I've been after one of these for awhile and almost bought a 915, but my lgs had a 5906 for $400 with one magazine. What are the good bad and uglies of it? I bought it for a glovebox gun.

Pics in the morning when I get off of work.

5906 all stainless steel.  Heavy as a Hammer, but built tough as one too.  You will be hard pressed to shoot it enough to wear it out.

Getting more difficult to find aftermarket items (Grips, night sights, ect...)

Great shooting guns!  Not all love the slide mounted decocking safety.  

Magazine Release safety makes it tough to shoot yourself while cleaning it too.

I've used the Mec-Gar extra capacity mags with good success.

I did get the hooked trigger guard model with the rear sight with "ears", I bought an older new set of night sights from the lgs, they had them in the back. They still have some glow to them. I'll use the front tritium, but probably not the rear. We settled on $65 for the night sights.

Echoing pretty much what is said above. They are built like tanks, though I would probably replace the hammer and recoil springs since the round count is unknown. I believe Wolff makes a spring pack for them still. Mec-Gar makes great mags for the 5900 series. I dont think it is a great choice for a truck gun. They are getting a little harder to find these days. If you have the cash I would jump on that rebate and buy a SW9. At least if it's stolen you are not out as much. Plus it is an exscuse to buy another gun.

I once owned a sigma. There's no way I'm getting an SW9

I meant the SD9VE and as a former Sigma owner myself, I don't blame you. However the SD9VE is much improved over the Sigma. I haven't decided if I am going to get a Shield or the SD9VE yet but I will be picking up one as a new truck gun. Oh and post pics. I like seeing old Smiths.

YES they did!!

I stocked up and got both the curved and the straight grips when they had them.

I think I actually like & shoot better with the straight grips...

BIGGER_HAMMER

In all of its uncleaned glory, grime from the previous owner thrown in, no extra charge.

Shoot it. Then you know if it even needs new springs. There is some myth that a S&W 3Gen has to be horribly worn out and they all need brand new springs as the very first thing you do. Most were LEO guns and got more holster rash than shot.

My 4566 TSW works just fine with no cleaning, old mags, even one from a 2Gen and it's reliable. What's fun is to put an empty casing in the stack and see it get chambered regardless. Are there few accessories, yes, because in the day, people didn't feel the need to screw with them customizing them as show and tell guns for the range. Strangely enough they were a carry gun for most. All day every day and at the time a dominant brand in the wonder nine market. They are still used in some PD's, with larger contracts being run as needed.

Smith should have just come up with a polymer lower and it would still be on the market. Could happen yet - keep your eyes on Apex for future releases of parts and mags. They seem to have gotten the memo 3Gens are out there.

It's not a myth and it's not just Smiths either. If you buy a used gun that is older it just makes sense to replace the springs. You may be right it might have been a holster queen or it might have had the shit shot out of it. Either way new springs are cheap insurance. It's $20 and it gives you a chance to give it a good cleaning and inspection.

Wolff Springs

5906 is still my fastest and most accurate semi-auto.

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I would always shoot a gun first before replacing springs. While not an ad thing to do, springs do not really wear out as fast as some believe. It is not uncommon to find 80+ year old colts run fine as is. In the pre internet days very few people got into this spring replacement interval thing talked up
So much today and rarely did this cause issues.
I have seen a fair number of posts about people detail stripping guns to replace springs then having functional issues due to improperly reassembling which could be an issue on a fairly complicated design like the 59 series. Buying a spare set or two of springs is not unreasonable and with proper skills and instructions replacing them is as I said not a bad idea but rarely required

Model 5906 so good I bought two!
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Bought a police trade 5906 in great condition from CDNN several years ago and replaced the factory grips with new factory grips that Midway had at the time.  It is one of my favorite pistols although it is really too heavy for me to CCW.  I carry it's little brother a 6906 from time to time but now I am a 9mm Shield man.  



Enjoy the 5906 for home defense and range time.  

Pat

Had to throw in pic of my 6906 :)

They were recalled for the grip splitting.  I believe if there is a dot or two dots at the mag base it has been changed out.  They used to just send the grips out if you give the s/n.

I had one, 5th owner.  The gun could not be worn out no matter how much it was shot.  



From some of the photos posted you can see there is a straight and curved grip.

I would buy another one if the right deal came along.  I have a 4506 and a 4566..

I keep looking for a Marlin Camp 9 carbin to go along with my 5906. The Marlin uses S&W mags.

What Shotar said.

Having the ability to pull from holster and fire using double action, or using single action for precision is an advantage of the traditional DA/SA semi-auto pistol.

I've always enjoyed my 3rd gen smiths from the mighty 10mm & 45, and every ready 9mm.

