood, Pakkawood, Westinghouse, and others."
 
I also found this article under images so there really wasn't a link to post. HOpefully it will come out OK.
This explains what the full house 59 conversions did. Per an email from Wayne Novak Devel made 318 Full House 39s and 234 full house 59 conversions.









 
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