Anyone owns a S&W 4506 or 6906

JDBerg,

Third gen S&W autos have been out of cataloged production for about 7 or 8 years.

They have been out of Law Enforcement catalog production for about 5-6 years.

They were made as late as 2012-2013 for large department orders in custom configurations. (CHP, WVSP, NYPD, and ongoing contracts with the RCMP being most notable.

Certain models were made right into early 2014 for NYPD.


There is also a greatly blown out of proportion rumormill bulletin out there that S&W has completely abandoned servicing these guns. That is false and based entirely on a literal game of telephone with first level customer service reps who were taking great liberties with paraphrasing interoffice memos.

S&W has not abandoned supporting the third gen guns. They will not be able to make ALL repairs ALL of the time. In most cases, they will be able to service the guns, but there may be delays involved or replacement offers made with comparable currently cataloged guns for the original owners. They made a million of these guns, and a lot of parts transfer from one gun to another. Just like many other discontinued guns are kept in service, these guns will prove viable moving forward. But Smith cannot make the assurance that ongoing service for repairs will be able to live up to the standards they supposedly keep for their other products. If you have a standard vanilla 4506, I'm pretty sure they will be able to keep you shooting for a long time to come. But if you have some oddball Performance Center variant or send in a .356TSW you might have to discuss other options with S&W.

Honestly, we're talking about a line of guns that doesn't break with the exception of the trigger return spring and the spring under the left side grip. Both of which are easily reproducable by the aftermarket if the need ever arose. Outside of that, the occasional extractor or firing pin, and there are no worries. These guns are tanks.
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OK, the 3rd Gen guns were carried in the S&W commercial catalogs for a few years after they went out of production, to sell off residual commercial inventories. The NYPD still has the 5946 in limited service but these are DAO guns with awful triggers that are being armored by the NYPD, so S&W probably doesn't have more than a few of these coming back for service. These Service pistols will be phased out of duty service in the next few years.

The 3rd Gen guns went out of production because they were expensive to manufacture relative to what they could be sold for. Same thing happened to the Colt Python. S&W has a much better profit margin on the M&P line of guns, so they killed off the older guns.

Below is the link to Gunsmithing Services on the S&W Webpage

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...4_750001_750051_775657_-1_757896_757896_image

To paraphrase what the webpage says; S&W offers a 3rd Gen Action Package for unaltered guns that are 1990 or newer date of manufacture. This service does not involve a repair or parts replacement based on the description of the service. Have your gun serial number ready when you contact S&W for service. So if I know that my gun still has all of its original parts and is 1990 or newer, I can get this one action package done to my gun.

Let me tell you what I was told by my LGS, who has a certified S&W armorer on staff. S&W does not itself armor 3rd generation guns anymore, and they no longer provide civilian armorer training for these 3rd Gen. guns. Current S&W armorer training is offered for revolvers and M&P guns.

I was taught in the Military, and then in NRA training to get my guns intended for carry, armored at least once a year, or more often based on number of rounds fired. You are free to do whatever you want with your own firearms, but I'm going to follow what I was taught, and I'm certainly not going to carry a firearm that hasn't been armored.
 
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JDB, I'm not sure what your point is. The action package is a performance center "fluff and buff" of a few of the fire control parts and a little time spent polishing the barrel ramp. It is not a repair service. That is handled by their normal service department (with the exception of PC guns).

Armorer programs are training programs typically offered to full time LE agency armorers, or are employees of dealers who are responsible for what is essentially a factory supported "fleet Maintenance" program. Even when a local shop may have a type certified armorer on staff, S&W (and most manufacturers) still want the consumer to send the guns to the factory (or one of a few certified depots) for repairs. Smith has centralized repairs to their factories for these guns.

Personally, I take anything told to me at a gun store with a grain of salt. I have heard way too many space shuttle door gunner hero stories to take anything heard in a gun shop seriously.


Regardless of my prejudices about info obtained at the gun counter, if the story relayed to you is in fact true, it has absolutely nothing to do with the factory repairing the third gen guns. Or you could do what I did, and call/write smith and wesson directly and ask several people what the story is, and gain a Consensus. After that, start looking on the Internet for first hand cases where S&W is unable to make right on one of their third gens. A handful of cases do exist where Al frames were catastrophically damaged, but for the most part, folks are getting repairs made within an acceptable amount of time.

The only regular maintenance these guns need is a few user-replaceable springs, so no armorer needed for the most part. On that point, I'd go with whatever the manufacturer recommends, rather than the military. The military also specifies (or at least had specified) condition 3 carry with downloaded magazines. This is one of many examples of where what they do is not advisable in the real world. They often do things based on the lowest common denominator, especially when it comes to handguns (with the exception of SOF), so while they may develop some of our nation's finest men, their small arms maintenance is fairly backwards and consists of an obsessive cleaning regime coupled with a repair schedule that only considers replacement once a part fails catastrophically. M9's don't see annual maintinence. They see an armorer when they break. The NRA provides sufficient training wheels to ensure you don't shoot your thumb off, but that's about it. Anyone with the ambition to confirm/deny the persistent S&W rumor above is capable of also deducing what needs to stay in boot camp. But hey, it's a free country. Do what you want. But Internet rumors, gun counter stories, and adherence to what you learned in boot, are not good enough for me at least.
 
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I think the prices for these guns are a little to steep for me to buy. I have a3913 and 6906 and I paid $350 for each about 3 years ago and they are both excellent in the box with 2 mags. I like the 3rd gen guns as they are well made and S&W still services them too.
 
