I picked up a police surplus 5906 this morning. I wasn't familiar with all the 3rd generation functions when I was at my FFL, so everything looked fine and I brought it home.

Are all 5906's suppose to decock and have a magazine safety, or were there exceptions? This 5906 decocker/safety lever works like a safety and not a decocker. It locks the trigger and manually blocks the firing pin. The slide to frame fit is really good and there's almost no vertical play on the front or the back-end of the slide to frame fit, just a touch of horizontal play. The gun does decock while sliding and removing the slide from the frame. I exerted alot of up/down hand pressure and wiggling on the slide to frame and external levers and hammer, and it would not decock the hammer. The saftey/decocking lever moves smoothly and clicks from off to full on, and there's no hint of hammer movement while doing this, and the trigger is still blocked as it should be.

Next area, the magazine safety disconnect white plunger does not apply enough pressure to lower the ejector lever and disable the trigger function. If I use my finger and manually lower the magazine lever/ejector, the trigger will disengage as it should. The white plunger is installed and works, but the plunger spring is very weak (not binding), almost as if it was designed that way on this particular 5906.

Anyway, I happen to like the way this 5906 operates. It matches the function of my metal CZ's that have safety levers. I have no use for a decocker or magazine disconnect with a range gun. So what's the expert advice on this unusual 5906. Was it possibly modified by the factory or by someone who really knew what they were doing. I can't manipulate it in any way to get the hammer to drop unintentionally, only if you pull the 5lb+ trigger. Here's several pics of the components involved:

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This 5906 doesn't look very worn to me. Two more pics:

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The problem with the safety lever not dropping the hammer when rotated is usually due to the wear (or the removal of material) on the top of the sear release lever in the frame. When the safety lever is rotated, the lever should push the sear off the hammer and the hammer should drop. In the photo, your lever appears rounded off on top. No way to know if someone tampered with the lever or it's just honest wear.

Also, if there is excessive wear on the frame and slide rails, the manual safety decock may not work and the sear lever may not decock the gun. Try engaging the safety lever fully down, and then pressing down firmly on the top of the slide right behind the rear sight to see if the hammer will drop.

The magazine safety plunger spring may have been cut, or it may be damaged. No way to know for sure without removing the rear sight and checking the integrity of the parts.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Wow, I’m curious to know ultimately what the answer might be. On the technical side, I have nothing of value that I can add. If this were mine and I was staring at this and looking for answers, my first move would be to grab another slide from any other of my 9mm 3rd Gens and try a different slide to see if the pistols acts differently.

I might also try to swap out the entire safety/decocker drum with another and see if perhaps it was modified?

I’m basically posting to subscribe, I’d like to hear what others have to say. In -all- the S&W 1/2/3rd Gen pistols that I own, not a single one of them locks the sear/trigger. Of course, all my DA/SA guns are set up for that lever to decock, but all my single action only S&W pistols simply block the firing pin. As in, the pistol will let you dry fire on to the safety, but I won’t ever do that.

I know that the Performance Center was occasionally asked to alter a 3rd Gen to be capable of “cocked and locked” but we’d be talking about an extremely small sampling of a MASSIVE over all number of guns.

I pushed the rear of slide down pretty hard with the lever engaged and it did not decock. Trust me, as I noted earlier, the slide to frame fit is really good. I read earlier about frame wear and decocker lever not engaging, so I checked all that before posting this.

Thanks, with the safety lever down/engaged, I tried with quite of bit of pressure pulling the trigger, and it will not unlock the trigger or move and release the hammer until the lever is flipped up. This is the only metal SW I have, so swapping parts is not going to happen.

The new sear release levers are available at Numrich but it will likely need fitting. These particular levers are not "drop in" parts.

Sear Release Lever | Gun Parts Corp.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Thanks, I read earlier about fitting a new sear lever, but I really like the way this particular 5906 operates, just like my metal CZ's do. What is the downside to leaving it like it is? I just want to cover all the bases, so nothing unusual happens down the line, and I was hoping someone on the forum might know more about the way this 5906 is setup. It would be wonderful if the facory set it up like this. Hmmmm maybe a phone call to SW might help answer this or maybe not.

While it's possible, as armorer951 notes, that the "issues" are due to wear, it's also possible that someone "fixed" those items to disable the magazine safety and decocking function. I'd bet a bale of Benjamins it isn't factory.

Question: when you say the "trigger is locked", do you mean it won't move, or doesn't drop the hammer? If the safety is operating as originally designed, the trigger should move, but not drop the hammer. If the trigger won't move, some massive changes have been made in the internal parts.

If you look at pic 4 & 5, post 1 you can see flats on the safety barrel when the safety is "off". When the safety is "on", as in picture 2, post 2; you can see a round surface on the top part of the safety barrel, behind the firing pin safety plunger. It appears there is a flat on the lower part, behind the magazine safety plunger. There should be a round surface. If there's a flat, the safety barrel has been modified.

