I just acquired (yesterday) a police trade-in 5906 and since it will be doing nightstand home defense duty I want to refurbish the springs (that need it).

Currently, I'm planning on changing out the following springs:
Recoil spring
Firing pin spring
Magazine spring
Hammer spring
Extractor spring

Are there any others that I should be changing out?

I'm leaning heavily towards putting in a 'reduced power' hammer spring to lighten up the double-action trigger weight. I've read (and it makes sense to me) that a lighter hammer spring needs a slightly heavier recoil spring.

Has anyone else done this? If so, what combination Hammer/recoil spring do you use?

Thanks for the help?

While it won't HURT to do this, few LE issue pistols get fired enough to to NEED all of these springs be replaced.

Most of these pistols probably have well under a thousand rounds through them. That isn't enough, in most cases, to wear out even a recoil spring, arguably the hardest working spring in a semiauto pistol.

Most LEO's only shoot their issue pistols to qualify, however often that is required; one to four times a year), and aside from that, they just live in their holsters, acquiring the surface wear that makes them a bargain.

It's your money. But if it was me, I would spend your hard earned money buying some new flush fit 17 round Mec-Gar magazines, and running some practice and your HD ammo through your 'new' pistol, to be sure it functions well.

And, for a SD pistol, I certainly wouldn't install a lighter hammer spring. Some brands of ammunition have very 'hard' primers.

You need 100% functioning, not a lighter DA trigger on your pistol, IMHO.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with all you said. I did get the pack of stock replacement springs and didn't lighten any of them for the very reasons you stated.

Oh, and I did go for 2 new MecGar 16 rounders as well.

The 'refurb' went well. Thing looks brand new now. I'll have to post pics soon.

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Pic of the successful (at least in my opinion) refurbishment:

2012-08-19_20-13-05_426 by 69murray, on Flickr

I don't have any 'before' pictures, but it was a typical police trade in with no 'major' blemishes, just a badly worn bead blasted finish. So, I stripped it down and blasted it back to presentability. Also, the rear sight body looked like the bluing had been worn down in some areas and 'reblued' with cold blue. I took the old finish off that and rust blued it (along with several other small parts from another project) back to a nice deep blue black.

Oh, also got a new grip and Mag baseplate from Midway and new (stock) springs from Wolff. Also, 2 new 17 round MecGar mags.

Pending a successful trip to the range, she's ready for home defense duty.

Murray.

Beautiful gun and great work. What did you use (technique and equipment) to sand down and blast the new finish?

Regards

gator

Thanks for the compliment! [he says as though he wasn't fishing for it in the first place ]

I used a cheap compressor I got from Wal-Mart years ago (Husky brand, I think maybe 21 Gallon, 2.5HP or so), a cheap gravity fed blaster gun from Harbor Freight and glass beads, 80 grit glass beads from Tractor supply. I ran the gun at about 80psi.

No cabinet, so I don't get to re-use about 70% of my media, but it's not as if I do a lot of this kind of stuff.

Great job, looks as good as new.....

^ i agree nice job LGS has about 6 of them sitting in show case got me thinking.

Thanks to both of you for the compliment!

I say go for it if the price is right. They're easy to clean up on the outside and after having it apart, I can tell you they are built like tanks. A little blasting or polishing is all it takes.

If they are police trade-ins, they probably weren't shot much, either. I changed the springs in mine, but that probably wasn't even necessary - cheap insurance, though.

Nice job. That is an early 3rd gen 5906 from 1989 or 1990. I have 2 from that period that are tack drivers.

__________________
John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Oh you guys made me go buy a used 5906 leo gun, now I hope I can finish it 69murray

Wow, NICE job!

Your 5906 is a 'twin' to mine, right down to the straight grip that I prefer to the curved one, the adjustable sights, and the regrettable trigger guard.

I bought my 5906 new, and it's has acquired some character scratches over time, so I'm sure yours looks nicer than mine does.

My 5906 has the nicest, smoothest DA trigger pull of ANY semiautomatic pistol, or revolver, for that matter, that I've ever run into. I love that heavy 'old' 5906.

The Sigs I've shot all cost way, WAY more than my 5906, but they have REALLY heavy DA trigger pull. That first shot can have a mind of it's own, sometimes.

S&W really did something right, on thse fine pistols.

here's a before and after pictures of the 5906 I picked up


before


after
just gave it a good cleaning and the sanded it down with 800 grit sandpaper, but I tink I'm going to bead blast it I like that look better

Looks great. That's the nice thing about an all steel (especially stainless) gun - it's not an impossible, or even terribly difficult task to take an old, beat-up one and bring it back to life.

Thanks! Actually, I went with the straight grips 'cause that's all I could find available at the time. Otherwise, I would probably have gone with the curved. Maybe I'll like them better, too as I haven't shot it yet with those on there.

The early ones did have a bit of a 'chin' on the trigger guard didn't they?

Yes, they did.

I have even tried to use the trigger guard, for what it was designed for. Hooking my left index finger over made no difference at all, except that I didn't have as secure of a grip on the butt of the gun, as I normally would.