One of the first handguns I ever fired extensively was a Smith & Wesson 4506. Growing up, my dad didn’t care for handguns. He wasn’t a fudd, but he didn’t enjoy shooting them. It wasn’t until I was a teenager and participated in bowling pin shooting that I shot handguns with any regularity. I borrowed the 4506 from a close friend to compete and loved the gun. It left a lasting love of the S&W 3rd Gen guns with me.
The S&W 3rd Gen Guns premiered in the late 1980s, with 1988 being the most often cited year. Most third-generation guns, except for the budget-friendly models, feature a four-digit model number. These were most commonly DA/SA hammer-fired semi-auto pistols in the popular calibers of the time.
That included 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, and 10mm. The design was the standard for duty guns for the era. This was also the era of the Beretta 92 and the SIG P226. After the 4506, I often ran into 3rd Gen guns and enjoyed shooting them, but I never owned one. I was just never in the right place and the right time to snag one when I spotted it.
In the summer of 2024, I finally snagged a S&W 457, and recently, I picked up an S&W 5906. But the experience has led me to think that the S&W 3rd generation guns are overrated.
The S&W 3rd Gen Hype
I’m not the only one who hyped up these guns up. This is true of both the firearms media and the average Joe. There seems to be a real love of these guns within the firearms community and it isn’t just the retro enjoyment. Plenty of people used to advise grabbing one these for an affordable defensive firearm.
These old Smiths are popular on the secondary market and their price has only increased with time What used to be $300 guns are now going in the $400 and $500 range on a good day. Some of the more desirable guns have even hit the thousand dollar price point.
After purchasing two and shooting them fairly extensively, I can’t say I get the hype.
The 3rd Gen Guns In 2024
A lot has changed since I was a teenager shooting bowling pins. I’ve learned a ton about shooting and every year, I shoot more than I did the previous year. I’ve attended classes, I’ve tested tons of guns, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot.
I was surprised when I purchased the 457 and took it to the range. The gun was difficult to control. It wasn’t the first compact .45 ACP I’d fired. It wasn’t even the only compact .45 I shot that day, but the 457’s grip felt like a wedge.
Have you ever squeezed a metal wedge with sweaty hands? It slides up and out of your hands. Add in recoil, and it’s more difficult to shoot. The muzzle rise is more intense than a compact .45 ACP 1911. The heavy slide seems to throw the gun upward with every shot. I told myself it’s because it’s the budget 3rd Gen model.
The 5906 is no budget gun. Admittedly, the grip is much better and so are the trigger and sights. However, the gun had the same muzzle rise problems as the 457. I was surprised at the first shot and assumed I’d done something wrong. I fired some more and got the same the muzzle rise.
The hefty stainless slide throws itself back and forth with some real force. More than you’d expect and more than I’d want to deal with in a 9mm. The grips are exceptionally wide for the pistol’s capacity. It’s just such a big and bulky gun.
More Than Shooting
So the muzzle rise is a downside, but there is more to it than that. The guns have magazine safeties, which are a dumb idea. They’re removable fairly easily, but still a mistake. The slide-mounted safety and de-cocker are a bit of overkill on a DA/SA gun and again, the ergonomics kind of suck.
Why did S&W insist on making the gun so big but then equip it with the world’s smallest magazine release? If you’re making a single stack .45 ACP, why not use 1911 magazines? The more I use these guns, the more questions I’m left with. There’s something to be said for the intervening 35-ish years of handgun refinement.
Am I judging these guns based on the guns of 2025? No. I think the Hi-Power and the CZ-75 outperform the 3rd Generation guns, and both designs are older than the Smiths. Shooting a 1911 is easier than a 3rd Gen. Even among its contemporaries — the Beretta 92FS and the SIG P226 — the 3rd Gen guns just feel lacking.
Maybe that’s why the 92 and 226 series have stuck around all these years, and the 3rd Gen guns were retired in the early 2000s.
The American Option
I think there’s more than a little yesteryear love for the 3rd Gen Guns. They have an American appeal to them since they were the American option of the metal frame DA/SA generation. To be clear, I don’t think they’re bad guns. I like the triggers and they are very reliable, accurate guns. I just think Smith & Wesson could have refined them more, especially given what was available in the competition. I can certainly see why they didn’t stick around for as long as their contemporaries.
