Tag: Smith and Wesson 9mm

Adios, Mi Amigo!

Well, I had a good day on the range until my Model 59 broke.  It’s the gun my father bought for me before I went overseas and I’ve had it for 50 years.  I was having fun and I’d just fired 80 rounds at a 25 yard target.  I went to put the next magazine in and it wouldn’t seat.  Uh oh.  When I pulled it out, the piece you see above fell from the magazine well.  I pulled the slide release, dropped the slide, and wowee.  This wasn’t good.  Or maybe it was (more on that in a second).

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Ugly, ain’t it?  Surprisingly, the surface fractography doesn’t look like a fatigue failure (there are no characteristic beach marks).  I make it to be a brittle failure.

The photo below is my beautiful jeweled Model 59 barrel, all dressed up with no place to go.  The arrows point to the ramps on either side of the chamber (the photo below shows the ramps on the left side).  Those ramps are what smack into the aluminum frame with each shot.

The arrows in the next pic point to the matching right side of the Model 59 frame.  Note the worn area.  It’s where the barrel ramp contacts the frame ramp when the gun recoils.  That ramp (along with the mating ramp on the barrel) drops the barrel slightly to disengage it from the slide when the slide moves to the rear.  You can see this area took a beating over the last 50 years.  The photo shows the opposite side of the frame, where it didn’t break.

You might think I’m mad at the gun, but I’m not.  I have a good dose of mechanical empathy.  Imagine you are that aluminum ramp on the Model 59 when a 9mm cartridge lights off and the barrel is recoiling toward you at speed.  WHAM!  Do that 20,000 or 30,000 times in a row and think about how you would feel.  Nope, the Model 59 did its job for 50 years.  I can’t be mad at it.

You read that right.  I had 50 years of fun with my Model 59 on the range, carrying it on hunting trips, keeping it handy when I felt I needed to, and on one occasion, threatening a late night marsupial Sue thought was a burglar (the ‘possum was not impressed).  I’ve fired between 20,000 and 30,000 rounds through my Model 59 (a guess based on how many boxes of 9mm I’ve reloaded). Very few of these (maybe none) were light loads, as the best 9mm accuracy is at the top of the spectrum. From what I’ve found in the endless stream of what passes for information on the Internet, semi-auto aluminum handgun frame life expectancy estimates are around 10,000-20,000 rounds, so I’m in the zone.  Maybe I’m even ahead of the game.

I figure the cost of my reloaded 9mm ammo is about $.15 per round, so if I fired 20,000 rounds through this gun, that’s $3K in ammo.  Dad paid something like $135 for the Model 59 back in 1972. Ignoring inflation, the ammo costs make the gun the least expensive part of the deal. Somehow that makes the fact that my Model 59 is toast slightly less bothersome. I probably could part it out (grips, slide, barrel, jeweled parts, etc.), but I don’t think I will. My buddies suggested putting it in a wooden frame and hanging it on the wall.  That sounds like a good idea. I guess I can’t bitch too much.  50 years of service ain’t too shabby.

Some of you might be wondering why I don’t just get the gun repaired.  It can’t be fixed; even Smith and Wesson told me it’s a goner.  They didn’t offer to buy it back like Ruger did when I wore out a .357 Mag Blackhawk, but hey, Ruger is Ruger and Smith is Smith.  One of my friends said I should buy a new 9, and I’m ahead of the curve on that, too.  I bought a SIG P226 Scorpion a year or two ago.  The SIG is the finest 9mm handgun I’ve ever owned, a worthy successor to the Model 59.   If it lasts 50 years like the Model 59 did, I’ll be 120 years old and I’ll feel like I got my money’s worth with it, too.

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The Model 659 Smith and Wesson

After reading one of the blogs I posted on my most capable, TJ-customized  Smith and Wesson Model 59, good buddy Tom commented that he had a Model 659.  “I always wanted a Model 659,” I said.

My custom Model 59. I’ve been sending lead downrange with this one for close to 50 years.

