fastbolt
Member
I voted Yes, but I'd be surprised if it ever happened. My agency, like the CHP at that time, was still using the latest production 3rd gen guns (TSW's), when S&W said they had finally decided to discontinued even the LE production. That meant supporting them for major parts, too.
Now, I started using 3rd gen S&W's when they were newly released, and over the years I'd gone through the armorer class for them 4 times, so I was pretty familiar with them. I helped support some hundreds of them, and I owned quite a few of my own. They were rugged, durable, reliable and fine for working guns.
The problem, according to what we were told by S&W, was that they were too expensive in time and labor to continue producing, Sure, they'd shipped out the 3rd gen production to their Houlton plant, and added new CNC equipment and training to the folks there, but that plant was also busy making the SW1911's, which were selling better.
We were told that it took 30 minutes of machine time make each the frame and the slide of a 3rd gen, which meant that a SW1911 couldn't be made at the same time. The M&P, on the other hand, only required CNC machine time for the slide, as the frames were popped out of molds at the plastic plant down the road from the Springfield plant. That plant had made plastic parts for S&W, as a customer, for many years, so S&W finally bought that plastic factory.
The 3rd gen guns still required hand-fitting for the extractor and sear release lever, which took someone with a little training and experience. Hand-fitting the extractors was probably on its way to no longer being required, due to closer tolerances coming online. The last armorer update I attended had an extractor drop into a 5906TSW and gauge perfectly. Unsurprisingly really, as they only required armorers buy extractor bar gauges for the M&P 40/357 guns for the first couple of classes, and then they found they were no longer necessary as the extractors were dropping into the slides. From what I was told, that had resulted in them never having even offered .45 & 9mm extractor bar gauges to armorers. They weren't needed anymore. I suspect the 3rd gen slides would've been the same way if production had continued.
Sure, fitting extractors in old guns would probably still required fitting (filing & use of Go/No-Go gauge). Also, the use of a Force Dial Gauge to check for extractor tension was still needed. Even new TSW's might require an "optional' extractor spring, and older guns, with older tolerances, sometimes required different springs to get the tension within the recommended ranges for caliber.
Bottom line? I bought all the extra tools and parts I thought I might need to keep my own 3rd gen guns running for the rest of my life. Haven't needed anything other than some springs (normal wear parts), although I've dipped into my parts to refurb or repair a couple of old and hard-used 3rd gen's owned by other guys over the years. (A couple chipped extractors, soft springs, old ejectors with revised ones, etc.)
S&W could resurrect the 3rd gen's, but only at the cost of cutting into the production of other, proven selling models. The cost in extra machine time, and perhaps some remaining hand fitting (if only of the sear release levers for decocking), would probably push the cost higher than the M&P's.
Then, who would be the 'market'? Not LE, since even SIG and Beretta figured out that plastic is King going forward in that market. Ditto the Military, for the same reason. Is there enough commercial market to justify a new 3rd gen catalog, even a small one? Dunno. They're busy selling their metal-framed CSX and M&P pistols, and a couple other companies have been releasing metal-framed pistols again. Would that make it easier or harder to squeeze in metal framed 3rd gen's again, though?
Personally, I'd really like to see either a Scandium aluminum update of their 3913TSW, or an all-stainless steel version, which would've likely been a 3916 under their old, but admittedly inconsistent, model numbering system. Since they released the CXS, though, I kinda doubt a new 3913 may be in their plans.
Never Say Never with S&W, though, as their corporate people make some unexpected decisions now and then.
Now, I started using 3rd gen S&W's when they were newly released, and over the years I'd gone through the armorer class for them 4 times, so I was pretty familiar with them. I helped support some hundreds of them, and I owned quite a few of my own. They were rugged, durable, reliable and fine for working guns.
The problem, according to what we were told by S&W, was that they were too expensive in time and labor to continue producing, Sure, they'd shipped out the 3rd gen production to their Houlton plant, and added new CNC equipment and training to the folks there, but that plant was also busy making the SW1911's, which were selling better.
We were told that it took 30 minutes of machine time make each the frame and the slide of a 3rd gen, which meant that a SW1911 couldn't be made at the same time. The M&P, on the other hand, only required CNC machine time for the slide, as the frames were popped out of molds at the plastic plant down the road from the Springfield plant. That plant had made plastic parts for S&W, as a customer, for many years, so S&W finally bought that plastic factory.
The 3rd gen guns still required hand-fitting for the extractor and sear release lever, which took someone with a little training and experience. Hand-fitting the extractors was probably on its way to no longer being required, due to closer tolerances coming online. The last armorer update I attended had an extractor drop into a 5906TSW and gauge perfectly. Unsurprisingly really, as they only required armorers buy extractor bar gauges for the M&P 40/357 guns for the first couple of classes, and then they found they were no longer necessary as the extractors were dropping into the slides. From what I was told, that had resulted in them never having even offered .45 & 9mm extractor bar gauges to armorers. They weren't needed anymore. I suspect the 3rd gen slides would've been the same way if production had continued.
Sure, fitting extractors in old guns would probably still required fitting (filing & use of Go/No-Go gauge). Also, the use of a Force Dial Gauge to check for extractor tension was still needed. Even new TSW's might require an "optional' extractor spring, and older guns, with older tolerances, sometimes required different springs to get the tension within the recommended ranges for caliber.
Bottom line? I bought all the extra tools and parts I thought I might need to keep my own 3rd gen guns running for the rest of my life. Haven't needed anything other than some springs (normal wear parts), although I've dipped into my parts to refurb or repair a couple of old and hard-used 3rd gen's owned by other guys over the years. (A couple chipped extractors, soft springs, old ejectors with revised ones, etc.)
S&W could resurrect the 3rd gen's, but only at the cost of cutting into the production of other, proven selling models. The cost in extra machine time, and perhaps some remaining hand fitting (if only of the sear release levers for decocking), would probably push the cost higher than the M&P's.
Then, who would be the 'market'? Not LE, since even SIG and Beretta figured out that plastic is King going forward in that market. Ditto the Military, for the same reason. Is there enough commercial market to justify a new 3rd gen catalog, even a small one? Dunno. They're busy selling their metal-framed CSX and M&P pistols, and a couple other companies have been releasing metal-framed pistols again. Would that make it easier or harder to squeeze in metal framed 3rd gen's again, though?
Personally, I'd really like to see either a Scandium aluminum update of their 3913TSW, or an all-stainless steel version, which would've likely been a 3916 under their old, but admittedly inconsistent, model numbering system. Since they released the CXS, though, I kinda doubt a new 3913 may be in their plans.
Never Say Never with S&W, though, as their corporate people make some unexpected decisions now and then.
) The 3rd gen 10XX series guns were never mentioned. It was earlier said that some of the older equipment used in the production of slides and barrels had long since been discarded, but as newer CNC and barrel making equipment had been coming online that was seemingly less of an issue. I remember being told in the early 2000's that S&W had been upgrading their manufacturing capabilities and adding a few million dollar's worth of new manufacturing machines almost every year. I was told that in at least a couple of the years that the investment was in the double digits. They were buying other companies, too, like TC (for the rifle barrel manufacturing equipment), that plastic factory down the road from the Springfield plant (various 3rd gen parts, but now primarily plastic frames). Then they decided to start doing their own nitrocarburizing (instead of outsourcing it), instead of oursourcing it to other American-based vendors. We were told that they'd decided they needed better control of the QC for the process, which meant owning it and doing it in-house, and they also found they could do the process for other gun companies (and the other gun companies could attach whatever proprietary name to the process they wished for their own products 
