When that happens, the sear release lever rotates and acts on the sear, which is Find No. When you rotate the decocker down to the safe position, a slot in it pushes the sear release lever down, which is Find No. The thing fits into a through-hole at the rear of the slide. The 659 Smith decocker is activated by a thumb lever. With the help of their isometric drawing below, follow along with me as I explain how this safety decocker thing works. Numrich has exploded drawings of these (and many, many other) old guns on line, and you can dope out how older guns work and identify the parts you need. The good news is that the old Numrich corporation purchased Smith and Wesson’s entire inventory of Model 659 parts (Numrich is now known as the Gun Parts Corporation, but everyone still calls them Numrich). This issue was slightly complicated by the fact that Smith and Wesson no longer supports these pistols (that’s the bad news). I guessed it wore out from having been actuated a ton of times, which is probably what happened when whoever carried it put it away for the night every night. It’s that gizmo on the rear of the slide that drops and blocks the hammer, and on mine, when it was fully depressed, the hammer wouldn’t drop the way it was supposed to. All these things were signs that pointed to lots of carry but little actual shooting.įirst, the safety decocker. My 659 was well worn externally with lots of fine scratches in the metal work, it didn’t have hardly any internal wear (it hadn’t been fired much), and the safety decocker didn’t work the way it was supposed to. I don’t know that this is my 659’s heritage, but I suspect it was. 38 Special six-shooters and moved to 9mm autos.Īs the police armament evolution advanced, the Model 659 Smiths were superseded by yet even newer wunderguns, and used 659s became widely available when the police departments traded them in. It was the right gun at the right time as police departments abandoned their. High capacity, 9mm, stainless steel, and an American manufacturer with a storied reputation: What’s not to like? Police departments turned to the Model 659 in droves. The 659’s all stainless steel construction gives it a comfortable heft and provides a stable firing platform. The Model 659 was the follow-on in Smith and Wesson’s 9mm semi-automatic handgun evolutionary arc, and it sold riotously well. Mine also has Pachmayr grips, which make it easier to get a good grip. I took possession of this latest addition to the ExNotes Armory, and let me tell you, this new-to-me 9mm is a honey. Tom gave me a super deal on his Model 659, and after a visit to an FFL dealer and waiting the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia’s obligatory 10-day cooling off period, I had (in Kalifornia’s infinite left-leaning wisdom) chilled sufficiently. I’ve been sending lead downrange with this one for close to 50 years. After reading one of the blogs I posted on my most capable, TJ-customized Smith and Wesson Model 59, good buddy Tom commented that he had a Model 659.