I have a couple of 5903 & 5904s that I use for carry guns, as the alloy frames are much lighter and don't drag my belt down like the 5906s do...

I have a 5903 and 6906 and they are two of my favorite 9mm's. You can shoot anything through them and like a Timex.

I'm looking for a 5906 to go with my Marlin Camp Carbine.

I agree that its a great gun but I would not use it for a truck gun.      Reason being, I think it is more of a collectible gun which will be going up in value.    

If I was going to let a gun bounce around in a glove box, it would be something I could replace easily.   Just my 2 cents worth.

Lol thats not an ordinary 5906.

That's a performance center IDPA 5906. I've been waiting for the right deal to come along so I can add one to my collection.

Ok, I give. It's not going to be my truck gun. I found a Sig P6 for a decent price.

For holster shopping for the 5906, are there different holsters for the rounded and hooked trigger guards, or can I just buy a holster?

I went through the same issue with my 4506.  

A holster designed for a rounded trigger guard will not fit a pistol with a hooked trigger guard.  I solved this by going with a holster made for a Sig P220.  It's not 100% perfect, but is close enough.

That adjustable rear sight may also present a challenge depending on the holster.

You may want to consider a custom holster maker.

I use a Fobus for mine.  Works fine.

Get James to make you one.  

Kydex Holsters

I have also been looking for a 5906 for a while now. A local guy has one, was asking 500 but now asking 480. One factory 15 rd and 1 mec gar 17 rd mag. Says it's in great condition. Is 480 a fo price or should I come in closer to 400?

Actual pic:

I would say $400 is the closer to the going rate. The guns bottomed out 10 years ago around $250 when a lot of Police Dept switched to polymer guns. They have slowly gained a following and prices are climbing. I never paid more than $400 for a 3rd Gen 9mm. .45s though are $450-$500. But with everything condition and accessories are everything. Factory mags are $35 when you can find them.

If your gun needs them Wollf has full spring packs, as well as recoil springs.  I have the service packs for all mine in case I need them, but have been okay so far.  That's pretty good since the 5906 was my duty gun for 12 years, and I did a lot of shooting with it, but it still keeps ticking along.  When I shot more IDPA & IPSC than I do now, I picked up a 5903 and threw a set of Bomars and a Mencke recoil reducer in it.  I also have my 6904 I used to carry as a backup on raids.
We carried those guns for a lot of years, and when we got them we spent a week on the range with them and went through over a case of ammo apiece, shot 4 quals (108 rds) plus the state mandated course (60 rds), plus our night shoot and tactical shooting courses >150 rds), and then with the SWAT team we shot (usually) at lest another 100-200 rounds a month.  So overall they went through at least 1-2K a year, and it wasn't till about 10 years in we started to notice any significant wear.  All I have done to mine is add a set of night sights (which are old enough to need replacing) and I still shoot it at matches at my local club.  
Of course now I carry my 4566 or 4516 more often, and shoot the 4506 at least as much!

I went through my holster collection, and it will fit in a Safariland 92fs duty holster without problems for range playtime.

I carried a 5906 as my uniformed duty weapon for roughly half of my career.  I liked it.  The cartridge was adequate.  It was heavy enough to soak up recoil forces making the 9mm an easy cartridge to manage.  It had enough capacity, 15 rounds, for just in case (anyway it was more than 6).  And, reloads were way faster than with my revolver.  BTW, I also carried two additional mags on my duty belt.  So, a total of 46 rounds available vs. 18 total rounds with my revolver.  Then, since it was SS....well, the finish lasted longer than the traditional blue finish of my previous revolver.  But, don't go swimming with it.  Hey, it was Hawaii after all.  LOL.


I bought this one after I retired.

My actual duty weapon had a bobbed hammer and night sights. We carried with one up the spout and 15 rounds in the mag.  Safety was always "off" while on patrol.  It was an easy transition for me to get the DA/SA trigger transition, having come from S&W revolvers.

BTW, since we updated from revolvers.  I also felt a need to update my off duty weapon.  The S&W 3913 was my choice.   Same operation, only in a smaller package size.


My actual off duty weapon.

It wasn't as compact as my S&W M60.  But, it lay flatter....good for a strong side belt carry, under a shirt or jacket.  That being said, today IMHO, it's probably a better range pistol than an EDC/CCW.  

Not to mention, that the plastic generation of guns has taken over.

I don't believe that my department has them anymore (for uniform issue) and I have no idea what they are using now.

Aloha, Mark

My very first semi-auto was a 5906, in 1989. Bought and sold many, many 3rd gens over the decades. I am now completely out of the 3rd gen stainless steel guns, save for a 645. I'm an M&P guy now, with Gen4 Glocks a close second and a few, choice other handguns all following the two of them.