S&W 5906

[Trooper224]

Last week, our youngest son returned home from the Navy. Over the last nine years he's acquired a few interesting things, this minty 5906 being one.



When they were introduced and during their heyday, I never gave these guns the attention they deserved. Being all about the .45 at the time, I never paid guns of *lesser* caliber much attention. Now that our son is home and I'm over such silliness, I've been able to spend a couple of range sessions with this one.



QC is excellent on this example. The trigger is a bit heavy, but very smooth. Once it's lightened up a bit it will be perfect. Accuracy is good as is reliability. Neither of these aspects is any surprise, but rather an expectation, given my 3rd Generation experience over the last three and a half years.



The guns size and weight make for an excellent performance combination. The all steel construction makes it one of the softest shooting service pistols I've ever encountered and its G19 type size makes it viable in any number of roles from concealment to duty use. I believe the 5906, in its various iterations, was the top selling model in the 3rd Generation line. After spending time with this one I can see why. I could easily see the 5906 replacing the Beretta 92 as my favorite 9mm handgun and that's quite a statement, considering my feelings on the 92. The 5906 also fits perfectly into a Galco Jackass rig I gave my son, made for the Beretta 92, as well as an IWB holster for the same. He already knows who to come to if he needs to sell it.



Could this long out of production gun still serve today? I don't see why not. The 5906 has the advantage of aftermarket support regarding magazines, so one doesn't have to worry about paying $80-$90 for extras as with some of the 3rd Gen. guns. As for parts? My own experience with 3rd Gens combined with the experiences of law enforcement armorers I've talked to indicate that nothing much breaks on these guns. A couple of spare extractors are all you'll probably want to keep on hand and the biggest difficulty will probably be keeping track of them over the years. Change the recoil spring every three to five thousand rounds and the gun will likely outlive you. I completely understand why Smith & Wesson stopped production on the 3rd Generation guns. It makes perfect sense from a business standpoint and in terms business that's all that matters. Still, I think it's a shame these guns aren't still in production. In a way, they represent the last gasp od old school quality from one of the great American gun makers.

[BobM]

I was issued one for 16 years and was the armorer for eight. The other common wear item I saw was the sear release lever. When too worn, if I remember correctly, the decocking lever would drop the hammer. Other than that I don’t think I had to work on them often. By 2006 though, they were 16 years old. The chief at the time wanted to replace them with new ones but S&W said they would not be available again (at least for an agency our size only wanting 25-30 pistols).
I bought mine when we traded them for M&P40s.

[Catshooter]

A very nice piece man. Soft shooter indeed!

My 3rd gen S&Ws were mostly .45s, but I did have a 6906. All the .45s and the 9mm would feed empties from the mag, fully chambered. Very impressive, reliable in the extreme.

Good to have your kid back too I bet!


Cat

[KevH]

First gun I was ever issued.

They're heavy, but very reliable and fairly accurate. Extremely soft shooters.

When we had them all I wanted was a Glock. I didn't appreciate how great of guns they actually were.

Did I mention they were heavy?

[Brian T]

Get your decocker only on. Order one of these. The slide may need a minor modification, and you'll need a .45acp lever for the right side.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1419350

Wolff makes a trigger spring kit that will help a bit with the trigger weight. If you feel comfortable striping the frame, polishing the drawbar will help as well

[MattyD380]

Very nice. Congrats to you both.

Also picked up a 5906 fairly recently. Police trade. A little holster wear, but still beautiful.

I was dead set on the adjustable sights. Mainly because that's what Scully & Mulder had in X-Files. Happy to have found this one for a decent price.



I actually haven't shot this one yet. But I've put a lot of rounds through my 6904 over the years and have come to trust and appreciate that gun. Always reliable. With decent ammo, it shoots about as well as comparably sized Sigs. Looking forward to getting some rounds through this bad boy. The heft just feels... right.

One of the things I really love about 3rd gens are the DA triggers. While they're not always the lightest, the stroke has zero stacking or hitching and the sights don't budge when the hammer falls; I've found this to be such a big factor (for me, anyway) in shooting DA accurately. The DA on this 5906 is even a little lighter and smoother than my 6904--which has always been one of my faves.

