If you can't live with it the way it is, sell it and buy one in better condition.

Keep it as it was meant to be.

quote:

Originally posted by rock185:
They are the first agency I'm aware that went to a 9MM semi-auto as a standard issue weapon, back in the 60s I think.

The 39 was the first pistol I bought, primarily because the ISP had gone with them. That was the middle 70's and I think that was a recent move by the ISP. I may be wrong.

A clown had gone into a bank across the street from where I worked and tried to kill everyone there. He'd been turned down for a loan, came back to rob them for some small sum, about $500 IIRC, and tried to eliminate the witnesses. Once again, memory is shaky. Five shot, two dead maybe. I decided I needed a gun.

No one I knew had a semi-auto, all wheel gun guys, no one who could help get me going. My 39 jammed without fail, I'm sure I was limp wristing it. I traded it off before finding out it was me, not the gun. I regret never getting to know the 39.

Looks like honest wear. I wouldn't change a thing.

It's not just that it's honest wear. The ISP Model 39s were involved in the first agency use of +P+ loaded 9x19 cartridges in the United States.

For fans of the 9x19mm- which I am enthusiastically one- this is an historic pistol. The serial number on the pistol indicates late 1960s production. In terms of viable defensive ammunition for the 9x19mm, the pistol pictured in this thread is an historic firearm because of time and place.

Before Federal Ammunition's development of the "Illinois Load" (which you and I know as the Federal 9BPLE), American-manufactured 9x19mm ammunition was loaded on the weak side, for fear of all those aged Lugers and other older 9mm pistols suffering catastrophic failures, and the litigation that goes along with such.

Federal Ammunition and the Illinois State Police opened the door for what we have today- highly effective 9x19mm ammunition.

And the pistol you see pictured in this thread was there at the beginning.

The armorer for the AZ agency I worked for in the early 1970's was from Illinois. He admired the ISP, so much so that when we were finally approved to purchase our own semi auto pistols the S&W Model 39 was his only recommendation.

I'd leave it as it is. A collectors piece more than a shooter.

Contemporary to the Model 39 pictured, I think the Colt Lightweight Commander in 9x19mm might have made a better police pistol, but it would have required cocked & locked carry. Uninformed citizens don't understand this mode of carry, so that wouldn't fly.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Contemporary to the Model 39 pictured, I think the Colt Lightweight Commander in 9x19mm might have made a better police pistol, but it would have required cocked & locked carry. Uninformed citizens don't understand this mode of carry, so that wouldn't fly.

You're right. Some of our citizenry didn't even like our Model 39 pistols. Two years after the Model 39 was approved, I went into death investigations. I opted for a nickel COLT Commander in 9mm, later switched to a nickel COLT Commander .45acp.

Nice pistol and interesting background. I have a Smith & Wesson Model 59 made in 1976. Love the history of the 39 and 59 as they paved the way for the 9mm we have today.