Florida Shooters Network

I got it in the original case, with all original early 90s paperwork goodness, including the warranty card and manual.



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Yup, I got a brand new S&W Model SW9F Sigma! This gun left the factory in August 1994, less than a month before the Clinton AWB was enacted. This gun was old inventory of an old gun shop in Minnesota of all places and was thrown on Gunbroker by a pawnshop that purchased the old shop's old inventory.

I paid under $300 for it and that included the shipping and transfer fees.





The story behind the Sigma's goes like this. Big Blue was broke and losing market share to GLOCK, S&W's CEO at the time slapped a GLOCK 17 on the table during a meeting with the company's engineers and said "copy the motherfucker." So, copy the GLOCK 17 they did.



For the most part, it is a GLOCK clone. While not 100% the same, it is clearly a GLOCK clone. The SW9F was only made between 1994 to 1996. S&W ceased production of the SW9F due to an out of court settlement with GLOCK and the release of the SW9/40V line, which later evolved into the SW9/40VE line.

Here is Ed Shultz, then S&W CEO, shows off a working prototype of an smart-gun .40 S&W chambered SW40VE. semi-automatic handgun in 2000.



Why did I want this? Because it will go nicely with my other retro striker fired polymer framed 9mm pistols.



But, to not leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. Here is another recently acquired S&W. I also got it in the original box, but right now, that box is put away. But here’s the goodness of early S&W 3rd Generation awesomeness.

Yup, a Model 3906!





The 3906 is an all stainless steel DA/SA 9mm that is a single stack gun. This is one of the fewest produced S&W 3rd Gens that wasn't a special contract order or a Performance Center gun. The 3906 never received the mid production upgrade os a rounded trigger guard or NOVAK combat sights. Made from 1989 to 1991 and less than 6,000 were made.



It will go nicely with my other S&W 2nd & 3rd Gen guns.





Model 745, only 5,000 or so made.



Model 5903SSV, only 1,500 made.

That's it for now.

Man that's a lot of S&W autos. One of my least favorite firearms from a actual firearms manufacturer. Triggers have a LOT of travel and a lot of creep, even worse than Berettas. But I guess people get used to them.

I swore off Smiths for years because of that smart gun BS and dealer contract they wanted every FFL to sign. I scribbled FUCK OFF with a sharpie on mine and sent it in. Pretty much all of my Smiths are P&Rs now, or older. Those old wheel guns are a work of art.

I've been this close to buying a M&P several times but I have so many handguns I just couldn't justify it. Same reason I don't own a M&P AR15, but I sell them.

Nice collection

I've had many Smiths through the years. Mostly revolvers. Only one I have now is the 380EZ that is my wife's pistol.

SteyrAUG wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 3:59 am
I've been this close to buying a M&P several times but I have so many handguns I just couldn't justify it. Same reason I don't own a M&P AR15, but I sell them.

I felt the same way (too many guns already), but I had to buy the metal M&P 9mm when Shoot Straight gave me a great deal on it. Haven't shot it yet, but I'm a sucker for metal semi-autos (like the OP, I have several old school S&W pistols).

I had a first year production M&P .45 and it was just "meh". Tried to like it, but it did nothing my .45 ACP GLOCKs couldn't do.

As for third gen auto triggers, they have one of the shortest trigger resets out there for a DA/SA gun. Better than Beretta and I love Berettas. SIG in my opinion is has a horrible trigger for the most part. Hence why they released the SRT package and completely changed to design in the SIG Pro line.

I remember those Sigmas. They really suffered because of being a new "wonder-nine" gun with a dedicated mag that came out just in time to get limited to 10rds thanks to the Klinton ban. Kel Tec got around this by making their compact P11 capable of using pre-existing S&W 59 and 69 series mags. I wondered why S&W hadn't done something similar at the time.

I'm kind of curious about how easy it is to get new full capacity mags for this one now. The ban is long since over but like you said, production of the pistol ended way before the ban so the guns themselves became a sort of limited edition thing. Did anyone ever get around to making magazines for this pistol that take more than 10rds?

cvasqu03 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:05 pm I remember those Sigmas. They really suffered because of being a new "wonder-nine" gun with a dedicated mag that came out just in time to get limited to 10rds thanks to the Klinton ban. Kel Tec got around this by making their compact P11 capable of using pre-existing S&W 59 and 69 series mags. I wondered why S&W hadn't done something similar at the time.

