Dear TFL, please talk me down from buying a SW 5906

nr,

OK, I'll talk you out of it.

I've got a number of SW 3rd gens and I love them all. I bought my lightly used 5906 about ten years ago. This is from memory without checking my log books.

I put about 5,000 rounds through it when it started having hammer-follow issues. I detail stripped it and there were cracks on both sides of the frame between the sear spring hole and hammer pin. SW told me to send it in for examination. They told me they could not fix it even after I offered to pay for someone to Tig weld it. They did offer to replace it with a new 9mm M&P pistol to which I agreed. Unfortunately it took them two years and about eleven contacts by email, fax and phone for them to deliver the M&P (they mistakenly sent my cast to the International division rather than the US division, one man retired during my case and no-one followed up on his caseload, then there were multiple transfers to people who simply did nothing).

So while I still love my SW 3rd gens I had a lot of grief from SW customer service.

That said, I'd still buy another 5906 at the right price.

best wishes- oldandslow
 
That's crazy, oldandslow.

Surprised to hear about cracks in the frame. What was the condition of that gun when you first got it?
 
The 5906 is a rugged and reliable workhorse pistol. A little on the heavy side compared to new polymer guns but it will never let you down.

Mine is a former Atlanta, PD gun. I would prefer the round trigger guard over the funky hooked one but I got it cheap ($225) and it's a daily carry piece. It eats +P+ JHPs like candy.


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Yeah, I have a Model 6906 with the angular trigger guard and much prefer the looks of the rounded version but it was my carry gun for many years in le and never failed to digest anything and everything that was run through it. I still rely on it as a sometimes CCW as a "civilian" and it's one pistol that I'll keep for the rest of my days.
You can call Third Generation Smith pistols heavy, clunky and "old school" but you can never call them unreliable. They remain a great and viable choice for self-defense.
 
Saxon, your pictured 5906 is very, very early in the 3rd Gen run. The hooked trigger guard is one clue, but the bigger clue is the not-yet-Novak rear sight. From what I understand, the 3rd Gens were all shaken out and planned out with Wayne Novak having a good hand in some of the changes, but the licensing deal had not yet been all hammered out so some of the early 3rd Gen fixed sight models had the earlier 2nd Gen rear sight on it.

I would also check to ensure you have the upgraded grip which was subject to recall. Not my intention to lay down even a minor bash on the guns that I dearly love, but the early one-piece grip had the possibility of shattering at a strong blow (such as being dropped) and for this particular pistol, it ends up being a catastrophic failure because the one-piece grip contains the mainspring. Thus, if the grip becomes compromised, the pistol is very likely to -NOT- fire.
I don't think S&W supports 3rd Generation's....
Click to expand...
This is a very generalized statement...
Smith & Wesson absolutely "supports" any of their firearms if & when they have parts for them. They do limit what they will do on formerly issued duty guns sold to organizations that have later been re-sold to the public.

Smith & Wesson not all that long ago send me an extractor pin for a second Gen pistol that was built in 1988.
 
There are few pistols better than 3rd Gen S&W's.
Just get it. You'll be a happy camper :)

I went with a slightly larger version, the CS45 and am hunting the CS9 & CS40
to fill out the set after being happily surprised with the shootability!
fullsize
 
Recently I found a very similar gun at a really good price and came here for advice. I left the forums with the plan to buy the gun. The next day I went to the shop that had it and it had already sold. My advice would be buy it and buy it now.
 
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