Smith & Wesson 5906 9mm...

Long long ago in a land far far away I sold my first gen 5906, I'm sure for a very good reason. Time passed but not too long ago I too found a last generation 5906 PD trade in so now a 5906 is back in the rotation.

Very nice!

I love those early ones with the trigger, hammer and safety all in matching flash-chrome.

I also recently picked up a 5906 that was a police-trade-in. Got mine through Classic Firearms, $319 because I paid the extra $20 for hand select. Was $354 by the time I paid the shipping & insurance. I'm waiting on a replacement grip to be available through Midway right now. I've been very pleased with the condition of this gun. The metal was almost flawless and was also very clean internally, must have a very low round count. These are fine guns!! Only about 100 rounds through it so far, but not an issue.

Good pistol, great condition. Enjoy your SW, post some targets to keep her alive.

Nice pistols! Police trade-ins are some of the best deals out there.

I remember wanting the single-stack 3906 sooooo much when they were introduced in 1989. I finally got a 3906 about ten years later and over the years I have had three 5906s, all of which were absolutely excellent guns.

I had an original nickeled 59 with rosewood grips (looked a little like the gun that Jar posted) which shot nicely but had a ridiculously huge grip which people even bigger than me complained about (I'm 5'11"I and 185). I wasnt even able to release the mag without adjusting my whole hand on the grip a little. A set of rosewood grips from eBay didn't change much, plus they didn't fit perfectly which pissed me off.

I eventually sold the piece, slightly reluctantly, but there was another gun I really wanted and needed the cash. Plus I figured it would never really graduate past "range toy". It cost me about $225 and I lost about $75 on it to an LGS.
I
Istill have a bunch of mags that fit both the 59 and KelTec's P11, of which I had two, now just one. Since all that, I've become more and more open to the possibility of getting a 3rd Gen S&W 69xx series, or even a 2nd Gen 4xx series for my primary. If I carried one as my primary, the KelTec would be an obvious choice as BUG. Thing is, I'm rather disappointed by the accuracy of the P11 due to the 11lb DAO trigger. Guess there's a downside to everything, but I guess for an up-close and personal BUG it's not as important. It could be a great combo with like 12 interchangeable mags. The P11 even had a belt clip.

Not to hijack the thread (essentially still on topic!) but does anyone know if the 2nd or 3rd gens of the S&W 59/69 series have smaller grips than the original girthy 59? If they do I'd be much more aggressive in hunting one down.

Offhand McFlan said:

Not to hijack the thread (essentially still on topic!) but does anyone know if the 2nd or 3rd gens of the S&W 59/69 series have smaller grips than the original girthy 59? If they do I'd be much more aggressive in hunting one down.

Click to expand...

39/59, ?39/?59 are about the same as the 39??/59/69??
1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation frames are about the same. There was a thinner grip panel aftermarket panels for the 2nd generation pistols and the 3rd. The frame has to be large enough to accommodate the double stack magazine.

Congratulations on good ol heavy 3rd gen pistol,very comfortable to shoot. Bought mine few years ago rarely fired, not as shiny now

What are mags running for the 5906? Are they readily available?

sparkyv said:

What are mags running for the 5906? Are they readily available?

Click to expand...

Not hard to find them for $25.00 - $30.00 apiece and I am sure that with a little shopping around they can be had for a bit less than that.

Here's one such auction on GB: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/818866428

Just recently a new thing has appeared on the internet. https://duckduckgo.com/

You can use it to find things like magazines for the 5906. BTW, they take standard model 59 mags.

I have three 5906 PPC pistols.

I’ve had standard models in the past...

bc1023 said:

I have three 5906 PPC pistols.

I’ve had standard models in the past...


View attachment 847756

Click to expand...

Is PPC performance center?

My uncle has a 5906. I've been interested in it for some time and he has very lil regard for 9mm, .45 guy, but u see he is one of these types of people who mentions selling something nearly 1 out of 2 times you talk to him but when it's time to flop cash on the table it turns into a hedging, back and fourth kind of deal, as if I'm trying to pry it loose when in fact I just want to buy it if it is in fact for sale. Very frustrating....


I have expressed interest in that particular handgun for some time when the topic of selling comes up, yet when he does finally decide to sell it it will surely be a spur of the moment went out 4 wheeling with a buddy and sold it for next to nothing right there on the trail kind of deal. :headbang: nice score btw.

DukeConnor said:

Is PPC performance center?

Click to expand...

PPC stands for Police Pistol Competition.

Yea, the Performance Center built them

Texas10mm said:

Just recently a new thing has appeared on the internet. https://duckduckgo.com/

You can use it to find things like magazines for the 5906. BTW, they take standard model 59 mags.

Click to expand...

Cute...

Very cool. I've always wanted one of those

Nice. I've been keeping an eye out for a 4506 for a while now but I'd happily take a 5906.

Good source for 59 / 5900 Mec-Gar magazines;

http://gregcotellc.com/cart/smith-w...915-659-9mm-15-rd-nickel-mgsw5915n-p-622.html

Had a 659 many years back, bought from a fellow cop with the intent of carrying it as a service weapon. Our agency was about to allow us to switch from revolvers if we did so at our own expense.

Never shot it very well, not having had any "crunchenticker" training, and ended up later being issued another make of autoloader when I switched agencies (shot that one well enough to qualify, which was all that was required.) But that Smith was real handsome and solid. Sold it when I got out of LE.

I bet that I'd shoot it much better now.

The first pistol I purchased when we moved to PA (from NJ) was a 5946. The same basic gun only DAO.
I traded it for a 5906. Both of these were police trade-ins. Along the way I picked up a 6906.

I then sold the 5906 because it was too big for me to carry but kept the 6906 and picked up 5 or 6 additional magazines. I acknowledge that all of these handguns have a huge following, but when I started shooting in a competition environment, I couldn't get rid of the lone surviving 6906 fast enough, actually gave it to my brother.

On the plus side they are all certainly robust. I thought that the 6906 size/geometry made it a good carry gun using a OWB holster. As trade ins they are certainly easy on the wallet. The big negative as far as I'm concerned is the triggers DA/SA suck and given the other available options, throwing money into them is not really worth it. Very rarely do I see anyone that is serious shooting any of them. I never got far enough with them to change out the sights but I think, but cannot remember for sure but it is possible that the dovetails are an odd cut, but I wouldn't go to the wall on that.

Years ago Summit Gun Brokers had police trade-ins for sale by the truckload.

I would take an 5096 over many other "better" guns. I shoot mine pretty well. I never had a problem with even "sucky" DA/SA triggers once I get used to them, and both my 5906's (One I sold when I got the second pretty one) weren't bad at all, trigger wise.