Smith & Wesson decided to go forward with the Performance Center at some point in the very early 1990's... maybe 1990? Forgive me for lack of detailed accuracy. Exactly this stuff is the stuff that I crave but the details are seemingly non-existent. As best I can tell, the absolute details exist only the minds and memories of those good folks who were actually involved, or had working relationships with them.
The PC started with an idea to have a basic outline for a custom pistol and with a full menu of options where a buyer would commission a build, order it exactly how they wanted it and then the PC would go to work on it.
I believe that they figured out almost immediately that it wasn't a viable, profitable business model to do things that way, so they began coming up with models and hand fitting them, making maybe 150-300 examples and then they funneled them to distributors.
Most of us have heard of these distributors... the big guys like Sport South, Ellett Brothers, Lew Horton, Talo, RSR Wholesale and others whose name escapes me this moment.
A good example -- the 845 Limited. These went to Lew Horton. If you wanted an 845 Limited, you had to get it from Lew Horton. You couldn't get it from S&W and your dealer couldn't get it from S&W. Your dealer had to order it from Lew Horton.
Well the word from way back in the day was that alllllll the other much smaller dealers who had purchase agreements with S&W (but were nowhere near the size or scale of the BIG distributors) were getting annoyed or even angry that all of these amazing guns were trickling out of the Performance Center and none of the smaller dealers could get them unless they ordered from a big distributor such as RSR or Lew Horton.
The SD series (obviously now, the Performance Center "Stocking Dealer" series of pistols) included three models, the SD-9, SD-40 and the SD-356 and these were available exclusively to S&W dealers, likely larger retail stores but businesses that were much smaller than the huge wholesale distributors.
The SD pistols featured compact sized frames (6906) but made of stainless and not aluminum alloy, mated with a midsize, mid-length slide and barrel and the unique square muzzle design that also made an appearance on some of the later PPC-9 pistols.
Their size, the fact that they were all steel, the square muzzle and the radically different availability channel made these pistols a very interesting and unique subset of guns in the history of the Performance Center.
It's really only a two letter coincidence that every handful of months, someone mentions an SD-9 or SD-40 and other folks who aren't knee deep in Performance Center pistol lore honestly think they are talking about a polymer Sigma variant... which tends to make hardcore fans of the PC guns chortle and shoot beer from their nostrils.
Beyond the fact that the demise of the true Performance Center brings a tear to my eye... it's also a shame that while these three models are absolutely amazing, the PC didn't also make an SD-45. Had they done so, I think it would have distinguished itself as . THE . one of the four to own.
Alas, they did not. The SD-9 tends to be the most sought after, the SD-356 is obviously distinctive due to the capability and obscurity of the .356TS&W cartridge. The SD-40 comes in closely, but suffers from being a .40cal in an age where far too many like to treat it like a redheaded step child.
I don't wish to sound like I know it all, and I -HOPE- some corrections or additions can be made. I dig specifically this stuff more than anything in firearms, this is the center of my interest and passion. I constantly wish for a SCSW for only the PC guns, or a similar coffee table sized book that encompasses the absolute entire history of the Performance Center.
Every time I think of this, it feels like I'm going to have to write it.
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