JDB, I'm not sure what your point is. The action package is a performance center "fluff and buff" of a few of the fire control parts and a little time spent polishing the barrel ramp. It is not a repair service. That is handled by their normal service department (with the exception of PC guns).

Armorer programs are training programs typically offered to full time LE agency armorers, or are employees of dealers who are responsible for what is essentially a factory supported "fleet Maintenance" program. Even when a local shop may have a type certified armorer on staff, S&W (and most manufacturers) still want the consumer to send the guns to the factory (or one of a few certified depots) for repairs. Smith has centralized repairs to their factories for these guns.

Personally, I take anything told to me at a gun store with a grain of salt. I have heard way too many space shuttle door gunner hero stories to take anything heard in a gun shop seriously.


Regardless of my prejudices about info obtained at the gun counter, if the story relayed to you is in fact true, it has absolutely nothing to do with the factory repairing the third gen guns. Or you could do what I did, and call/write smith and wesson directly and ask several people what the story is, and gain a Consensus. After that, start looking on the Internet for first hand cases where S&W is unable to make right on one of their third gens. A handful of cases do exist where Al frames were catastrophically damaged, but for the most part, folks are getting repairs made within an acceptable amount of time.

The only regular maintenance these guns need is a few user-replaceable springs, so no armorer needed for the most part. On that point, I'd go with whatever the manufacturer recommends, rather than the military. The military also specifies (or at least had specified) condition 3 carry with downloaded magazines. This is one of many examples of where what they do is not advisable in the real world. They often do things based on the lowest common denominator, especially when it comes to handguns (with the exception of SOF), so while they may develop some of our nation's finest men, their small arms maintenance is fairly backwards and consists of an obsessive cleaning regime coupled with a repair schedule that only considers replacement once a part fails catastrophically. M9's don't see annual maintinence. They see an armorer when they break. The NRA provides sufficient training wheels to ensure you don't shoot your thumb off, but that's about it. Anyone with the ambition to confirm/deny the persistent S&W rumor above is capable of also deducing what needs to stay in boot camp. But hey, it's a free country. Do what you want. But Internet rumors, gun counter stories, and adherence to what you learned in boot, are not good enough for me at least.
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I just contacted an old friend of mine who still owns and regularly shoots both an S&W Performance Center 952 9mm AND a PC 945 .45ACP, arguably 2 of the very best semiautomatic firearms that S&W ever produced. He confirmed that S&W no longer services these guns. Based on your "understanding" of military firearms maintenance policies, and military armorer regulations and procedures, and your "opinions" about NRA training, well, I'll just accept all that for what it's worth.
 
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These 2 are on consigment from someone who came in to sell his collection so there is no negotiating the prices.
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Have you asked? Sometimes when the guns are put up for sale the owner lists a "bottom price" that the LGS is allowed to accept. I have also bought consignment guns for lest than asking by making an offer I consider reasonable or slightly below to allow for negotiations. The LGS then contacts the seller with the offer and sometimes they accept or come back with a counter offer. You aren't out anything by asking. If they accept or counter, they are agreeing to the value and if they are firm, you still can buy for the price listed if you want.
 
JDBerg. Check with S&W for yourself. Owning a 952 or 945 doesn't make him authoritative in anything. The 952 is not even a third gen anyways. They are open tomorrow morning at 8. 1 (800) 331-0852

Maybe you're friend is getting the same bad advice as you are.....from the local gun store counter jock........

The U.S. Military is terrible at small arms Maintenance. Don't act like they don't go to great lengths to do things as illogically, outmoded, inefficient as possible. But you can believe what you want. By all means follow their example. Couldn't hurt at this point.
 
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I own several 3rd gen smith autos. In the 15+ years of ownership I have never had a part fail, not once. They all have anywhere from 1k to 3k rounds thru them. I know that's not a lot for some people. I have more faith in these guns than anything else I own. :) My TSW pistols are so beefy I think you could Run them over with a Tank and Still blast away. :eek:
 
Quote: What's a better all around gun out of these 2 and what's a better buy?

I'm a big fan of all Smith "Third Generation" pistols but, when deciding between a Model 6906 and a Model 4506, the intended use becomes a relevant question as the size/weight differences between these two pistols becomes almost an apples vs orange question. If you plan on carrying the pistol concealed as a self-defense weapon, the relatively light and compact Model 6906 is a superb choice. Though the Model 4506 can be used for the same purpose, its larger size and heavier weight makes it more appropriate as a range or home defense pistol for many people.

For the prices you cited however, the Model 4506 is the "better buy" in my area at least.
 
Only thing you need a supply of for a 3rd Gen S&W is Extra Mags & the usual Springs.
Recoil springs are most needed, and available thru aftermarket...but get 2 immediately anyway.

Once you have 5 mags, get 5 mag springs, and you are set for the next 40 years ;)
 
DanTSX,
check your private messages for information on where to call for these guns.
Regards and if you get any, let me know how you liked them.
 
The 4506 was a good gun. Carried one for years on the job. That thing would feed empty cases and shot well. Retired with a Gen3 21SF Glock. Dang fine piece as well
 
I own a 4506, with 50 rounds through it, that was my issue carry gun. I retired 6 months after it was issued, one trip to the range, and as was in our contract was given the pistol and a retirement badge. It has been in the safe for quite a while.
 
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