I've been involved with shooting and guns for quite a while, dating back to when you could buy a HK91 for $160 - my first deer rifle. It seemed European guns were quite exotic then and my interest stuck in that rut for quite a while.
As with many, once past military service thoughts turned to what I had been issued. The CMP 1911 program was long ago, but recent news of the last 100,000 got my attention, right along with an Arizona Senator's submission they be scrapped, not sold. That got me to thinking they could very well sit for a while longer waiting for the waters to clear. And at the age of 63, waiting is something that is less justifiable than telling our children they should. Their clocks aren't ticking away so far past midlife yet.
What to do - no 1911's from the CMP, and for that matter, US Government marked 1911's aren't inexpensive.. A substitute was needed, and then thoughts turned to third generation Smiths.
What piqued my interest in the recent past was seeing a target sighted early 4506 or 645 being used as a service pistol in the series X Files. Mulder carried one for an episode or two, and it's unreported much to my casual look at the IMBD database. So an interest was kindled and internet searching finally conducted. First stop was trying to sort out model numbers - then researching the design and invention of the Model 59, leading to a blank wall when it came to the Army Pistol Trials of 1954 - which weren't conducted, but were the reason for the new gun.
Food for thought, Smiths were possibly going to be the successor to the 1911 - and ironically, based on the Walther P38. Forward kind of thinking there.
So, a search thru the models discovering barrel lengths, different frames, and what was purchased for whom, as many 3G's were intended for the police market and the backbone of what they did. Coupled with that checking pictures, which often led to auction sites and prices.
Low and behold, with barrel length and condition being important factors, along with caliber and recent manufacture, it seemed that at least with the .45 ACP models, the 4566TSW's were selling about the cheapest. And they weren't the most shot out on the market either, as the plethora of 9mm turn ins still crop up now and again, with Ugly Gun pricing as low as $215 at present. With .45 ACP guns going for a little as $300 buy it now for a 457 (I grit my teeth and passed on it) and the TSW's in the lower $400's, the pricing was just too opportunistic. Nobody makes all stainless .45's for those numbers and they are rarely available used. Except for 3G S&W's, due to their service and quantity.
Well, as I learned with Shelby GT350s in the mid 70s, and HK P7's in the 90's, that wasn't going to last and you can't wait around, no, not at all. The prices WILL go up I have no doubt. Inexpensive stainless auto pistols will see renewed interest in about 5 years as the current generation tires of black plastic and nitride finishes. The pendulum will swing to the other side.
The time to act is now - so I bid and won
Of course, I very well may have started something I shouldn't have, too, as my growing collection of other guns proves. But as it is MO and carry isn't restrictive why not? Winter is coming on and I already have holsters to fit - and I already wonder why but there it is. Something to do with thinking 1911's were on the horizon and carrying M9's on duty while in the Army Reserve. It will be interesting to see which fit. It also finally justifies buying that Safariland 1090 last year. No way would a sub compact 9mm ever work, it needs a large gun - one with no grip safety.
So here I am - a S&W owner after years of ignoring them, or even thinking they couldn't be as sophisticated as a German design. No, not so much - they are based on one, and certainly served well for a generation. It goes to not understanding what I was looking at - which was my initial perception with Stoner's gas system, another mistake which I have come around to correcting. He did do some interesting and very forward thinking work. And so did S&W, which at one time may well have led to it's adoption as a service pistol. It eventually was in limited ways, but that doesn't mean service with LEO's was any less rigorous or demanding. If anything most Army pistols sit in racks for months at a time, unless used by MP's, and like MP's, cops take them out daily in all kinds of weather and duty. Some of these guns certainly have stories to tell. And like military surplus guns, once sold off, it is a story we can only guess at.
Any way, as they say, I got mine. And glad I did.
As with many, once past military service thoughts turned to what I had been issued. The CMP 1911 program was long ago, but recent news of the last 100,000 got my attention, right along with an Arizona Senator's submission they be scrapped, not sold. That got me to thinking they could very well sit for a while longer waiting for the waters to clear. And at the age of 63, waiting is something that is less justifiable than telling our children they should. Their clocks aren't ticking away so far past midlife yet.
What to do - no 1911's from the CMP, and for that matter, US Government marked 1911's aren't inexpensive.. A substitute was needed, and then thoughts turned to third generation Smiths.
What piqued my interest in the recent past was seeing a target sighted early 4506 or 645 being used as a service pistol in the series X Files. Mulder carried one for an episode or two, and it's unreported much to my casual look at the IMBD database. So an interest was kindled and internet searching finally conducted. First stop was trying to sort out model numbers - then researching the design and invention of the Model 59, leading to a blank wall when it came to the Army Pistol Trials of 1954 - which weren't conducted, but were the reason for the new gun.
Food for thought, Smiths were possibly going to be the successor to the 1911 - and ironically, based on the Walther P38. Forward kind of thinking there.
So, a search thru the models discovering barrel lengths, different frames, and what was purchased for whom, as many 3G's were intended for the police market and the backbone of what they did. Coupled with that checking pictures, which often led to auction sites and prices.
Low and behold, with barrel length and condition being important factors, along with caliber and recent manufacture, it seemed that at least with the .45 ACP models, the 4566TSW's were selling about the cheapest. And they weren't the most shot out on the market either, as the plethora of 9mm turn ins still crop up now and again, with Ugly Gun pricing as low as $215 at present. With .45 ACP guns going for a little as $300 buy it now for a 457 (I grit my teeth and passed on it) and the TSW's in the lower $400's, the pricing was just too opportunistic. Nobody makes all stainless .45's for those numbers and they are rarely available used. Except for 3G S&W's, due to their service and quantity.
Well, as I learned with Shelby GT350s in the mid 70s, and HK P7's in the 90's, that wasn't going to last and you can't wait around, no, not at all. The prices WILL go up I have no doubt. Inexpensive stainless auto pistols will see renewed interest in about 5 years as the current generation tires of black plastic and nitride finishes. The pendulum will swing to the other side.
The time to act is now - so I bid and won
Of course, I very well may have started something I shouldn't have, too, as my growing collection of other guns proves. But as it is MO and carry isn't restrictive why not? Winter is coming on and I already have holsters to fit - and I already wonder why but there it is. Something to do with thinking 1911's were on the horizon and carrying M9's on duty while in the Army Reserve. It will be interesting to see which fit. It also finally justifies buying that Safariland 1090 last year. No way would a sub compact 9mm ever work, it needs a large gun - one with no grip safety.
So here I am - a S&W owner after years of ignoring them, or even thinking they couldn't be as sophisticated as a German design. No, not so much - they are based on one, and certainly served well for a generation. It goes to not understanding what I was looking at - which was my initial perception with Stoner's gas system, another mistake which I have come around to correcting. He did do some interesting and very forward thinking work. And so did S&W, which at one time may well have led to it's adoption as a service pistol. It eventually was in limited ways, but that doesn't mean service with LEO's was any less rigorous or demanding. If anything most Army pistols sit in racks for months at a time, unless used by MP's, and like MP's, cops take them out daily in all kinds of weather and duty. Some of these guns certainly have stories to tell. And like military surplus guns, once sold off, it is a story we can only guess at.
Any way, as they say, I got mine. And glad I did.
