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imarangemaster

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Still working part time at the local gunshop. The owner is gone on vacation for a week, so I am running it for him.

An older guy (which is funny for me to say, as I am turning 70 in two months!) comes in and wants to consign a nickel 469 in 98% shape. He wants to buy a .38 revolver to replace it. Even if he sold for $500, after his 20% commission, he would only net $400, and would have to wait until it sold, etc.

Well, I liked it, so I offered him more than he would have made if he consigned it, even if it sold for $500. A deal was struck, and he put that towards a revolver. The 469 is now in Commiefornia's 10 day jail, so I can pick it up on the 15th. Now we are both happy!

As I have said before, I have a soft spot for the 469s, since I shot a pre-production sample in the early 1980s, that the S&W LE rep brought to the PD where I was a rangemaster in the 1980s. (We carried S&W Model 59s then). I have since owned two blued 469s, and several stainless 669 and 6906s, but this is my first nickel 469!

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The 469 is nickel plated, and has the early pebble-grain grips, so its fairly rare, I think, since the vast majority of early ones were blued. I emailed S&W customer support to get a born on date, and confirm it was nickel when it left the factory.

I am really happy with it. I may leave it locked up in my RV trailer for a travel gun.
 
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Very nice Model 469. Don't see that many in factory nickel plate, I think the satin nickel is a really nice finish for carbon steel that is to be carried. I always thought the high polish nickel finish on the 39 and 59 pistols was too flashy and garish for carry.
 
bigwheelzip said:
Nice gun, but if your employer finds out, he may not appreciate your actions in his absence.
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No, he won't mind at all. One, he is a friend of mind and appreciates me taking over the shop for 8 days so he can go on vacation. Secondly he lets us do it as a perk since we are not highly paid (I work for store credit). In two years of working there, this is only the second time.

S&W says the pistol left the factory in 1990, though Genitron says they stopped the nickel 469 in 1988.
 
bigwheelzip said:
Nice gun, but if your employer finds out, he may not appreciate your actions in his absence.
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The owner of the LGS that employs me has a STRICT policy against that. Technically the store owner was deprived his $100 commission for the gun being sold in his store. Another employee did that exact same thing when the owner was out. Got a gold 50 cal Desert Eagle for $700 from a woman who didn't know any better. Soon as the owner found out, he was gone. GARY.
 
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N4KVE said:
The owner of the LGS that employs me has a STRICT policy against that. Technically the store owner was deprived his $100 commission for the gun being sold in his store. Another employee did that exact same thing when the owner was out. Got a gold 50 cal Desert Eagle for $700 from a woman who didn't know any better. Soon as the owner found out, he was gone. GARY.
Click to expand...

Rules vary place to place and person to person within the same place. Just saying.
 
Nice find on the nickel 469. It sounds like you and the store's owner have a good working relationship. Often such an arrangement works well for employee and owner as long as neither abuses his side of it.

I have a question you can probably answer for me… is the frame (receiver) of that model the same as a full size nine mm or is the dust cover and/or the grip shortened? At a glance, it looks like a 459 with a short slide. "Inquiring minds…"

Froggie
 
Green Frog said:
Nice find on the nickel 469. It sounds like you and the store's owner have a good working relationship. Often such an arrangement works well for employee and owner as long as neither abuses his side of it.

I have a question you can probably answer for me… is the frame (receiver) of that model the same as a full size nine mm or is the dust cover and/or the grip shortened? At a glance, it looks like a 459 with a short slide. "Inquiring minds…"

Froggie
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S&W, unlike Colt and the clones of the 1911 Government and Commander models, did not shorten the dust cover on the compact pistols nor did they shorten the receiver's slide rails. S&W shortened the barrel, slide, magazine, and magazine well/grip, beavertail, and the rear of the slide and receiver were contoured to make them more rounded on the x69 and early 690x models.
 
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The original post was the Reader's Digest version. The long story is that the owner had dropped off the 469 for the gunsmith we use to do a thorough cleaning and function check. I saw it there and told him if the owner ever wanted to sell it, I wanted to buy it. The gunsmith told the owner about my offer. When the owner picked it up from the gunsmith (he works out of our shop), I was there, and told him I was the one who offered to buy it. He said he would sell it. Then the rest of the story happened.
 
I have had a couple blued 469s, two 669s, and even a couple 6906s. The 6906s shot better and have a better grip, but the 469 has a retro cool factor, as well as memories of shooting the original 40 years ago (when I was young and had hair!)
 
I was rummaging around in my ammo closet and for about 20 rounds of 1990 vintage Speer Lawman 100 grain JHP (truncated cone shaped hollow point), that I used to carry as duty ammo and in my first 469 I used for off-duty wear. It was pretty zippy stuff at over 1300 FPS, IIRC. It was a really great load, and our 1st gen Smiths really liked it.

I may load a 469 mag full, and carry this for concealed occasionally, just for old times sake. The memories.
 
I always liked those 1st and 2nd gen guns…had a couple similar but 3rd gen dao in the 6946 which was amazingly accurate and had an incredible double action pull…and then another called the 4053 in single stack alloy frame though-it was really a chopped large frame like the 1006 or 4506 cut down to compact…that one is a popular model that folks sometimes convert to 10mm successfully and safely…..me, I just buy a dedicated 10 mm lol…anyways, congrats on a fine looking and interesting piece of Americana-thanks for sharing
 
I have had a soft spot in my heart for S&W automatics since I first fire a Salinas PD officer's Model 59 at the POST Academy in 1975. I bought my own in about 1976/77, and then carried it as a duty weapon until the late 1980s. It was around 1982 while working as an officer and Range Master at a PD in the Seattle area (where we carried Model 59s), that I got to shoot a pre-production sample of the 469 that the S&W LE rep brought us to try.

I bought one as soon as they became generally available. Out of these last 40 years, probably the better part of 2/3s of that time I have had a 469, 669, or 6906. This nickel 469 is one that escaped me until now!
 
Hi, noticed you prefix TAD and out of curiosity checked SCSW 4th edition. Appendix B says that prefix reported shipped in 1984. The section regarding the 669 says it was introduced in late 1985 with TAK original prefix. It later says introduced in 1985 at SN TAE 0001. Either way, you got them beat! Curious what the factory will give as the shipping date.

Added: ok, looks like I'm confusing the 669 with your 469. Book says the 469 was discontinued in April 1989 with 97,261 produced. Some were satin nickel plated for Ashland Shooting Supplies in summer 1984 with SN prefix TAB.
 
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Factory gave me 1990 for shipping date! Thats a year or two after the 6906 was introduced.... My understanding is that they ceased the nickel finished 469s like mine once they started producing the the 669. Also, the early pebble finish grips would be correct for 1985, where a later 469 would have had the later grips with chequering insets.
 
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Interesting! How about this: Member DCW posted this pic of his 669 TAE 0001 in a 2019 discussion about this model (PLEASE let me know sir if I'm out of line reposting one of your pics). I know, I know, S&W didnt always assign SN's in alphabetical order. Still...
 

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I wonder if maybe it was issued in 1985, but ended up back at the factory, (maybe warranty?) and was reshipped in 1990? Maybe I should go through the process and get a factory letter.
 
My 10 day Commiefornia jail ends today, so Wednesday when I go to work, I'll pick it up. Just for grins, I grabbed my IWB holster for it, and loaded a mag with the 100 JHP Speer Lawmans, to use it for my carry piece for a few days, for old time's sake....
 
It's a lovely gun. The nickel is fancier than stainless.

I am really fond of the blue (black) 469 that I bought new in the mid '80s. I still carry and shoot it sometimes. A fine gun to use or just own.
 
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