Looks like Elk County Arms still has some, in case anybody needs some enabling: https://ammoandarmsstore.com/let-sw59062/

[jnc36rcpd]

The 5906 was my first semiautomatic pistol. My former agency considered it as we transitioned from revolvers to semiautomatic pistols, but the Third Generation had just been released and we went with the more proven performer, the SIG 226. Nonetheless, the 5906 is one gun I plan to keep.

The big department authorized personal purchase of several DAO pistols before they transitioned. A colleague, not know for firearms enthusiasm or interest, opted for a Smith rather than the much more popular Glock. When I mentioned my surprise that he hadn't opted for the lighter and less expensive Glock, he commented that he wanted something that would be effective if he needed to give someone a good "thwack".

Late one night, shortly thereafter, I skidded to a halt on one of those less-than-textbook felony stops. As I bailed from my car, I saw my colleague use his S&W to deliver a tactical thwack and end resistance by a suspect. Perhaps not endorsed by S&W, but nonetheless....

[Beat Trash]

Your son’s gun has a mim hammer. Can tell by it being slightly skeletonized. This is actually a good thing. They were quality mim parts and usually resulted in better out of the box trigger pulls. The straight grip was a non standard grip that my agency would install, as needed, for officers with smaller hands.

The 5906 was our first issued 9mm when leaving revolvers. My academy class was one of the first post-revolver classes. At the time, we had roughly 1,200 5906’s in the field.

After about 8 years we transitioned to the DAO 5946. I would have preferred to stay with the 5906.

The 5906’s were great guns. They were very size efficient. They do have their weak points. The biggest being the 9mm extractor was small and prone to chipping or breaking. I had one break on me while trying to dissuade a rogue German Shepard from using my arm as a chew toy.

The 40 and 45 cal guns had a much beefier extractor setup.

They are fun guns to shoot and your son’s gun looks to be in excellent shape.

[Trooper224]

Your son’s gun has a mim hammer. Can tell by it being slightly skeletonized. This is actually a good thing. They were quality mim parts and usually resulted in better out of the box trigger pulls. The straight grip was a non standard grip that my agency would install, as needed, for officers with smaller hands.

The 5906 was our first issued 9mm when leaving revolvers. My academy class was one of the first post-revolver classes. At the time, we had roughly 1,200 5906’s in the field.

After about 8 years we transitioned to the DAO 5946. I would have preferred to stay with the 5906.

The 5906’s were great guns. They were very size efficient. They do have their weak points. The biggest being the 9mm extractor was small and prone to chipping or breaking. I had one break on me while trying to dissuade a rogue German Shepard from using my arm as a chew toy.

The 40 and 45 cal guns had a much beefier extractor setup.

They are fun guns to shoot and your son’s gun looks to be in excellent shape.

When he bought it the first thing I told him was to buy a couple of spare extractors while they're still available.

The trigger is indeed very smooth on this one, smoother than two of my three .45s with the forged parts. A couple of things I really appreciate with these 3rd Gens is the length of DA pull, which is shorter than any other TDA gun I can think of and the reset, which is extremely short.

I find the curved backstrap works better for me than the flat, I've put them on all of my 3rds. Watching my son shoot, I think that also applies to him. I'm going to suggest swapping out the grip as a test.

[Trooper224]

A very nice piece man. Soft shooter indeed!

My 3rd gen S&Ws were mostly .45s, but I did have a 6906. All the .45s and the 9mm would feed empties from the mag, fully chambered. Very impressive, reliable in the extreme.

Good to have your kid back too I bet!


Cat

I can't express how good it is. Two years ago our oldest son moved back to the area, now the youngest is back. The only holdout is our daughter, no hope of that I'm afraid. Last week the boys and I went shooting. I taught all three of them how to shoot, but only two out of the three really embraced it. Our oldest son isn't a real gunner. He's not anti by any stretch, it just isn't one of his main things. However, over the last two years he's really come along. His younger brother on the other hand is a hardcore shooter. While shooting he commented to me, "he's a pretty good shot" That translates into, "he's better than me" which is the case. I could tell that was a burr under his saddle. I had to smile at the sibling rivalry.