Well, you know how these things go.  One thing led to another, and now I do.  Own one, that is.  A Model 659. Tom gave me a super deal on his Model 659, and after a visit to an FFL dealer and waiting the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia’s obligatory 10-day cooling off period, I had (in Kalifornia’s infinite left-leaning wisdom) chilled sufficiently.  I took possession of this latest addition to the ExNotes Armory, and let me tell you, this new-to-me 9mm is a honey.

My 659, along with a few 9mm reloads. The 659 has an ambidextrous safety. Mine also has Pachmayr grips, which make it easier to get a good grip.

The Model 659 was the follow-on in Smith and Wesson’s 9mm semi-automatic handgun evolutionary arc, and it sold riotously well. The 659’s all stainless steel construction gives it a comfortable heft and provides a stable firing platform.  High capacity, 9mm, stainless steel, and an American manufacturer with a storied reputation:  What’s not to like?  Police departments turned to the Model 659 in droves.  It was the right gun at the right time as police departments abandoned their .38 Special six-shooters and moved to 9mm autos.

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As the police armament evolution advanced, the Model 659 Smiths were superseded by yet even newer wunderguns, and used 659s became widely available when the police departments traded them in.  I don’t know that this is my 659’s heritage, but I suspect it was.  My 659 was well worn externally with lots of fine scratches in the metal work, it didn’t have hardly any internal wear (it hadn’t been fired much), and the safety decocker didn’t work the way it was supposed to.  All these things were signs that pointed to lots of carry but little actual shooting.

First, the safety decocker.  It’s that gizmo on the rear of the slide that drops and blocks the hammer, and on mine, when it was fully depressed, the hammer wouldn’t drop the way it was supposed to.   I guessed it wore out from having been actuated a ton of times, which is probably what happened when whoever carried it put it away for the night every night.  This issue was slightly complicated by the fact that Smith and Wesson no longer supports these pistols (that’s the bad news).  The good news is that the old Numrich corporation purchased Smith and Wesson’s entire inventory of Model 659 parts (Numrich is now known as the Gun Parts Corporation, but everyone still calls them Numrich).  That’s where I found what I needed.  Numrich has exploded drawings of these (and many, many other) old guns on line, and you can dope out how older guns work and identify the parts you need.  With the help of their isometric drawing below, follow along with me as I explain how this safety decocker thing works.

The 659 Smith decocker is activated by a thumb lever. It’s Find No. 1 in the above drawing. The thing fits into a through-hole at the rear of the slide.  When you rotate the decocker down to the safe position, a slot in it pushes the sear release lever down, which is Find No. 63 in the above drawing.   When that happens, the sear release lever rotates and acts on the sear, which is Find No. 29.  When that happens, the sear releases the hammer (Find No. 61).  When the hammer falls, it can’t hit the firing pin because the hammer’s fall to the firing pin is obstructed by the decocker having been rotated to the safe position (which brings us back to Find No. 1). It’s all very clever.

So, like I said above, when Smith went to their newer series of handguns, they sold all their remaining parts inventory to Numrich. Numrich had the new sear release lever, and it was only $4.50.  Weirdly, I could have bought a used part from Numrich for $3.50, but the used part would be worn and it would probably not correct the problem I needed to fix (a problem which resulted from wear).  It was a no brainer to me, so I splurged for the extra $1 and bought the new part (I’m cheap, but I’m not stupid).  My new safety release lever arrived in the mail a few days later.

The 659’s original safety release lever. This one was worn beyond serviceable limits and I bought a new replacement. The upper arrow points to the part of the safety lever that rides along the decocker drum. The lower arrow points to the part that actuates the sear. It was this area (the area designated by the lower arrow) that needed to be fitted to assure proper function.  That .22 Long Rifle cartridge?  It’s only in the photo to provide a sense of scale.

