Smith & Wesson 3904

[Jimi]

I took my GF shooting for the first time today. She shot my 220 and on the way home she wanted to stop and look at a 9mm for herself. she looked for a bit and kept going back to this S&W 3904. It looked like it had little use. It was cheap and I bought it for her. Anyone have any experience with these? I've shot the 59 series a bit but have never seen one of these.

[jrothWA]

39-2 series.

Think this was late 2000 before the 3916 ladysmith came out???

[FALshootist]

They're a full size, single stack, third gen S&W 9mm with an alloy frame. The 06 has a stainless frame. Like all 3rd gen S&W autos they are reliable and accurate.

These are good gun that are somewhat hard to come by as most people bought the full size, double stack, 5906 or the compact, single stack, 3913 (these came three ways: Standard dust cover, angled dust cover "lady Smith", and angled dust cover Non Lady Smith). There was also a black 3914.

The 3913 is an excellent CCW weapon, 8 shot mag, thin, light, accurate and reliable.

[SW40F]

Originally Posted by Jimi

...Anyone have any experience with these? I've shot the 59 series a bit but have never seen one of these.

I have a 59, I don't have a 39, but I think of the 39 as a single-stack 59.

[Jimi]

It looks and feels like it's made well. Can't wait to shoot it...

[carguychris]

The 3904 and 3906 seem to have been brought up numerous times recently, a Good Thing considering how much I like them.

#1 thing you need to be aware of is magazine availability. Culled from an earlier post of mine, with a few minor edits...

...a 390x/394x/909/952 mag is slightly longer than the earlier [9mm single-stack] mags and has a plastic floorplate rather than a metal one. The earlier Model 39 and x39-series mags will not lock into a 390x/394x/909/952 properly without modifications. IOW the later mags will work in the early pistols, but not the reverse.

This is somewhat problematic because the plastic-floorplate 3rd-gen mags are far less common than the earlier all-metal mags, and LE surplus mags are few and far between, quite unlike the abundant surplus mags for the 40xx, 59xx, and 69xx-series pistols. (You will NOT find gun-show vendors with big boxes full of 3rd-gen full-size single-stack mags for $15/ea!) Factory 390x/909/952 mags are readily available but cost $30-$45. The only aftermarket 390x/909/952 mag I'm aware of is made by Promag and is widely regarded by S&W shooters to be junk.

There are two factory mags out there for the 390x/909/952- an 8rd unit shipped with the early M3904 & M3906 and a 9rd unit shipped with the later M3904 & M3906, M909, and M952. The mags currently offered by S&W and most large vendors are 9-rounders, but be aware that 8rd mags are out there, particularly if you shop mom 'n pop gun stores that may have stuff on the shelves from 15 years ago!

As a last note, the compact 391x, 395x, and 908 mags are shorter than the full-size 390x/394x/909/952 mags and will NOT work in the full-size pistols.

Two other notes:

Due to the pistols' short production run from 1988-1990, many holster makers do not list products for them. However, most holsters for a Model 39 or x39-series will work unless they are very tight in the trigger guard area; the 390x has a larger squared-off trigger guard that sometimes causes fitment problems here. In addition, many Colt Commander holsters will work for full-size 39-series pistols.

These pistols were sold with three different types of sights. Early fixed-sight pistols had narrow sight dovetails and vertical blade-style rear sights similar to traditional 1911 sights. Later fixed-sight pistols had wider sight dovetails with Novak LoMount sights. Just to make things more confusing, adjustable rear sight pistols supposedly had another size of dovetail that's different than both fixed-sight versions. Aftermarket sights are widely available for the Novak-sight pistols; they take the same sights as the compact 391x/395x pistols along with the 40-, 59-, and 69-series. OTOH only a few aftermarket sights exist for the early fixed-sight pistols, and AFAIK they basically don't exist for the adjustable-sight pistols. These guns may require gunsmith modifications to take the sights you want.

[tlm225]

I carried a 3904 as a duty weapon (by choice) for about a year in the early 90's. It was accurate, reliable and fit my hand well. As it has been said, the single stack 9mm tends to be overlooked by those who feel that they must have a high capacity gun to be prepared to defend themselves. If she shoots it well and it fits her hand it will serve her well. 9 rounds (8+1) available before a reload should handle about anything she needs to do.

[Jimi]

It seems safe and I liked the fact that it has a decocker. I wanted to get a 9 anyways and like single stack mags.

[jsbethel]

The 3904 is probably my favorite pistol (among many). Originally purchased for my girlfriend, I liked it so much after I shot it that I bought her a 3913LS and took it back. I am fortunate to own a 3906 as well.

S&W 3904/3906 both with Trijicon night sights

[Jimi]

I want to put those sights on it, but I don't know if they would fit. It came with the adjustable sights from the factory.

[jsbethel]

Trijicon does make night sights for the adjustable sight models (since you are pretty much stuck with that format).

http://www.trijicon.com/na_en/produc...3.php?pid=SA01

This is not a very good picture but it does illustrate the differences in the adjustable and fixed sight slides (I have an extra adjustable sight slide for my 3904).