Smith & Wesson Model 4006 Factory Prototype

Most Model 4006 pistols rolled off the line by the thousands and went straight to a duty holster. This one never did. The frame carries an X-prefix designation under the MOD 4006 marking, the stamp Smith & Wesson used to flag a pistol built before the production run began. It's a developmental gun, the kind that sets the pattern others follow, and they almost never leave the factory.

The 4006 arrived officially in January 1990 as part of the third generation of S&W double-action autos. It went on to a long career, most notably with the California Highway Patrol, who carried the .40 S&W stainless gun for more than two decades. But this example predates all of that. It's the blueprint, not the production copy.

Look closely and the prototype details show. The rear sight is a fully adjustable unit with protective ears flanking the blade, paired with a white-dot front. The slide wears the Smith & Wesson Springfield, MA address, and the frame shows the model line stamped clean. The stainless finish has the matte bead-blast texture S&W used on these guns, with light handling marks on the high edges and the slide flats. Wrap-around black synthetic grips with the S&W medallion fill the hand. The bore looks bright through the muzzle, with the rifling sharp.

It feeds the .40 S&W from a double-stack magazine, and one of the two included mags shows the numbered witness holes running 10 through 15. The decocking safety sits on the slide, and the red cocked indicator peeks out behind the slide when the hammer is back.

The pistol comes in a black MTM Case-Gard 804 hard case with a second magazine. Spartan packaging for a piece whose value lives in the frame markings, not the box. For a collector who tracks the third-generation S&W autos, a documented pre-production 4006 is the sort of thing that turns up once and then disappears into a collection.