Got bit totally by accident. I've never been a fan of TDA and as far as I knew, that's what S&W built. I quit looking at them during the 39/59 years and was only vaguely aware that they'd been updated with things like 459/669, etc. Didn't know squat about all these 4-digit things, but figured it was just more of the same.
Shortly after Sandy Hook I was digging through piles of stuff trying to decide what to buy/what to sell, and I found eight stainless steel 59xx series magazines I really didn't know I had. Nice S&W factory mags. They seemed too good to sell, but too valuable to keep as long as I didn't have anything that took them,................so I looked into options. Pretty much discounted the S&W pistols out of hand and didn't care for the Kel-Tec. Looked around for a bit for a Daewoo but didn't find one quick enough. Somewhere along the line I discovered the S&W DAO pistols and that solved my original dislike for the 3rd gens. Bought a 5946 and 6946 pretty quick(had two of the 69xx mags in my stash as well), but before either of those two got delivered I found a 915 at a screaming deal and bought it just to have. Suddenly I found myself feeling under-mag'd, so started looking for more magazines. Best deal I could find was a package of new in packaging Mec-Gar 15rders, but it was all or nothing. Had to buy the entire lot of 60 magazines. Well, now I'm over-mag'd and the only solution to that particular problem is to buy more pistols.
Then it occurred to me that it would be wise to duplicate my S&W 9mm collection in .40 caliber(since you never know when 9mmP ammo might be discontinued). Played the same balancing game with the .40 cals,.........not enough mags/too many pistols,...........too many mags/not enough pistols. Thankfully my 4586 came with three mags and several more popped up pretty quick otherwise I'd probably be knee deep in .45's as well.
Then I got started with single-stack 3rd gens and made a short side trip into the 39-2's, but I've slowed down a bit lately. I'm still looking for a couple of representative 2nd gens and my 3rd gen collection still has plenty of holes in it, but the pile is impressive enough to keep me happy. Still looking but not finding the deals I was 12mos ago. Probably my own fault,........I think I drove the prices up completely on my own. 30 pistols in 18mos. 150-200 magazines. Holsters for all,.............and then some. The DAO pistols are hard to find leather for since the elongated slides don't work with hammer straps designed for the xx04/xx06 series pistols, but I've found they're generally a good fit in SIG holsters.
I am, perhaps, the world's poorest S&W collector. 
A brief buying spurt fueled by concern over our pending "gun violence" legislation has now ended as things don't look as terrible now as originally proposed.
