I had an original nickeled 59 with rosewood grips (looked a little like the gun that Jar posted) which shot nicely but had a ridiculously huge grip which people even bigger than me complained about (I'm 5'11"I and 185). I wasnt even able to release the mag without adjusting my whole hand on the grip a little. A set of rosewood grips from eBay didn't change much, plus they didn't fit perfectly which pissed me off.
I eventually sold the piece, slightly reluctantly, but there was another gun I really wanted and needed the cash. Plus I figured it would never really graduate past "range toy". It cost me about $225 and I lost about $75 on it to an LGS.
I
Istill have a bunch of mags that fit both the 59 and KelTec's P11, of which I had two, now just one. Since all that, I've become more and more open to the possibility of getting a 3rd Gen S&W 69xx series, or even a 2nd Gen 4xx series for my primary. If I carried one as my primary, the KelTec would be an obvious choice as BUG. Thing is, I'm rather disappointed by the accuracy of the P11 due to the 11lb DAO trigger. Guess there's a downside to everything, but I guess for an up-close and personal BUG it's not as important. It could be a great combo with like 12 interchangeable mags. The P11 even had a belt clip.
Not to hijack the thread (essentially still on topic!) but does anyone know if the 2nd or 3rd gens of the S&W 59/69 series have smaller grips than the original girthy 59? If they do I'd be much more aggressive in hunting one down.