Cool S&W "Mini"!

[MachIVshooter]

Went to the gun show for the first time in awhile, mostly for the munchkins to find trinkets and blades, but I always bring cash just in case. As usual, pretty much everything was overpriced and little appealed to me, but in the last row, I stumbled upon a hidden gem. I didn't pounce immediately, though, decided to walk a little more, go across the street and grab lunch, burn a cancer stick while I thought about it. By the time I got back, I figured if it was still there and they could include tax in the $450 tag price, I'd go for it.

Upon reinspection, it was nicer than I'd initially thought, and the seller did do $450 out the door with 4 magazines, so the 469 came home.





However, the thin grips on the short frame leave an edge at the bottom that dug into my large but thin palms pretty good, so I decided replacement grips were in order. Found a set of Hogue checkered Rosewood grips on Amazon on sale for $50, so snagged those. They're not an exact fit for the 2nd generation, though. Unfortunately, the Dremel got away from me a couple times on the right panel with the aggressive 4 flute 1/8" end mill I was using, but the blemishes aren't too obvious. And, of course, it needed a threaded barrel since I suppress all the things. This is what it we ended up with:





Nice little piece if I do say so myself!

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Nice!

I much prefer the 2nd Gen with its full gripframe to the 3rd. Never trusted the plastic wraparound grip modules to retain the mainspring, seen too many crack at the bottom pin, even the "improved" examples.

Only problem with the 2nd Gen guns now is finding and paying for extra mags.....
Fortunately you wont have that issue with this one.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Nice!

I much prefer the 2nd Gen with its full gripframe to the 3rd. Never trusted the plastic wraparound grip modules to retain the mainspring, seen too many crack at the bottom pin, even the "improved" examples.

Only problem with the 2nd Gen guns now is finding and paying for extra mags.....
Fortunately you wont have that issue with this one.

the 469 is basically a 3rd gen, or I guess "gen 2.5". The original grips are 3 piece, with the Delrin backstrap retaining the mainspring. They also have the undercut barrel like the 3rd gen 9mms. Just different enough, though, that the 6906 grips required quite a bit of modification to fit.

We've had good luck with the inexpensive ProMag magazines for our 39-2 and 539, though I don't have a 1st or 2nd gen double stack yet, so can't comment on the 59/659 mags.

I've never had an issue with the OEM or Hogue rubber grips on the 3rd gens, though the plastic baseplate on my 1006 mag did explode. Walked into the gun room one day and it took me a minute to figure out where all the 10mm rounds on the floor came from! But there are metallic replacement baseplates available for about $30.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

the 469 is basically a 3rd gen, or I guess "gen 2.5". The original grips are 3 piece, with the Delrin backstrap retaining the mainspring. They also have the undercut barrel like the 3rd gen 9mms. Just different enough, though, that the 6906 grips required quite a bit of modification to fit.

We've had good luck with the inexpensive ProMag magazines for our 39-2 and 539, though I don't have a 1st or 2nd gen double stack yet, so can't comment on the 59/659 mags.

I've never had an issue with the OEM or Hogue rubber grips on the 3rd gens, though the plastic baseplate on my 1006 mag did explode. Walked into the gun room one day and it took me a minute to figure out where all the 10mm rounds on the floor came from! But there are metallic replacement baseplates available for about $30.

Some of the OEM mag followers were prone to cracking too- yellow bad, red (orange) better, black and blue good.

 

[commygun]

Very nice. I’m genuinely surprised the seller had it tagged at $450, especially with the 4 magazines.

 

[jar]

Still prefer my 469 over the Shield 2.0 9mm.

The Shield 2.0 sitting on the 469 with the top of the slides and backstraps aligned. Notice how little the ergonomics have changed with the key distances almost exactly identical.



Even the reach to the trigger and the trigger profile are the same.

 

[bannockburn]

What a super, sweet deal; a pristine Model 469 with 4 mags for $450 OTD!

Doesn't get any better than this!

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Very cool! Reminds me of the Devel S&W customs.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Very cool! Reminds me of the Devel S&W customs.

View attachment 1140303

Those were nice, I like them better than the ASP.

I really can't say exactly what it is that draws me to the Smith autos so much, but I've long had a thing for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation guns. Of course, S&W also dominates the revolver collection.

I think S&W is my most numerous brand these days. Might still be Remington, though, and Marlin is up there too.

 

[horsemen61]

Sweet little gun there

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Love the two-tone and the 586.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Love the two-tone and the 586.

That one is a 5903 I got a pretty good deal on, the grown-up version of the Daisy Powerline 693 I wanted as a kid!

I actually prefer the earlier 3rd generation with recurved trigger guards that I do in fact use my offhand index finger on. I find it regrettable that the 10mms were never made that way. I do have a 10mm with a checkered recurved guard, but it didn't come that way. I lacked the equipment and skill I have today at 22 years old, but the Witness Compact still came out decent:

 

[lowercase]

I have a couple 469s. Both were gun store rescues which had shown up in batches of police confiscated guns and were in rough shape. Cleaned them both up, changed the recoil springs, and they worked great. Also replaced the plastic spring housings at the rear of their grips because the plastic had aged to where they were "scrunchy" when gripped. Put a 669 slide on one just because I liked the two-tone look and got the slide for cheap. The original slide had some pitting, too. The other 469 stayed stock. Both are great little shooters.
Your 469 looks a heck of a lot cooler than mine. Congrats on the purchase and how it turned out!

Here are both of mine:

 

[chaim]

Great deal! I love the old S&W autos, 1st through 3rd gen. For a collector, I'd go 1st gen: they look great, and they are the first of the type, though they are getting quite expensive these days. If I would carry it or put it into home defense duties, I'd go 3rd gen, though for carry there are better choices IMO (the single stack subcompact carry guns of that generation, to include those from other manufacturers, by today's standards are quite large for capacity). Though a "compact" service pistol or full sized double stack S&W 3rd gen would be a great home defense gun. Anyway, I'm rambling... great purchase, great deal, and good looking gun.