S&W auto's

[WR Moore]

There's something I forgot to mention above...we did get to T&E the M&P40 prior to adoption. Going in, the attitude was "Another crappy plastic pistol." After trials, EVERYONE was enthusiastic about the change.

Following transitional training a very large number of our personnel went out and paid their own money for a personal firearm. That had never happened before. Not everyone bought the .40, but it was still an impressive vote of confidence.

VT, I hate to break it to you, but price does matter to a slew of folks. Yes, some folks are still making their old designs. While several types of firearms (1911, etc) have die hard fans, it'll be interesting to see how long those designs (other than icons) persist. All those makers have new designs on the market and the new US service pistol isn't metal framed.

 

[MattyD380]

A 4th gen Scandium framed 3913 at $1200 and I'd buy 3 of them!

Yes. Well, I couldn't afford 3. But sign me up for 1.

I think Smith (or someone) could make money with something like this. Unfortunately, it seems like there are easier ways to make a buck in the firearms industry... like PC editions of M&P guns and expensive 1911s.

 

[WR Moore]

By the way, while people are commenting about how certain other companies are able to make metal frame handguns at a profit, let's look at one.

The basic design of the Sig double action pistols was developed by Sweitzer Industrie Geschellshaft in the 1970s. They realized they had a possible winner, but Swiss law forbid export of the firearm/design. So, they did a joint venture with JP Sauer & Sohn to form Sig-Sauer.

Now, Sig and Sauer are, or are part of massive conglomerates, firearms are part of the mix. I'm not sure what the joint venture arrangements are, but neither parent is going to go broke if their joint venture isn't sufficiently profitable. Obviously, neither is their joint venture.

Not the same place S&W is. They're diversifying, but they don't have the massive backing that Sig-Sauer has. If they don't make money, they die.

 

[MWater]

I wonder if there's also a marketing aspect to it. The M&P is the successor to the third-gen and is supposedly superior. The marketing folks will ask how can we sell an "inferior" gun that costs more? The situations where this does happen, e.g. 1911, Beretta 92, Sig 226, CZ-75, etc, perhaps have more historical appeal than the third-gen does (for now).

Plus Smith is devoting all of their resources to a) CCW (the Shield is their bread and butter at this point) and b) trying to recapture the LE market, both of which pretty much rule out metal-framed guns.

 

[Sevens]

The M&P does nothing for me simply because I can't fall in love with Tupperware guns. I have nothing against the M&P (except that it is striker fired plastic) and I actually find it halfway decent looking and feels good in the hand, two big places where it beats the "Standard" (Glock, obviously)

I only say all that above to make it clear that I have no end-game if it sounds like I am attempting to "defend" the M&P line -- I am not trying to do that.

If you must pick a product of S&W to BLAME for the eventual death of the 3rd Gen, the M&P is absolutely NOT your target. The M&P has kept the lights on and noise coming out of Springfield.

If you have to pick the S&W that killed the 3rd Gen, it's going to be any/all of the 1911 pistols.

And yeah, I like a S&W 1911 also, that's for sure, but there's a hundred choices in the bloated 1911 market. If S&W had just skipped the whole 1911 deal, I think we'd have a much better chance to see continued 3rd Gen production.

 

[MattyD380]

Just in case anyone's interested... there's an unfired 5904 for sale on GB right now. Looks like it's kinda flying under the radar.

Carpe diem...

 

[FUBAR-M1A]

There are quite a few trade-in 5906TSW, 5904, 6906 & 6904 on there right now. Even mix of 1 mag & no mag. Most are older & all have quite a bit of finish wear but aren't priced too bad.

 

[Handgunner00]

S&W SS Semi-Auto 659

To add an interesting fact to this discussion: The Roy Jinks letter says my stainless steel 2nd gen S&W 659 shipped from the factory in April 1983 with an MSRP of $449.00. That computes to $1,110.69 in todays dollars. Photos attached.

 

[EBSF1911]

3rd. Gen prices???

Yeah, price is subjective. I recently gave 950$ for my gently used 1006 I don't remember how much I paid for my first one around 1990 (brand new). But in today's dollars I gave 1200$ for a new DW Razorback 10mm. (Getting DW's galling issues in the bargain), so I would gladly pay in the 1200/1300$ range for a brand new 10xx any model, but since I can't I will live with what I have to pay to get back a gun that I regret getting rid of in my youth. Actually I am happier with this one, my original one showed signs of galling on the barrel lug where it mates with the frame, my new one is just missing the adjustable sights, I happen to like those bulletproof looking sights