S&W 469. Thoughts?

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I had a 469 and 669 in the late 80's or early 90's. They were pretty nice. I preferred the 469's flat black finish to the 669's shininess. It never failed to feed or function in any way. Compact and 13 rounds as I remember. Back then 13 rounds in a compact semiauto wasn't that special, but now it's really nice. Typical S&W semiauto, a bit more difficult to take down and put back together than many, but not that bad. I'd sure like to have mine back. The first shot in a SHTF situation will almost certainly be double action because the hammer is bobbed and lays flat, but you can trigger cock it enough to thumb it back if you've got time.
 
I owned a 469 quite awhile ago.

Good points:

Very reliable
Nice size for concealment

Bad points:

For me, the gun was extremely inaccurate. I never traced the cause of this problem to anything wrong with the gun or with its preference for a certain brand of ammo. I conclude that it was probably me and that the gun and I did not have a marriage made in heaven. It moved on and I stayed behind.

It's one of those guns about which I feel pretty ambivalent. There are better S&W 9mm autoloaders out there (like the 3913 or the CS-9), but if the price is right, it might be worth a try.

Bob
 
A 469 was my dream gun when I was in college in the mid-80s. Reality being what it was, I wound up with a 439.

I now own a 6946 (the stainless slide/alloy frame DAO 3rd Gen version with tritium sights) that I got from a friend, and I'm just pleased as punch with it. I love the fact that full-caps are cheap and plentiful (I carry with a flat-bottomed 12-round mag and I keep it on the nightstand with the 15-rounders in it.

I happened to be at the range with the 6946 and a friend's HK USP yesterday; my S&W was as accurate at 10 yds as the HK (one-hole 25-round group about 1.5" across) with cruddy generic ball ammo. Reliability has been flawless since I replaced the recoil spring (my friend shot the 6946 a lot, and for some reason stored it with the slide locked back).

But, as much as I like the 69-series guns, I don't see where you need one, given your ownership of the Beretta and Kahr (and everything else). Still, as I know you know, it's not always about need. FWIW, if I had the opportunity to buy a 469 from a friend, I would (and I've got an HK, the 6906, and all kinds of milsurp pistolas and revolvers) in a flash.

Let us know what you decide! (I wish I had a friend who wanted to sell me a 469! :( )
 
Unless the price is REALLY good (free), I would buy anymore S&W autos. They are O.K. but since you have a Beretta and a Kahr (two of the best out there), you will not be happy with the step down in quality of the S&W. I rank S&W auto with Ruger and FEG autos, they are fine and good guns if the price is right but they don't compare to SIG, Beretta, or Browning.
 
Oh yeah, I also have a Browning Hi Power.

As I said, I'm kind of ambivilent toward S&W semi-autos with the exception of the 645/4506.

I may take it to the range to give it a work out, but unless the price is too good to pass up, I'll probably pass.
 
Spackler,

Why do you disagree?

I have to admit that I don't put the S&Ws quite as far down on the list as Firestar does, but I also don't feel that they are close to a High Power, Beretta, or Sig.

I've written a number of times about my angst with most S&W semi-auto models. Biggest points are they're simply over priced for what they are.
 
My experience has been nothing but good. I own a few. As far as fit and finish, the third generation S&W autos are as good as any Sig I've seen, and certainly as good as Beretta. I'll now put on my fire suit.

My Smiths shoot with my Sig, and I've never had any sort of problem with any of my Smith autoloaders.

I did have a second generation S&W semi-auto, and it wasn't of the quality that the new pistols are.

I own an FEG Hi Power, and to compare S&W quality to FEG quality is crazy.

Sigmas are another matter, however...
 
Mike...

As a friend and a fellow older S&W afficianado I would say, unless it fills a need OR there is something really special about it, you might oughta pass it up. It sounds like you have enough quality 9mm's to not need something else just to have it.