I think a lot of people are looking back at the old Smiths with rose-colored glasses and the fact that they’re not made any more probably has something to do with that, too. I don’t think they’re worth the current price they are demanding if you want a defensive firearm. When they were $300, oh hell yeah. But at $500 dollars on up to a grand, they just won’t deliver the same performance as similar-priced pistols.
But man, stainless guns just look great, don’t they?
I was one of the tens of thousands of people affected by last month’s SoCal wildfires, and under mandatory evacuation order along with the rest of my neighborhood. I’ve lived here my entire life and been affected by a dozen fires and evacs, and a person grows to learn when an evac is tentative, and when it’s definitely wise to leave your house…these fires were no joke due to the heavy winds and this was a time to evacuate. As Mr.s Haz and I began prepping (no pun intended) our vehicles with items we intended to take with us as we would eventually vacate our home, the first things I handled was the guns & gear, simply because I wouldn’t want any possible looters getting their hands on them if I had otherwise chosen to leave them behind. But as I was packing, I mentally selected which ones I’d choose if the situation were even more dire and we only had a short amount of time to grab things and go….which two handguns would I take with me (in addition to my selected long guns)?
One of them would be an all-metal 1911-style model manufactured in the ’70s that feels and shoots as nicely today as it did when I first handled it as a young adult long ago, when my father first allowed me to shoot it. Polymers are fantastic and my other selection would be my favorite P80 build in my collection, but the all-metal model just has a certain feel to it nothing else can match.
I’m glad to see some modern all-metal models coming back into the market. Options, options, amirite?
Amen to your last statement! I have a CSX (which came with a really heavy trigger) and it’s the best trigger job I’ve ever done. The only problem was that they never made an option for my big hands, and now they do! They even do modularity the way I prefer (grip sleeve attached at the backstrap so mags drop free).
i’ve really thought about those.
The trigger is really easy to work on (coil springs). It’s the best of both worlds IMHO (1911 ergos without being an exact replica of all the superseded first-generationisms). The DWX is close, but 3+x as much, and much less concealable.
S&W stopped supporting their Generation III autoloaders with parts and service ten years ago. Aftermarket parts are few and far between; mostly from stripped, turn in guns. Gunsmiths still work on them, but only subject to parts availability.
You are buying an orphan which may become an expensive paperweight.
“Are The Smith & Wesson Gen 3 Semi-Auto Guns Overrated?”
Yes.
I have one in my collection, got it in a trade years ago now. Occasionally I will take it out and fire it some to remind me how much I appreciate my other guns.
Its not what I would call a ‘great gun’, but if its all that I had in a moment of need it would be the greatest gun in the world in that moment.
There’s always a tipping point with value. The same thing happens with certain used automobiles that have emotional appeal.
As stated earlier S&W has no Gen 3 support; I was carrying a Gen 2 659 in 1986 it was heavy but shot well, I traded it for a new Glock 17, I still own that Gen 1 G17, it is in mint condition. I carried the G17 for a couple of years doing prisoner trannsport. The S&W da/sa pistols were a good gun, they were heavy accurate and all steel or alloy. They never had a very good trigger pull but that can also be said of the Glock. The only S&W da/sa pistol I now own is a 39-2, I like it.
I don’t know if they are over-rated. That’s a personal decision.
There were several that good carry guns for the times. (The 669 comes to mind).
I think the nostalgia comes form the their proliferation as cop guns. They were everywhere!
Now people see them and think – that would be a cool gun to have.
I did like the original 39 as a shooter. Easy to use and mostly ergonomic. The 59 was chunky in a bad way and harder to shoot well.
My favorite to shoot was the original 645. Very reliable with a “meh” trigger. But I shot it better than a Sig 220 of the time.
I never warmed to the plastic panels in the later generations. Prohibited a firm grip and moved around in the hand.
If I were to carry one, it would be an original 669. But I can shoot my Beretta 92 much better.
they are kinda pugly cool. but slide safety and it goes the wrong way.
hi- power. cz75c.