I'm kind of curious about how easy it is to get new full capacity mags for this one now. The ban is long since over but like you said, production of the pistol ended way before the ban so the guns themselves became a sort of limited edition thing. Did anyone ever get around to making magazines for this pistol that take more than 10rds?

S&W ceased making the 17rd mags during the ban. But when they released the SW9V and SW9VE line with the 16rd mags, they're backwards compatible.

The magazine itself never changed, just the length of the mags. The 17rd is physically longer than the 16rd mags, but the frame size is the same.

Even today, the SD9VE used the same 16rd magazine introduced back in the late 90s. Just has a different floorplate to match the newer styling cues with the SD line.

During the ban, there were pre-ban Sigma mags floating around, and you can modify a Beretta magazine to work in the Sigma too my cutting a new magazine catch slot in the mag body. So, during the ban, the pre-ban Beretta mags we're another source for the gun.

Miami_JBT wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:22 pm

cvasqu03 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:05 pm I remember those Sigmas. They really suffered because of being a new "wonder-nine" gun with a dedicated mag that came out just in time to get limited to 10rds thanks to the Klinton ban. Kel Tec got around this by making their compact P11 capable of using pre-existing S&W 59 and 69 series mags. I wondered why S&W hadn't done something similar at the time.

I'm kind of curious about how easy it is to get new full capacity mags for this one now. The ban is long since over but like you said, production of the pistol ended way before the ban so the guns themselves became a sort of limited edition thing. Did anyone ever get around to making magazines for this pistol that take more than 10rds?

S&W ceased making the 17rd mags during the ban. But when they released the SW9V and SW9VE line with the 16rd mags, they're backwards compatible.

The magazine itself never changed, just the length of the mags. The 17rd is physically longer than the 16rd mags, but the frame size is the same.

Even today, the SD9VE used the same 16rd magazine introduced back in the late 90s. Just has a different floorplate to match the newer styling cues with the SD line.

During the ban, there were pre-ban Sigma mags floating around, and you can modify a Beretta magazine to work in the Sigma too my cutting a new magazine catch slot in the mag body. So, during the ban, the pre-ban Beretta mags we're another source for the gun.

Good to know. Shows how ingenious gun owners can be when necessary. Some years ago I managed to get my hands on two double stack Llama 45's (1911 clones) that supposedly didn't take Para Ordnance mags. I think I'd gotten a good deal on them because people thought you couldn't get mags for them anymore. I purchased a Para Ordnance mag anyway after seeing they were the exact same shape, but had the catch hole a bit higher. A few minutes with a steel file, and I suddenly had a perfectly working Llama 45 double stack mag. I ended up making a bunch of these before I had to sell all my 45's a couple of years ago.

Nice looking collection you have there.

tector wrote:

SteyrAUG wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 3:59 am
I've been this close to buying a M&P several times but I have so many handguns I just couldn't justify it. Same reason I don't own a M&P AR15, but I sell them.

I felt the same way (too many guns already), but I had to buy the metal M&P 9mm when Shoot Straight gave me a great deal on it. Haven't shot it yet, but I'm a sucker for metal semi-autos (like the OP, I have several old school S&W pistols).

That’s the only S&W pistol that I’ve been looking to get since they released it.
It’s calling me I think….
What’s a good price on them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Captain Steinbrenner wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 9:09 pm

tector wrote:

SteyrAUG wrote: ↑Wed Dec 07, 2022 3:59 am
I've been this close to buying a M&P several times but I have so many handguns I just couldn't justify it. Same reason I don't own a M&P AR15, but I sell them.

I felt the same way (too many guns already), but I had to buy the metal M&P 9mm when Shoot Straight gave me a great deal on it. Haven't shot it yet, but I'm a sucker for metal semi-autos (like the OP, I have several old school S&W pistols).

That’s the only S&W pistol that I’ve been looking to get since they released it.
It’s calling me I think….
What’s a good price on them?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm curious about the M&P steel frame. I had a Gen 1 M&P .45 that just didn't win me over. I recall that back in the day, someone made metal frames for GLOCK.