FBI SWAT purchased roughly 800 Smith & Wesson Model 459s on a trial run circa 1984.

For the overwhelming majority of the twentieth century, i.e., well before those upstarts Glock and SIG Sauer came along, Smith & Wesson (S&W) was the predominant name in American civilian law enforcement handguns.

As America’s domestic police agencies were overwhelmingly double-action revolver-oriented until the mid-to-late 1980s, Smith & Wesson was itself first and foremost a revolver-maker. S&W had models such as the .38 Special caliber Model 10 and Model 36 Chief’s Special as well as .357 Magnums such as the Model 19 and the Model 13, the latter of which was the longtime standard issue to Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

However, ever-savvy to market trends, S&W has produced more than its fair share of semiautomatic pistols for police officers as well. For example, there was its First Generation S&W Model 39, which became the first traditional double-action (TDA) 9mm autopistol to be adopted by a domestic law enforcement agency when it was adopted by the forward-thinking Illinois State Police way back in 1967. And in the mid-1980s, the FBI’s Special Weapons & Tactics (SWAT) team adopted a TDA 9mm semiauto whilst the overwhelming majority of the bureau’s field agents were being issued revolvers. The National Interest now looks at the relatively brief but still fascinating history of the Smith & Wesson Model 459.

Note that FBI SWAT is not the same as the Agency’s Hostage Response Team (HRT), though both are elite units. In the 1980s, HRT was using the iconic Browning Hi-Power single-action 9mm autopistol as its standard-issue sidearm; it later switched to the Springfield Armory Professional Model M1911 in .45 ACP.

S&W Model 459 Initial History and Specifications

The Model 459 debuted in 1984 as part of Smith & Wesson’s Second Generation of TDA semiauto autopistols, the immediate successor to the Model 59, which in turn had been the company’s—and America’s—first so-called “Wonder Nine.”  The pistol was produced until 1988. The M459 had a blue steel slide and aluminum alloy frame. Additional tech specs, courtesy of Genitron (“The Handgun Information Resource”):

• Barrel Length: 4 inches
• Overall Length: 7.44 inches
• Empty Weight: 30.5 ounces
• Magazine Capacity: 14 rounds

The M459’s FBI Story

FBI SWAT purchased roughly 800 of these pistols on a trial run circa 1984. Tragically, the M459’s best-known use in an actual gunfight was a tragic one:  the infamous 1986 FBI Miami Firefight, whereupon nine of the bureau’s agents engaged in a harrowing gun battle with two vicious bank robbers, Michael Platt and William Matix. Two of the good guys—Special Agents Jerry Dove and Ben Grogan—were killed and seven of their brother agents were wounded before Platt and Matix succumbed to gunshot wounds at the hands of the surviving agents.

The tragic irony is that Agent Dove inflicted a nonsurvivable wound upon Platt before any agents were even struck by Platt’s Ruger Mini-14 rifle. Dove was using a Model 459 loaded with 9mm Winchester Silvertip 115-grain hollowpoints; one such Silvertip round punched through the windshield of the suspects’ vehicle, struck Platt’s upper arm, traversed into his chest cavity, and severed the pleural artery before stopping just short of Platt’s heart. Yet in spite of this fatal wound, Platt proceeded to do all his deadly damage from there.

I’m honored and privileged to be personal friends with one of the heroes of that infamous gun battle (though he’s way too modest to admit to being a hero), now-retired Special Agent (and U.S. Marine Corps veteran to boot) Edmundo “Ed” Mireles. Ed finished off the bad guys with yet another Smith & Wesson handgun, his personally-owned, Agency-approved (though not standard-issue) Model 686 .357 Magnum revolver, firing the fatal rounds with his weak hand after his strongside arm was shattered by Platt’s .223 rifle fire. 

Here’s what Ed had to say to me about the Model 459:

“The 459 got a bad rap from the shooting. It was not the gun, it was the ammo! They stand up to the punishment!!!”

To prove his latter point, Ed sent me a photo of Jerry Dove’s pistol, which was hit by one of Platt’s rifle rounds.

Image courtesy of retired FBI Special Agent Edmundo Mireles

As a result of this ammo failure, the bureau switched to the 10mm cartridge and yet another S&W auto, the Model 1076, as general issue. However, as Ed told me in a separate interview, the M1076 turned out to be garbage.

Personal Shooting Impressions of the Model 459

In March 2025, I managed to get ahold of an M459 after winning a bid on GunBroker, which I got for an absolute steal at a total cost (tax, shipping, etc.) of $373.90. To see how the pistol performed, I took it to the excellent Silver Eagle Group (SEG) indoor shooting range facility in Ashburn, Virginia.

The ergonomics were comfortable, and double-action and single-actin trigger pulls were respectively reasonably smooth and crisp. The sight picture is decent though not spectacular (not as refined as the three-dot Wayne Novak sights on the Third Generation S&W autos).

The gun was plenty fun to shoot, and more than sufficiently accurate for combat purposes, giving me tight groups when conducting headshots at 7 yards, still nailing the head at 25 yards, and staying in the center of the torso at 50 yards, the latter of which is considered the acid test of handgun combat accuracy by experts such as the late, great Chuck Karwan and Chuck Taylor. My only complaint accuracy-wise is that the gun shoots way high, to the tune of 6 inches high at 7 yards and 8 inches high at the 15-yard mark.

Reliability-wise, out of 100 rounds fired thus far—evenly divvied between Ammo Inc. 115-grain full metal jacket and CCI Blazer Brass 115-grain FMJ—the gun gave me a stovepipe jam on the very last round, but that may actually been my fault, as I may have loosened my grip too soon and created a “limp-wristing” situation.

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

Image: Shutterstock

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