Jim Boland Custom Smith & Wesson S&W Model 559 9mm 4″ Semi-Auto Pistol 1982
SOLD FOR: $3,604.00
LSB#: LSB250902MG007
Make: Smith & Wesson
Model: Customized 559
Serial Number: A763439
Year of Manufacture: 1982
Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
Action Type: Single Action, Semi-Automatic, Removable Magazine Fed Pistol with Custom Thumb-Safety/Trigger
Barrel Length: 5 1/4″, Ported Bar-Sto Replacement
Sights / Optics: The front sight is a serrated, undercut blade fixed to the slide extension mounted to the front of the barrel. The rear sight is a Bo-Mar square-notch adjustable for windage and elevation, dovetailed to the top-rear of the slide; the top-right corner has an impact mark. The grip straps and front of the trigger guard have been textured for additional grip
Stock Configuration & Condition: The grips are two-piece checkered black plastic. Each panel has been relieved at the top-rear for the thumb-safety/trigger with springs and plungers installed on the top edge for tension. The grips have some scattered light marks. There are no chips or cracks. The checkering is well defined. Overall, the grips are in Very Good condition as customized.
Type of Finish: Blued, Black Alloy Mainspring Housing
Finish Originality: Refinished and heavily customized.
Bore Condition: The bore is mostly bright and the rifling is sharp. There is no erosion in the bore, just a little stubborn fouling. In this writer’s opinion, the bore rates 9/10.
Overall Condition: This handgun retains about 85% of its current metal finish. The finish is thinning at most edges. Most of the balance is in the textured portion of the mainspring housing and backstrap, mostly worn to white. There are a few light nicks and scratches. There is some light wear along the top-right of the slide. The action shows operational wear. The markings are clear. The screwheads are lightly worn. Overall, this pistol is in about Very Good condition as customized.
Mechanics: The action functions correctly as customized. Please see Our Assessment for more detail. We did not fire this handgun. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.
Box, Paperwork & Accessories: None. Please note, no magazine is included.
Our Assessment: Smith & Wesson is an important name in the story of the American semi-auto double action, first with their Model 39 and then the model 59. Dismayed by the commercial failure of their .35 and .32 semi-automatic pistols, in 1946 Smith & Wesson president C.R. Hellstorm said the product line needed to be modernized. Their top goal was to release a Double/Single action semi-automatic pistol chambered for the 9mm cartridge. In the 1950s Smith & Wesson began the development of the Model 39 semi-auto pistol and it was finally released in 1955. Impressed with the German P38 Double Action, American Ordnance personnel issued a proposal for America’s very own double action pistol, this made it even more enticing for Smith to make a double action. The 39 was born and was a hit, but where to go from there? The answer…increase the ammo capacity. While the 39 was, and still is, an important handgun, their Model 59 was massively important as it kicked off the “wonder-mine” craze in the police and self defense pistol market in the 1980s and 1990s. It was the first of the “wonder-nines”, a term used to describe duty-style pistols with high-capacity magazines using the 9mm cartridge. The Model 559 is a descendant of the Model 59 and a member of S&W’s “2nd Generation” of semi-auto pistols. This example, however, has become something else altogether.
Per the consignor, the custom modification of this pistol was performed by Jim Boland. Some of the finest custom guns have come out of Southern California, and while the political climate has changed dramatically in the passing decades it wasn’t always so anti-gun. We all long for the days of old, and while throwing shade at the Golden State is cute, it only goes to show you must be new to this hobby. The AR family of rifles and ArmaLite have roots in the state and Randall made the first production stainless 1911 and the first left-handed 1911 in sunny SoCal. While now the cause de jour is to make jokes at California, many of the great custom artists called the state their home. Hogue was in Canoga Park, Swenson operated in Gardena & Fallbrook, and the legendary Pachmayr was working out of the 1220 S Grand shop smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles. In terms of shooting sports, the Steel Challenge was founded by Mike Dalton about an hour outside of Los Angeles proper at Wes Thompson’s range, and the Southwest Pistol League (SWPL), where practical shooting was born in the USA, is also only a stone’s throw away. The fierce competition at these weekly matches helped innovators build some of the best guns we have seen. Jim Boland was another of the top dogs operating in the area and he started work at The Reloading Bench gunshop in Panorama City in Southern California in the year 1979.
Boland was a pioneer of high-performance 1911s and used the experience he gained in his early career as an aerospace machinist and fabricator to make some of the most outside the box, intricate, innovative, and purely badass pistols the industry has had the pleasure of seeing. By 1982 he was building mostly compensated competition guns, and welded long slides were gone from the pricelist. By 1987 he had started offering the “Double D” compensator and by 1988 was also building the “California Competitor” package gun with very few customer-specified options to enhance production. Boland had a deal with Maharlika Sportsmen Shop, a large retailer of competition pistol gear and supplies to stock the California Competitor in inventory for sale at a premium price. Aside from guns geared toward the serious competitor, he also built gas-operated 1911s, 1911 carbines, and carry guns. No brand was beneath him…Sigs, Stars and even Lahti pistols could get the Boland touch…Jim Boland was so talented he could even make a Glock cool! By the year 1993 he had left gunsmithing behind and went to work for Gibbons LTD as a prop armorer. While in the movie industry, he worked on Robocop III, if you cannot see his influence in RoboCops pistol then schedule an eye exam!
This S&W 559’s radical customization includes a longer Bar-Sto ported barrel, slide extension for longer sight-radius, slide welded up and re-profiled for a dovetailed Bo-Mar target sight, re-profiled trigger guard, and textured grip areas. Perhaps most radical is the alterations to the trigger and safety mechanisms. No longer a single/double action, the pistol is now single-action only, kind of. The original slide-mounted safety has had its lever bobbed, still able to be rotated, but not by hand. An odd thumb-safety/trigger has been installed which prevents the pistol from being fired unless the lever is pressed DOWN. The disconnector does not appear to have been altered, but this means that if the hammer is cocked and the trigger pressed, the hammer will fall when you press down on the safety, almost operating as a thumb-trigger. The result is possibly one-of-a-kind, and certainly will turn some heads at the range or displayed in a collection of custom competition pistols. Please see our photos and good luck!
-Bud
