Has anyone else picked up a 5946 from Cabelas? I saw the online ad and went and checked them out. They appear to be new manufacture with new trijicon night sights and 3 - 15 round mags. I put one on layaway and bought a shotgun while I was there.

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I found one in Eugene, Oregon.   I thought it was a trade-in but it was NIB.  I didn't like the countersink for the slidestop, it cut into the bottom frame rail.   It didn't affect function, I just didn't like the way it looked.  The 3rd Gen series of guns are awesome.  

Rumor has it Smith & Wesson isn't working on 3rd GEN guns anymore and parts are limited.

My 4586 (Smith Commander) was my duty gun from '94 to '00.  It's semi-retired in the den.  The Trijicon night sights are long gone, so Novak's with gold dot are on the shelf waiting.  I'm stocked up on magazines and looking for spare parts.

probably overruns from NYPD allocated production.  I believe they may still be made for a Canadian LE agency too.  If they were still DA/SA, I might be interested.  But not so much for DAO.

Cabela's in Reno. NV has one too.

$679 if I remember correctly.

Can these be converted to DA/SA?

I don't think so.  Slide, frame, etc. different than a 5906.

Did not get it from Cabela's, but I love my 5946. One of the most underrated series of guns ever made.

And no, you cannot make it DA/SA.

There is a company that does conversions from DAO to SA/DA. I was about to buy a 4586 and wondered if I could convert to a traditional SA/DA. Some guys on S&W forum pointed me to Tarnhelm Supply . I emailed them and they said they still do the conversions on the 4586. They possibly do the the conversions on other models as well.

Kind of surprising as the RCMP still issue them as standard and every member I know complains about their gun being about worn out and outdated.

Hello All-

I just got back from my local Cabela's with my brand new 5946 in hand. They had three, all in the gun library. One was labeled "New Old Stock", which was a Springfield, MA gun that I bought. One was labeled "New", which was a Houlton, MA gun. The last one was used and definitely from a different batch as the serial number was not on the right hand side. I did not look at the used one so cannot comment on manufacture. The prices were $599, $599 and $449 respectively. Both of the guns labeled new had 2014 dated night sights, 3 magazines, fired casing, all paperwork and matching serialized box. The fired casing for mine was dated 2/25/15.

No pic as it is identical to the OP's. I thought the days of walking into a store and buying a new third gen were long gone! Would love to know the story behind these.

I'm not real happy with mine

The trigger is pretty heavy and not really easy to shoot. The sights seem to be too low when shooting my 115 grain reloads. I'll give it a few more range trips and try out some 124 grain ammo and see how it does.

The DAO trigger in the 3rd Gen isn't the best trigger S&W ever produced.   I carried a 4043 and then 4046 for years as my issue gun.  You can clean the trigger up with some polishing, you can lighten it a smidge.... but a stock DAO trigger will never be 'good' when compared to some other options.  My issue guns both had stacking and false breaks in the pull if you moved the trigger through slow.  I found that if you pulled like a Kahr or double action revolver that the trigger was less of an issue.

I'm betting your sights are fine, you just need to get used to the trigger.  I shot my 4043 and 4046 low when I wasn't paying attention to trigger control.  In rapid fire/close quarters I got into the habit of 'aiming' about 6-8" above where I wanted to hit and lobbed my rounds in.  If I took my time and pressed through with control, the sights were dead on... when it hit low, it was all me.

As negative as everything I've posted above sounds, I love 3rd (and 2nd) gen Smith pistols.  I buy em whenever I run across one priced well.  Great guns overall.  I know they're still putting out limited runs of various models for contracts and as a result, there are even some parts floating about.

I think newer S&W DAO trigger are the issue.  

My old 4546 was slick, the mid 90s 4586 was pretty darn good as is my early 6946.  I had later guns (3953 & 5946) which were ok and a 4586TSW which was embarrassing.  

My rule on S&W DAOs is to buy early models.

I wonder if changing to MIM parts in the trigger group of the later third gen guns caused the change in the feel of the trigger. Just speculating.

If these are NYPD overruns, the trigger is gonna suck.  All NYPD guns have a minimum 12 lb trigger - because NY politicians/PD brass are fucking morons.

True as the nypd requested guns with a trigger pull of the same weight as the old revolver and the autos simply do not have the smoothness of the old six guns. I deployed to Afghanistan in 2008 one of my soldiers was an nypd officer who used one of these as his issue pistol. Last I heard nypd was transitioning to the glock 17 for new hires so I could see these being left over from the last contract. As far as parts and repair these things are well built and will likely last years without concern for needing spare parts. Considering how many are out there and how long they were made secondary parts suppliers like numrich and jack first will be easy sources of spares should the unlikely need for spare parts crop up

I don't have a trigger pull gauge to check the pull but how hard is it to change out the trigger spring? Any good write ups or vids on this? I have a 5906 on layaway at the pawn shop so I'll be able to compare the 5946 and 5906 side by side soon.

Need to stock up on mags too

Why oh why are there no DAO, hammer fired guns anymore?  Well, not many at least.

I saw one in a Cabela's and asked the sales dude about it.  He said they aren't supposed to be new but he was damned if I could find any wear.  Maybe 4chan or Wikileaks will find out what's up with these.  It would be so cool if Smith brought something like this back.