The usual method of eliminating the magazine safety and decocking features is to remove at least the spring (you can leave the plunger in place) that drives the magazine safety plunger and to trim the sear release lever to keep the hammer from dropping. If done that way, the magazine safety won't work and while the trigger moves back and forth with the safety "on", the gun won't fire.

If the trigger actually won't move with the safety "on", you have to realize that 3rd generation parts are no longer being made. A future user may want it to work as intended and you'll need have someone who knows what they're about to figure out what parts need replaced and get them now.

Downside: if you sell it, as is, you need to document that you informed the buyer of the altered functions. Get their signature on hard copy of the warning and keep a copy. Also, if someone else shoots it and expects the magazine safety and decocker to work, you're responsible for any OOPS. No, you're not supposed to trust any safety device, but people do.

I agree, but the handgun, in it's current state, is just as safe as any modern gun in production today. I'm still not convinced the factory did not alter it as a possible special order for some agency. I guess I have to make the SW call and hopefully find out (I doubt the person on the phone will have that info). BTW, many many people sell handguns that have trigger work and other custom work without seller disclosures, very common.

Based on the condition of the sear release lever that is visible in your photos, that alteration was not done by the factory. In the scenario you describe, if they were to intentionally alter the function/design of the lever at the request of a consumer, (municipality or police department) they would make the lever serve as a spacer only, and it would no longer have a top where it could interface with the manual safety, or beveled edge at the bottom, where it could interact with the sear. I believe your sear release lever was altered after leaving the factory, but this is pure opinion on my part, based on the appearance of the lever in the photo you provided.

This is the shape and contour of an unaltered sear release lever. Notice how the top profile is flat, and differs from the one in your frame, which has a rounded profile on top....

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Thanks, that makes sense, so what is your opinion on what was done or happened? Remember, the slide to frame fit is very good with almost zero vertical play. Also, the overall wear looks minimal to me, but does it to you?

No way to be sure whether it's from use, or the lever was intentionaly altered. It could be that someone (previous owner) wanted to eliminate the sear release function, so that the hammer would remain cocked whether the safety lever was in the down or up position.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

Maybe it's me and my screen settings, but the hammer and safety levers look gold color - like some titanium nitride coated 1911 parts.

I don't recall any aftermarket TiN S&W parts, but I'm long out of the game.

Have you seen them wear that much, from use?

I haven't even fired this gun yet. I sent the seller an email describing the current condition with the two non-standard conditions. He replied saying that he can repair it to factory spec, replace it, or refund the purchase price, and he will pay for shipping. I really like the current configuration since it matches my CZ's, but it's not factory spec, so what the heck should I do?

Yes, there are six parts that were gold plated, and the frame and slide were high polished.

I have never seen them wear that much from use, no. And the slide doesn't put down file marks either.

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

WAIT................

Is that a GOLD hammer?!?!

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

Yep, 24kt gold plated.

The trigger does move a bit (1/8"ish) with the safety on, but it does not drop the hammer.

Why?

My guess is going to be that if the gun came that way, a good amount of dickering has been done to that gun. I know of no one that would seriously do that to a gun meant to be dependable.

I will go out on a limb here and say that there are probably a good many more things that have been done to that gun that are not yet readily apparent.

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

After having looked at the pictures and read the excellent diagnoses by Bros. armorer951 and WR Moore, I agree that someone (not the factory) removed the "ejector depressor plunger spring" (such a big name for such a small part) because they didn't like magazine safeties.

And someone modified the sear release lever because they wanted to carry the pistol "cocked and locked".

The first modification is more common than the second, but neither one is unheard of.

Also, neither modification is particularly difficult to do or undo.

John

Thanks for all the excellent replies. I'm still trying to decide if I want to keep it as it is because I like how it's setup, or return it for a refund. The seller offered to repair, replace or refund, but I'll only consider a refund if I decide not to keep it. Just for the heck of it, I will call S&W and see what they have on record.

The gold plated parts are accents to the mirror polished finish.

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It may have been a Police Surplus at one time, but it sure is not now!


Someone spent a lot of time "fiddling" around with it.
I shall make no further comments here.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I just talked to SW, and she said that these modifications are something they would NOT do, so everyone is correct that said it was done by someone other than SW. This 5906 was made in April of 1994, but she wouldn't tell me who originally purchased it.

You have some options.

1. Pay S&W to fix it.
2. Send it back either for refund or let the seller fix it.
3. Live with a DA/SA pistol that you cannot de-cock.


Personally, I'd send it back if the seller failed to reveal the issue. What else did they fail to mention.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

From reading the post, all that was done was the sear release lever was reshaped and the mag disconnector spring was either cut or removed correct?

So that looks like it would be fairly easy to put this back to factory specs.

The decock feature is one of the main reason I like the 3rd Gen S&Ws, I would most likely put it back to factory spec. Although, I have considered the mag disconnect mod, but have yet to do it on any of my 3rd Gens.

Rosewood

It appears you have a single action 5906. It no longer functions as a DA pistol.

