Single stack 9MM??

[Class III]

With the third Gen's the round in the chamber can not be fired with the clip out. Only using it for a hammer might discharge the round. Good only as a paperweight.

NOT TRUE!!! and not meaning to jump on you. Any 3rd Gen S & W can have the magazine safety removed resulting in a weapon that will fire without the magazine. Many LE agencies specifically ordered their pistols without the magazine safety, FBI 1076's, KSP 1076's, SOME Memphis PD 4043's... With all the LE Agency trade in guns floating around you never know what you may get until you test it.

Class III

 

[VTHokiesDuckHunter]

Class III brings up a great point about magazine safeties that may have been disconnected, but I would add another reason to make sure you get into the habit of always ejecting the round in the chamber when you drop the mag. So that you do get into the habit of always properly clearing a firearm. Almost all of us have or will have some other brand of pistol besides our 3rd gen S&W's and many don't have magazine safeties.

Also I wanted to say to the OP (and hopefully not start a war on caliber choices) that you might want to include the .40 caliber cousins of the 3913 variants in your search. Great guns, great caliber. I like and own 9mm's, 40's and 45's.

Besides the 3913/3914/3953 there is the 4013/14/53 series which are compact single stack .40's.

 

[seagill]

Any excuse to post a photo of my 908!

 

[Mack]

The mag saftey is another good feature I forgot about, My retired KSP friend said when he had the S&W 10mm they told him if he got in a struggle for his gun, he could hit the mag release and let the bad guy have the gun then go for his back up gun.

The only problem with this is even an unloaded 1076 is still a heck of a weapon in a close quarters fight.

 

[MackTech]

I have never owned a .40 however I have shot my friends issued Glock 22 (shooting PD issued ammo) alot and just didn't like the sharpness of the recoil. I have had all kinds of 9mm pistols, 10 mm Colt Delta back in 1993 and officer sized 1911 in 45 ACP. I guess I need to test fire a different 40 cal pistol. I would rather have 10 round of 40 or 45 than 10 rounds of 9mm but if I cant control the recoil fast enough to get back on target I will stick to the 9.

 

[three-five-seven]

response to mack tech

Hitting the target is job one! Glad you said this. I have never been in a gun fight and hope not to. However being able to hit and operate your pistol is more important than slinging big bullets past some perp. I think people forget this and I am sure there are instances where a bigger caliber would be better but hitting is just so important! It cannot be overstressed. I myself love my Glock 17 (9mm) but I also like my Glock 22. The 9 is gentle and you can put the rounds where they need to go. I do not find the 40 sharp but I recognize everyone is different. Use what you like and can use well. Just my thoughts. I like Smiths too.

 

[VTHokiesDuckHunter]

.40 S&W perceived recoil in a metal framed pistol vs. polymer

MackTech:

I generally don't find the .40 S&W perceived recoil to be that bad at all in most handguns.

But while everybody has different hand sizes, tolerance levels and so on, I think you will find that the weight and ergonomics of a gun like those in the 3rd generation S&W family make for a much more shootable platform for hotter rounds in general than do polymer framed guns. I've heard others say that the polymer framed guns "absorb" recoil which I don't personally believe to be the case.

 

[BruceB]

There's nothing like a big lump of stainless to absorb recoil