Dragonfly
Member
I originally picked this pistol up five years ago on a trade, took it to the range once before selling it. Surprisingly, I saw it for sale a few weeks ago and couldn’t resist picking it up again to give it more of a shake-down.
The 469 was one of S&W’s “second generation” 9mm pistols, and it was produced from 1983 to 1988. Second Gen S&Ws are, to me, sort of the forgotten generation of the pre-M&P pistols, with Gen 1 and Gen 3 pistols getting more attention—probably because of their longer runs. I’d read back in the 1980s (in “Combat Handguns” magazine I think) that the 469 was “inspired” by the highly-customized ASP version of the Model 39. I don’t know if that’s true, but they share a similar look and the 469 fits perfectly into an ASP holster I had.
The pistol has a few neat features (as well as some less-than-desirable ones) so I thought I’d give it a quick rundown.
The 469 is small and light—it’s got a 3.5” barrel and weighs 26 oz. It’s more or less the same size as a Detective Special.
The barrel has the same conical area by the muzzle as Gen 3’s—I was surprised to learn that.
The hammer is bobbed but is serrated for manual cocking if needed (after pulling the trigger partway I guess.
It has a slide-mounted decocker–safety; I don’t care for these that much to be honest. Mine just has one on the left side; I’ve seen others with ambi safeties.
The front of the trigger guard is deeply checkered if you want to try the 1980s-style “finger forward” grip.
The grips are made of a material called “Delrin”, which apparently is the slipperiest plastic ever made. No joke—these are some slippery grips, with the pebbled texture offering nothing but looks. They’re also weirdly a three-piece grip—in addition to the left and right side panels, there’s a backstrap insert made of the same material.
The frontstrap is serrated, and does offer something to grip when shooting.
One unique feature is the sights—the rear sight is almost a half-circle, to keep the slide as snag-free as possible. There’s a white outline, too.
The ramped front sight is serrated on the sides but has a yellow stripe running the length of the ramp.
The sight picture is different, for sure.
The trigger pulls are surprisingly good—the DA pull has a slight mid-pull stack, but is good otherwise, and the SA pull is short, crisp, a little bit heavy, but with a wonderfully short reset. The video below shows them.
I had a chance to take it to the range today—I’m scheduled for cataract surgery twice this month so it’ll be a while before I make it out again. It was around freezing with just a bit of ice on the range floor—about as good as you’ll get this time of year
Here’s the result of the first ten rounds at a distance of 10m—I found the sights quite tough to pick up with my less-than great eyesight.
Here’s the second ten. I’ll try again post-surgery.
Here’s a video showing these two groups of ten, plus ten more at a fast pace.
The pistol has a fairly snappy recoil with its light weight and high-ish bore axis, but still plenty controllable.
It’s a quirky, fun to shoot little pistol.
