From Hush Puppy to Starsky & Hutch
In the late 1960s, Smith & Wesson started a project to provide Vietnam-deployed SEAL Teams with a modified S&W Model 39 9mm pistol that included a slide lock and threaded barrel for a suppressor as well as a 14+1 magazine capacity, a big jump from the Model 39’s standard 8+1 load.
The gun, intended for NSW use to silence sentries or their dogs, became dubbed the “Hush Puppy.”
Note the chest holster…Hush Puppy inside
Well, by 1971, Smith thought the basic model, sans suppressor-ready features, would make a good gun for LE and the consumer markets and introduced it as the more polished S&W Model 59, which soon saw some serious success in the hands of Disco-era police, including a regular appearance on cop shows of the era.
More in my column at Guns.com.