Having said that, I am about to post a new thread on a nickled S&W Model 39-2 I just picked up. Did not need it but it looked so nice. And it appears that I might have lucked out and got a special gun. Film at 11.
 
it has a good heft and is a nice size. the first one i bought reminded me of the ASP that i could never afford. it was never as accurate as my m-39 or 645. i found that the slim grips made it feel like gripping a 2x4"
 
I have to admit that my experience with S&W autos is somewhat limited, I owned a nickel 59 and have shot my friends 5906 a bunch and another 59** 9mm that I can't remember the exact model. Also a co-worker bought a new .45 S&W ( 4563TSW I think), it was about $900 and had a titanium or scandium guide rod that had chunks eaten out of it after having only shot a couple of boxes of ammo. He tried to return it right away but the guy told him to send it back to the factory, he ended up just selling it at a loss.

Anyway, I had a FEG P9M (the DA version) and I think the quality was even better than the S&W 59 which it resembled. I was not bashing S&W when I compared them to FEG and Ruger, I think those companies make darn fine guns for the money. I just think S&W autos in general are not quite up to the standards in quality and function as some of the better makers out there.

Just to prove I am not bashing S&W autos, I will say that I have never seen any S&W semi auto jam. I almost expect it to happen when I see someone shooting one but it never does. They are very reliable as far as I have ever experienced. I am even thinking about getting a S&W 3913 because I have seen them for less than $300 and I know that is a good deal.
 
I once owned a nice little 469 ...

Nice pistol, but nowhere nearly as nice as even my early 3rd gen production 6906 ... which itself wasn't as refined as the later production 6906 pistols were, before that model was discontinued.

The 2nd "generation" pistols aren't in the same ballpark as the 3rd gen pistols. To paraphrase one of the factory engineers once, when I was asking about some of the difference in machining during just the 3rd gen production ... the latest CNC production can make cuts and grinds that just weren't possible by the earlier machinery ... or even easily by hand.

The only thing that annoys me about the 3-digit 2nd gen pistols is being able to feel the sear nose slide across the half-cock notch in the hammer during the DA trigger stroke ...

2nd gen pistols can be "upgraded" by having most of the fire control parts replaced with 3rd gen parts, though, and relieving the edge of the drawbar plunger spring hole in the frame, so the coils of the drawbar plunger spring don't catch against the edge of the hole during compression of the spring. A good smith familiar with S&W pistols, or the factory, can upgrade and smooth out these older pistols quite a bit ...

Nice, fun range pistols for the right price ...

I've got about 15,000 rounds through my issued 6906, produced back in 89/90, and it's only required a couple of parts replaced ... an extractor (which I noticed was starting to chip, although it was still 100% reliably functional) and a sear release lever (which I finally wore out) ... my pistol has been boringly reliable with any and all 9mm I've fired. I've replaced the recoil spring a couple of times, and some of the other little springs at about 12,000+ rounds, but that was just because I like to do that every several thousand rounds.

The later production models were even better.
 
Hey fastbolt, do you know if the frame on the 669 can be bead blasted without damaging it? I'm not sure about the aluminum.
 
If you want to have an aluminum frame refinished there are different companies that offer this service for firearms, including Robar, who did an excellent job of refinishing the aluminum frame of another staff member's lightweight Commander.

While I'm not a metallurgist by any stretch of the imagination, I'd suspect bead blasting would pretty much eliminate the surface anodizing on an aluminum frame.
 
I have a 3rd gen smith 5904, and it has never jammed.
It certainly isn't a target, gun, either.
That's all I'm gonna say about that.
 
This gun just doesn't seem like a show stopper. It's a Toyota Corolla.

It's not going to be more fun to shoot than the guns you own, it won't go up in value (unless it is DIRT cheap) and it has an annoying mag safety.

As alluded to, this was neither the pinnacle of S&W auto design, nor a classic.

I recommend against spending money to be bored.
 
handy - good point, life is too short and there are too many interesting guns/cars to deal with boring.

that is why i won't look at another toyota camry, honda accord or glock...i'm drawn to strange things like the heritage stealth, the vektor cp1 and the porsche 911
 
Well, the last item sounds good, anyway.:D


PM me if you want my current list of bizzare yet beautiful shootin' irons.
 
I think $715 is a little high but then I saw who the seller was. Its Kidbillions!!!! Our old friend from "the most rediculus auction of the week".:rolleyes:
 
If you're going to ask that much for a basic S&W, you could at least pose the gun on something other than a pizza box.
 
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