I've wondered for a while, was the square trigger guard before or after the rounded one? Is one more sought after or valuable for some reason? I don't carry so I'm not up one things like this issue.

If its like my 669 I believe the Square came before the round type......personally I like the square better...for function, not looks...

Once upon a time , a Smith and Wesson engineer discovered a little known equation dating back to Leonardo Da Vinci's time which established that the longer a gun's trigger guard was, the more accurate the piece would be.Then one day someone found out the legend was bunk and rather than admit that-which would hurt sales-the errant employee was quietly dismissed, and the trigger guards were switched to the curved variant under the cover of night.

Or so the legend goes, in any case.


In real life, the difference is just appearance.

And as far as one being more sought after than the other, it's mostly personal preference I think. I would never buy one with a squared trigger guard, or adjustable sights either for that matter...but that's just me.

I personally don't care for the square guard, it would have to be a unbelieveable deal for me to get one. There are those that prefer them, but they seem in the minority.

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M&P .40, M&P 9c & Shield 45

I originally did not care at all for the square guard, but for some reason I have now grown accustomed to it. I guesss I think it gives the 5906 even more of a "classic" look to it.

It's what keeps my 1006 from looking like my 4506.

I prefer the round guard, but wouldn't mind having a second with the square guard - mainly as an excuse to have another 5906 .

The drawback on the square trigger guard models is that holsters are a bit harder to find.

I was told by a LE rep way back in the day that the hooked guard was added because several large police department specs/bids required a trigger guard that could be used to press against a barricade for support. Which does sound very 1980's to me.

Square trigger guards seem to be back in vogue these days with a few manufacturers.

Beretta 92FS (rounded bottom, square front); Sig P229, 2022, etc.

Whatever the reason for it you saw the square guard show up about halfway through the second generation guns with the introduction of the 469/669 "mini gun" and 645. It carried over for the first 3-4 years of third generation guns.

Like both here! Never met a 5906 I didn't like...

Thanks for the replies, appreciate the input and knowledge. I bought a 469 with square trigger guard and really like how it looks. I just saw the 5906 with sq guard for sale and wondered. Something about it is kind of cool to me.

Pic of 469

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they can't be all that bad! Glorps have da squares too! My 4506 has one; it's not that big of a deal to me, but I believethey came first.

I have both...and like them both, but am planning to sell one to get something different. My use is target shooting only, but I find them pretty much equal. Any suggestions on which one to keep?

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Assuming you didn't do a trigger job on the forged parts on the earlier pistol, I would expect the later one with the MIM parts to have a marginally smoother trigger. That would give it a leg up for me, though obviously the MIM-haters might disagree. There's also better parts availability for the MIM stuff and probably those Novak sights, too.

I bought a S&W 669 in 1986 with the square trigger guard, it didn't come any other way. Bought a S&W 5906 in 1988, again had the square trigger guard. At one point in the 1980's the trend for a lot of shooters was to place the index finger of the support hand on the front of the trigger guard (I never shot that way). Any holster fitted for the square trigger guard also worked for the same model with the later round trigger guard

I also have one of each, and can NOT condone the selling of a S&W 3rd Gen.

Seeing that it's just a personal preference, sell the one you like the least and or brings the highest $.

Fashion of the time. IIRC some of the top IPSC shooters found they shot better by putting the index finger of the supporting hand in front of the trigger guard so it became "chic" to have a squared off trigger guard with checkering.

I don't care for square trigger guards on all pistol designs but on second and third gen Smiths it just looks right to me.

I don't care about the shape of the trigger guard, square or round, since I don't put my off hand 1st finger there anyway.

My 5904 has the square trigger guard. My only complaint is that holsters are hard to come by.

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5903TSW 5904 5906 6906 4006

Some CZ's sport the square guard.

BOTH! Keep them...save up for the next one. I hear way too many stories here about people selling and wishing they hadn't. I have a 5906 since new and am horrible at shooting it.

Now my wife...she's pretty darn good with it! Ugh...

Has the round trigger guard and forged parts which I never knew about these things until today. That's why this place is so valuable...

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S&W SS Revolvers

The square faced trigger guard came about by demand for it created by some off the wall TV series in the early '70s that featured a Detective that was shown quite a few times with his support hand index finger curled around the front of his trigger guard. Competitive shooters and Cops started having a Pistolsmith metal checker the front of their rounded trigger guard so they could also shoot that way without their finger being in danger of slipping. Several years went by and the handgun manufacturers ever seeking to cater to demand, no mater if the demand was for a solution to a non existent problem or not. Handgun trainers dutifully tried to make that shooting technique work. By about 1980 it was all but universally discounted as being anything more than a TV 'for dramatics' technique and not near as good of a grip as what is in common use today. Manufacturing being what it is, the response time to eliminate the square front trigger guard took different times for different models.

As a Pistolsmith, I did a lot of metal checkering on the front of rounded trigger guards because that is what the customer wanted. Later, I did some reshaping of square front trigger guards eliminating the blocky look for other customers. As a Firearms Trainer, I tried the support hand index finger out on the front of a couple of flat front trigger guards and determined that it was not near as good of a grip as is placing that index finger directly under the trigger guard and pressing up while shooting. ...