When the new sear release lever arrived, I had to strip the gun down to the bare frame.   I installed the new sear release lever, but it needed to be fitted so that it actuated the hammer drop at the appropriate point in the decocker’s rotation.  It was a matter of assemble the gun, try it, take it all apart again, file the sear release lever a little bit, reassemble the gun, try it again, and repeat the process until the decocker worked the way it is supposed to.  The whole thing took me about an hour of disassembling, testing, filing, and reassembling.  I like doing this sort of stuff.  I imagine it’s a lot like resurrecting a 900cc Kawasaki.

The next step was to go to work on all the minor scratches on the gun’s slide and frame.  That’s one of the great advantages of a stainless steel firearm.  With a little bit of 600-grit sandpaper, you can keep a stainless gun looking new forever.  I was really pleased with the way this one turned out.  It looks like a new gun now.  Nah, scratch that (pardon the pun).  I think Smith finished these guns with 400-grit abrasive, which is a little rougher than 600-grit.  Mine looks better than new.  Polished, almost.  It really is a thing of great beauty.

My standard 9mm load is 5.0 grains of Unique behind a 124 grain roundnose bullet, and I’ve got a bunch reloaded and packed away in my ammo locker.  It’s an accurate load and it’s reliable.  Yeah, I know, you can buy 9mm ammo cheaper than you can reload it these days.  I don’t care. I like to reload.  Logic doesn’t always prevail when it comes to guns and ammo.

I grabbed a few hundred rounds and it was off to the range for me and the 659.  I was more than pleased with the results.  I didn’t have a single failure to feed, fire, extract, or eject, and the 659 is accurate.  It’s a lot of fun to shoot and the 9mm is a great cartridge.

50 rounds at 50 feet, fired offhand from the standing position. The 659 is a keeper. It’s a lot of fun to shoot, and the bullets go where you tell them to.  Nearly all shots were in the 10 ring, and only a few dropped into the 9 ring.  The shots that went low?  I mostly likely shifted my focus from the front sight to the target.   That’s what makes shots go low, and that’s the subject of an upcoming blog.

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I Never Got a Free Gun When Obama Was President

Foreigners have a hard time understanding America’s gun fetish. I admit, I have a little trouble with the craziness myself but that didn’t stop my wife from entering a local charity’s gun raffle. It’s like 50 bucks and they draw a winner once a month for a year. CT’s number came up and we are now the proud owner of a 17-round (with one in the chamber), plastic, meth-dealer’s friend, a Smith & Wesson 9mm.

The thing is a bit cheesy-looking with the plastic and all. Berk assures me it’s a good weapon and that it won’t explode in my hand. I’m a little leery of automatics as they give no easy indication of their status. Is it cocked? Loaded?  Who knows?  Give me a revolver any day.

When we picked the thing up at the Ace Hardware (they still sell guns at the hardware store in New Mexico) CT was entered into the store’s computer and in seconds the gun guy knew her entire life story. It was a bit creepy but I guess that’s the price we pay to keep tyrants at bay.

Coming from a revolver perspective the quantity of ammunition this thing holds is incredible. 16 rounds fit in the magazine, henceforth known as a clip just to piss off the gun nuts. Not only that but you can plop one in the chamber giving a total of 17 rounds! That’s nearly three reloads on my Smith revolver. It’s a lot of lead and with my aiming ability I need all the chances I can get.

We bought 50 rounds of ammo when we got the Smith and the clerk gave me a look that screamed Piker. “Is that all? Sure you don’t want more?” The S&W 9mm came with a nice plastic case that included the manuals and a second clip, meaning I can pack 33 rounds ready to go in a large jacket pocket. You won’t run out of ammo and have to throw the gun at any survivors with a Smith 9. This kind of legal firepower is what makes America the greatest country in the world. I better go pick up another couple hundred rounds of 9mm.

The Smith 9mm came with three different size grips to custom-fit the gun to your hand. The whole package is well thought out and it will be interesting to see if we can hit anything with all that ammunition. A trip to the gun range for a familiarization session is in order. CT will be taking a gun-specific class to learn about the new gun from shooting it to disassembling, cleaning and reassembly. I’d show her how to do all that stuff myself if I knew anything about it and didn’t yell all the time.

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