S&W 59 ??

3

3 gun

New member
Just added a clean 59 to my small but growing collection. Had a 39 20 years ago whos claim to fame was the ability to feed empty cases from the middle of a mag!! Highway patrolman made an offer I couldn't turndown :eek: after seeing it for himself. So I have high hopes for this 59. UMC 115 ball grouped around 4"@ 25yds,about as well as I can hold from a bench W/O bags. So thing are looking good so far. Now the questions. What are the strong and weak points to the 1st series 59's? Will they handle +P loads OK? Is this the S&W policy or opinion? Where can I get standard 15 rd not the PC 10rd mags and what will they run? Thanks.

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Be careful around a man with one gun,he'll know how to use it.
 
The 1st generation guns are not equipped with a firing pin block. Yes, I'm personally aware of a UD due to lack of one, in that case a model 39. I believe that carrying with the safety engaged will also lock the pin from forward movement to help prevent this. These guns were designed around the time of Lee Jurras and his Super-Vel ammo; it should do just fine with anything modern that will feed it reliably IMO. S&W mags should be able to be found at shows reasonably priced: compared to Glock/Sig/Berretta mags. Take your gun and vigorously cycle the slide to make sure they work/lock w/o fail. :)
 
3gun,

I own one of these monsters but haven't shot it in about fifteen years. I UD'd it while manually cycling a full mag thru it and took out my sealy posturepedic. I gave up trying to find ammo that it liked and the differance between the first double action trigger pull and the second round was too extreme for my liking. Good luck with yours.

RECOIL >>>>.....
 
I bought a Model 59 back in the mid 1970's when they were (at least as far as I knew) about the only high-capacity double-action 9mm. I've still got it, and it still works fine. I've treated it pretty roughly - I used to leave it in the trunk of my car, and it got wet and the outside of the slide rusted pretty badly (didn't affect the inside of the gun or its functioning). Since then, I've given it little care, but frequently bring it along when traveling, etc. I think its a decent gun.

I bought some Mec-Gar magazines for it at a gun show last year that hold (I think) 17 rounds. The S&W magazines I had would hold 15 (S&W advertised the capacity as 14, but they would always take and function with 15 in the mag plus one in the barrel). The Mec-Gars appear well-made, but I haven't tried them yet. They have what appears to be a thick plastic floorplate (maybe 1/8" thick). These mags don't stick out much more than the standard mags, but the flaps on my old magazine pouch won't close over them. I know Mec-Gar also makes 15-round versions. And I've picked up a couple of S&W originals in a pawn shop. All cost me about $25 each last year.

Doug

[This message has been edited by DougB (edited February 20, 2000).]
 
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