S&W 39, what would be a fair offer?

[radioman]

it is in LNIB, one 8 round mag, papers and box. no safety or decock, it is at a gun store and I want to make an offer,I think the asking of 469.95 a bit much.

[Mr. Beretta]

it is in LNIB, one 8 round mag, papers and box. no safety or decock, it is at a gun store and I want to make an offer,I think the asking of 469.95 a bit much.

"no safety or decock"

It doesn't have a decock lever on the left slide of the slide that allows the hammer to safely fall on a loaded chamber?

[3GunFunShooter]

Sounds like it is missing some parts. My 39-2 had the decock and safety.
If it has a steel frame, buy it, no matter what condition.

[Mickey D]

$350 - $400 is a good price.

I have a 439 in like new condition. Gave $350 in '08.

[Cali-Shooter]

I personally wouldn't pay more than $300 for one, I recently scored a S&W 910 (3rd gen S&W 39 derivative) for $330 with 5 mags for it.

[BigDogatPlay]

it is in LNIB, one 8 round mag, papers and box. no safety or decock, it is at a gun store and I want to make an offer,I think the asking of 469.95 a bit much.

You need to know your stuff, particularly when it comes to buying / selling S&W's.

LNIB for a Model 39, a first generation gun, it better have a slide mounted de-cocker which also functions as a safety. If it does not, the gun has been extensively altered and would not qualify as LNIB and $469.95 would be out of line. If it's a genuine Model 39 LNIB with matching box and papers, then I'd think $469.95 would be something of a steal. If the gun happened to be a Model 39 no dash, with a steel frame, $469.95 would be the steal of the century. Those are very rare.

Below is an excellent example of a first generation Model 39. They would be available in bright blue or bright nickle, but not stainless.



Later generations introduced DAO guns with nothing on the slide, but those did not exist from the factory in the first generation.

Example of a second generation gun, will have a three digit model number, here a typical 439. These were 439 for alloy frame, 539 for a steel frame and 639 for all stainless. The second generation introduced the ambidextrous decocker. I've seen a few first generation guns that had been retrofitted with an ambi-decocker, but those weren't a generation one feature.



Third generation guns, which all have four digit model numbers brought additional refinements to the action and all kinds of variations. Below are typical 3904 (alloy frame) and 3906 (stainless steel). DAO guns will have no decocker, just a round plug flat on both sides in the hole where the decocked would normally be. If the gun you are looking at is 3rd generation, $469 is too much money even for LNIB, as far as I am concerned.



Good luck and hopefully you've found a winner.