Smith & Wesson Model 845 Performance Center Stainless

Look at the slide flat on this one. It reads 845 Model of 1998 in a flowing script roll mark, and that single line tells you this isn't a gun that rolled off a normal assembly line. The 845 came out of the Smith & Wesson Performance Center, the shop's hand-fitted custom operation, and this particular pistol is the very first of the series. That's the kind of provenance that pulls a serious S&W collector across a room.

The build is pure third-generation Smith & Wesson, the all-steel large-frame .45 ACP platform that earned a reputation for shrugging off abuse. But the Performance Center took that bones-solid foundation and dressed it for target work. The slide carries brushed flats that contrast against the bead-blasted satin stainless of the frame, giving the pistol a quiet two-tone look without a lick of plating. Up top sits an adjustable Bo-Mar rear sight, the standard for serious bullseye shooters, paired with a post front. The Performance Center medallion is cut into the frame just ahead of the grip, and the slide carries the Springfield, MA address.

The grips are S&W's checkered black polymer wraparound panels with the monogram cast into each side. Single-stack magazine, chambered and marked .45 ACP, with the bright satin finish carrying through to the slide stop, decocker, and magazine release. The serrations are cut deep front and rear. Look closely at the muzzle and you'll find a recessed crown protected inside the full-length dust cover.

It comes in the original Performance Center hard case with the matching foam and a single magazine. For anyone who tracks the Performance Center's output through the late 1990s, a first-of-series 845 is the piece that anchors the whole run. You don't get a second chance at number one.