Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
Country Attic is my favorite place to browse for used guns
I was issued a 4586 DAO .45. While the gun was very well built, nobody shot them well. Our mediocre shooters struggled, and our poor shooters constantly failed to qualify the first time. The guy who ran the firearms program eventually (who was a hardcore PPC guy and would never ever consider anything but DAOs and S&Ws, plus I was informed that he received deals on S&W PPC guns.) retired, the entire state held a conference of regional FIs and we decided to go with Glock 21 .45s and Colt select fire M4s. That was the other thing. He HATED the AR platform and insisted on the mini 14. The man single handedly held an entire state agency's firearm's program back 25 years behind the times.
Anyways, once we received the Glock 21s, our qual scores when up dramatically. Our mediocre shooters were passing with ease, and the guys/gals who were normally failing, were more often than not passing the very first time after they did the transition course. We had more guys shooting perfect scores than ever before. Same with the M4. The shotgun patterns were a thing of the past. Guys were turning in very good scores with the accurate Colt carbines.
I had such a bad taste in my mouth about Gen 3 S&Ws it took years before I recognized that there were some superb models. It is just that the DAO .45s like the 4586 was not one of them.
A 4563 (the CQB model) is literally the (for me), the extreme opposite. I think it is the single best 3rd gen gun ever produced. A hand fitted, absolute tack driving laser of a gun and super easy to shoot well.
I would be very happy to own an S&W PPC 5906, but I have not seen one around, and if I did odds are these days it would be out of my price range. That said, the standard versions can be cleaned up pretty well. I can say that guns such as the 4506 can be some real shooters. It just depends on the specific sample.
I know if it was 1995 and I was forced by policy to carry a traditional DA/SA as a uniformed LE, I would not complain about carrying a 4506, decocker version. In detectives, I would roll with the 4563 and not look back.
My first-issued gun was a S&W 4006 .40S&W, which was fairly popular in California.
I don't know if it was popular anywhere else back in ~1995.
My recollection was:
-it was heavy.
-with the straight backstrap grip, it felt "blocky". I never got to try the curved backstrap version.
-I had no policy or direction/training to carry it with its safety on or off, so I typically carried it safety off.
-The one breakage was some type of clip fracturing under the front-left of the grip. I have no idea what the clip did or how the armorer replaced it as I'd no idea how to work on guns back then.
Soon after, I switched to a personally-owned Glock 22 gen2 and mainly stayed with Glocks since then on duty, with various brands & models off-duty.
No, I haven't. Thanks for putting those on my radar. I definitely need to add those to the list. I occasionally swing by Target World in Sharonville. I grew up in Dayton... parents are still there. So, I'll have to incorporate those stops into the "scenic route" next time I head up from Cincy.
Milford, east of Cincy, has a pretty cool gun shop, too. I remember stopping in there and seeing a WWII P38 for a halfway decent price. Probably should have grabbed it. Thanks again for the tip!
For astute purveyors of pew: hipstertactical.com
Beautiful. You've shown your CQB 4563 before... still jealous I can only imagine what one of those would go for nowadays--out of my price range, for sure.
I'll say my 4506-1 never disappoints. I honestly shot it better than my P220... which I ended up selling after spending waaaay too much on guns, last summer. I actually just ordered a brand new drawbar from Numrich, for my 4506. The trigger play spring in mine is broken, so I have the annoying click. Gonna try to get that bad boy installed myself. I've taken a 4516 frame apart, most of the way.... hopefully I can handle this.
For astute purveyors of pew: hipstertactical.com
Formerly known as xpd54.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect the opinions or policies of my employer.
www.gunsnobbery.wordpress.com
Yeah, that’s the one. I’ve only been in it once, but they definitely had some cool stuff.
For astute purveyors of pew: hipstertactical.com
These are great guns ahead of their time in retrospect. The DAO version come in two configurations, a “half cock” and “quarter cock” DAO. One has shorter pull as you would expect.