You can bet your life on any second or third generation automatic pistol S&W ever made. I have a 659, 5906, 3906, 645, and 457. S&W had a rough start with the 59/39 pistols. Many of them jammed right out of the box and the word is that they were eventually fixed. Even so, they'd go off if you dropped them on their muzzle or hammer and a number of owners just got to the point they didn't trust the guns.
It was unfortunate because the 59 won the hearts of many who saw it. And what was there not to like? A 15-shot magazine with one up the snout. It didn't take long before unsavory stories to begin making the rounds. The gun was only designed to take round-nosed bullets and hollow-points wouldn't work. One gun magazine wrote a cover story asking why a $49 Raven .25 was better than a S&W 59. The answer, according to the article was: Because the Raven .25 worked and the Model 59 wouldn't.
The second generation pistol was as good as the first generation was bad. Safeties were built into the guns so that if you dropped them or removed the magazines the guns wouldn't fire. The 459 came in Number Two in one of the military trials, malfunctioning only once in 952 times (average). This was astounding performance that completely overshadowed the Colt 1911, which failed, dismally. Alas, the Beretta 92 malfunctioned on an average of only once every 2,000 rounds and it easily won.
The 459 was soon followed by an all-steel version called the 559, and then the stainless 659, which won my heart. Then the 645 appeared and S&W salesmen gave demonstrations showing the 645 feeding empty cases! It convinced many that it would feed anything that could be stuffed into the magazine. Then the third generation appeared and the 5906 won a lot of hearts. Unfortunately, the weight and price of stainless steel gave way to the plastic craze. Still, the 457 won many converts and is still a prized find today. It's ugly black finish helped keep the price down, and the reliability and weight made it a good seller. Not only did it work, it worked well and was EXTREMELY reliable. (Most 1911s needed work out of the box to be reliable, plus they were extremely expensive.)
The 457 is an astoundingly great gun for its price, and if you get one you won't be sorry. It doesn't have the beautiful S&W bluing, but it works and works well. And with a little practice you can get quite good with it. The stainless 9mm models are gorgeous and I also recommend those.
