Description
Some guns tell a story. This one? It won it.
What you’re looking at is a piece of competition history: a Smith & Wesson Prototype 4006 Custom —handcrafted by the legendary Smith & Wesson Performance Center and purpose-built for speed, control, and results. Not just any prototype, either. This was the first one sent to champion shooter Judy Woolley, and it carried her to a win at the 1991 Steel Challenge—her second victory at that prestigious match.
The Performance Center didn’t hold back. This 9mm pistol was reimagined from the ground up with competitive shooting in mind. It features an extended 5-inch barrel paired with a mirror-bright bore and a lightened slide that replaces the factory open sights with a precision-mounted aluminum optics rail. That rail holds a Tasco Propoint red dot, still fully functional despite a few honest marks from match use because this gun wasn’t built to sit in a safe.
There’s more. The factory ambi decocker? Gone. In its place: a frame-mounted manual safety, giving competitors the quick-access control they needed. Add a skeletonized slide stop, an extended magazine release, deep hand-checkering on both the front and back straps, and a squared, textured trigger guard for steady offhand support. A flared mag-well and enlarged beavertail finish the frame—details that make reloads faster and grip transitions smoother, especially under pressure.
Converted to a single-action-only setup, this prototype features a short-spur hammer and a crisp, competition-tuned trigger that breaks around 2 pounds. It’s clean, it’s sharp, and it’s ready to perform.
The left side of the frame proudly carries the fixed aluminum optics mount—a visual clue that this wasn’t just a factory prototype; it was a competitor’s tool, fine-tuned for real-world match conditions.
This exact pistol comes with three magazines fitted with CP Bullets bumpers and a copy of Judy Woolley’s original Team Smith & Wesson card, showing this very gun (with a slightly different optic mount) in action. Also included is a factory letter dated March 1991, which documents the Performance Center build and confirms the historical shipment.
Woolley didn’t stop at the Steel Challenge. This very pistol helped power her through a sweep of significant events in 1991, including wins at the Bianchi Cup and the Masters International. For collectors with an eye for competitive lineage—or anyone who appreciates what it means to own an actual, purpose-built Performance Center prototype—this is more than a firearm. It’s a legend in steel.