Rosewood

Guess you missed the other post about his "pimpin" polished 5906 huh?

Rosewood

Seems to me that someone modded it to be safety-only, for Condition 1 use. A little weird on a polished up BBQ gun, maybe, but why is that any worse than modding to decock-only? Or DOA?

The question is, did Bubba do a careful safe thoughtful mod, or an unsafe hack job? Only an expert eval will tell.

The DA works fine, as does the SA.

Unless you hold it with your thumb, you said it wouldn't decock. Guess it is like the CZ then on that respect.

Rosewood

Not sure how hard it is to replace the sear lever, but the mag disconnect is fairly easy to swap out. If you are capable of the work yourself, why not ask the seller to send you the parts? Then you can leave it like it is or put back to factory at your whim.

Rosewood

Thanks for the suggestion. You would have to decock it by manually lowering the hammer, just like a safety levered DA/SA CZ. Right now, this 5906 matches my CZ configuration exactly.

The sear lever has to be fitted, something I'm not that familiar with. I read the factory used test blocks to fit that lever (over my pay grade).

Sounds like you are going to use it as is.....I would. Shoot it a lot to be sure it is reliable and then count your blessings.

Randy

LOL... How about this - maybe the guy was making his ultimate BBQ gun, and he really really really wanted that hammer back like all his manly buddies 1911s. You can’t do that with a stock 3g, because putting the safety on will decock it. Hence the mod.

Update, I contacted my FFL dealer asking about shipping cost back to the seller, and we started talking about the 5906 and what was done to it and it's current configuration. He really liked the gun when he handled it yesterday, and he is willing to buy it from me for the price I paid. Decisions decisions.

So, do you want a pimped out 5906 that needs work or sell it to the FFL and use the money to buy a 5906 that has not been messed with?

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Send that pistol back to the seller, get your money back and look for a real 5906 that has not been messed with.

They are out there. I don't want any Smith and Wesson semi-auto that has been altered like the one you have. No telling how safe it will ever be.

I mean if you just want to LOOK at it, fine. But as a shooter, I wouldn't have it if you gave it to me free and paid the shipping!

Just my take.

Bet you could get $1k for it down in the hood

Polished an trimmed out in it's current condition, this gun is worth $700 easily. The other poster that said he wouldn't take it for free must have never gotten a trigger job or did any kind of modification to a handgun. Everything works just fine except the decocker was disabled and can easily be put back in action (it's not broken). The Magazine disconnect does not mean anything IMO. My FFL wants it, and he knows firearms. He is not concerned with the current condition, that speaks volumes.

I wouldn't carry it or put it in to a defensive role, but I like the safety modification, I would set to work shooting the wheels off and "testing" the durability and mechanics of this conversion work.

However, I don't like the finish, and if I could get all my money out of that with no penalty for shipping/FFL, I'd cut ties with it.

Aside from my opinion of the finish which should have no bearing whatsoever about whether or not you enjoy the finish, I'm extremely wary of any high polish finish for it's durability. It seems that when folks use a polish and go great gonzo with a mirror finish, the end result is quite eye-popping but it also cannot handle... basically anything. However.. (somewhat) easily rectified again by polishing it more more more constantly.

I like the mechanics! I have enough S&W 1-2-3rd Gen DA/SA pistols that I think it might be a fun and rewarding exercise to try the same conversion on one of lower-end examples.

I have a special interest in high polished stainless handguns. They are fairly easy to maintain IMO. A few CZ's I have:

Those are gorgeous! I wouldn't chase one but the pictures are NIIICE!

I would think a pistol shipped from the factory with such a finish would be more durable than something such as the 5906 that was shipped with a finish nothing whatsoever like that... and was then hit for hours with a cotton rag and Mother's Mag polish.

I much prefer black hammer, trigger, small bits against the polished finish, but anything but gold. Again, doesn't matter for anyone else, just my taste.

Given the picture of your CZ's, I don't know why you would even ponder either of your return options. It seems to me that you got exactly what you want!

A polish finished is less likely to corrode than a rough finish. A rough finish has more surface area for O2 to grab on to to start oxidation. And yes, even stainless oxidizes, it just resist much more than other steels.

Although the polished finish does show finger marks more readily and is easier to pull finger prints off of.

Rosewood

Oh, I forgot my stainless Ruger 9mm revolver that I polished:

It doesn't look bad and the gold accents are a nice touch.

There are plenty of 5906 pistols around so the collectability is hardly an issue.

Like I said earlier, someone didn't like magazine safeties and also wanted to carry "cocked and locked".

If you decide to keep it and would like to understand how the insides work and the mods were performed, I'm just across the Mississippi River from you in suburban St. Louis, MO.

Just don't become one of those internet ninnies who have no understanding of the inner workings of, well, practically anything, and any modification frightens them.

John

Totally agree! And it isn’t only on the internet.

Lol..................

Guess that sarcasm wasn't apparent....oh wait

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner