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A problem I see with S&W is the trend of following the market craze and not dancing with the one who brought you to the party. In my opinion their line of semi auto’s made today are not just cheap looking but not as well made or reliable as others who started the polymer and striker fired craze. They started out behind and stayed there. They had two pistols to start with in the Model 39 and the Model 59, neither were perfect but were a good platform to work from. Hard to beat the Smith and Wesson revolvers but I’ll pass on all of the semi autos they make today, there are much better pistols out there.

When I was growing up, the Models 39 and 59 were almost exotica, because regional LE was still almost 100% revolver-equipped. My first S&W centerfire auto was a Model 3913, which I probably should have kept because it was a very reliable, accurate little pistol... that final generation of S&W hammer-fired semiautos were pretty good guns that sadly didn't survive The Glock Invasion.

The Sigma pistols were poor replacements, but I don't mind the M&P series; I am not a big fan of them despite their fitting my hand better than any Glock. The M2.0 versions are perfectly competent polymer-framed, striker fired handguns... in a world that is awash with polymer-framed, striker fired handguns. They were the gold standard of revolvers, but I just don't see that ever being the case with semiautos.

The "gold standard" isn't what it used to be either. I know a lot of new shooters who have decided that they like revolvers better for SD/HD, and the sad truth is that they are being poorly catered to by the manufacturers. Way too many new revolvers come with problems, and letting Joe and Jane Newshooter be the manufacturers' beta testers/QC department isn't going to help their bottom lines in the long run. Lots of us can remember when sending a new S&W revolver back for repair was rare, but that is no longer the case. Aside from arguments about the desirability of Saf-T-Hammer internal locks, multi-piece barrels, MIM components, or whatever, the supposed improvement due to advanced manufacturing techniques and modern CNC equipment are not resulting in better guns... regardless of the MSRP.

For me, S&W started downhill (maybe under Bangor Punta) when they did away with `pinned & recessed’ in their revolvers. Wood probably changed from Goncalo Alves, too.

Steel frame P&R’s are the only Smithies I own. Composite? Yuk!