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Old 03-08-2017, 05:09 PM
stumpie stumpie is offline
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Is it normal to find a loose slide fit on the 5906, on mine if you take 1 finger and place it on top of the front sight and place your thumb under the front of the frame and squeeze fingers together the slide will move downwards so you can make it touch the frame , I suspect this is from years of use , is there anything that can be done to correct this or not, have not fired this handgun yet , which makes me wonder is this pistol safe to fire , production year was 89 so without any question it was a police gun.
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Old 03-09-2017, 01:23 AM
HCH HCH is offline
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Waiting for one of our esteemed armorers to reply, but my 4566 does the same thing and the back rocks up a hair.
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Old 03-09-2017, 02:56 AM
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My 5906 is out in the garage so I pulled my 5904 out of the safe to see exactly what you're asking about. Low and behold, the front of the slide does move downward towards the frame when you apply pressure as you describe. It's not much though, maybe .010" or so. Keep in mind, the 5904 has an aluminum frame. I'd say that there are no worries, it shoots just fine.
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Old 03-09-2017, 03:00 AM
JohnHL JohnHL is online now
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Originally Posted by stumpie View Post
Is it normal to find a loose slide fit on the 5906, on mine if you take 1 finger and place it on top of the front sight and place your thumb under the front of the frame and squeeze fingers together the slide will move downwards so you can make it touch the frame , I suspect this is from years of use , is there anything that can be done to correct this or not, have not fired this handgun yet , which makes me wonder is this pistol safe to fire , production year was 89 so without any question it was a police gun.
I don't know how much movement you have, but there must be some clearance or the pistol would lockup when it got hot.

When assembled, the barrel and slide pivot (front to back) on top of the slide release shaft and the recoil spring pushes the slide to the rear.
That's why you can squeeze the parts together in the front

John
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Old 03-09-2017, 08:24 AM
stumpie stumpie is offline
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Waiting for one of our esteemed armorers to reply, but my 4566 does the same thing and the back rocks up a hair.
No movement at the back on mine , Thanks for the reply
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Old 03-09-2017, 08:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Point 357 View Post
My 5906 is out in the garage so I pulled my 5904 out of the safe to see exactly what you're asking about. Low and behold, the front of the slide does move downward towards the frame when you apply pressure as you describe. It's not much though, maybe .010" or so. Keep in mind, the 5904 has an aluminum frame. I'd say that there are no worries, it shoots just fine.
I did call Smith and they told me that what I described is nothing to worry about espically in the 3 rd gen pistols, they said if I was the orgnial owner it would be covered under warranty , now that tells me they must have parts . Thanks
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Old 03-09-2017, 08:33 AM
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I don't know how much movement you have, but there must be some clearance or the pistol would lockup when it got hot.

When assembled, the barrel and slide pivot (front to back) on top of the slide release shaft and the recoil spring pushes the slide to the rear.
That's why you can squeeze the parts together in the front

John
Appreciate the reply Thanks
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Old 03-09-2017, 08:49 AM
Arik Arik is offline
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Normal. There has to be some movement

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Old 03-09-2017, 04:18 PM
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.................. they said if I was the orginal owner it would be covered under warranty , now that tells me they must have parts . Thanks
.....not necessarily ....as I'm sure they still have an inventory for LEO customers...but more times than not they would probably rather "upgrade" you to an M&P
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Old 03-09-2017, 05:22 PM
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.....not necessarily ....as I'm sure they still have an inventory for LEO customers...but more times than not they would probably rather "upgrade" you to an M&P
Old School Here to me that would not be a UpGrade.
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Old 03-10-2017, 08:10 AM
spistols spistols is offline
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This is normal on non TSW 3rd gen Smiths. When I first got into collecting, I found the same issue and at the time I passed on a few pistols because of this. Boy was I wrong.
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Old 03-10-2017, 09:43 AM
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This is normal on non TSW 3rd gen Smiths. When I first got into collecting, I found the same issue and at the time I passed on a few pistols because of this. Boy was I wrong.
I purchased a new HK VP9 yesterday and guess what , found it had the same movement as my Smith, My hopes are that others will pick up on this very helpful information , I know it sure helped me, Thanks to all.
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Old 03-10-2017, 06:22 PM
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Old School Here to me that would not be a UpGrade.
The word you are looking for is "insult." Swapping a 5906 for an M&P would be an insult.
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Old 03-11-2017, 02:59 AM
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I own a couple performance center guns. NON of them have any slide sloppyness. Guns that are built for accuracy dont have sloppy movement in the slide.
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Old 03-11-2017, 03:25 AM
Racer X Racer X is offline
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I am actually very curious about this. If the sights are locked to the slide essentially, and the barrel is machined correctly, and locks up tight to the slide. why would slide movement matter that much. Assuming it isn't ridiculous and wobbly, or binds up cockeyed.

I shoot bullseye pistol with a Ruger Mark III, and that thing is very accurate because it is all solid. Same basic concept of the S&W 41. No slide, just a bolt back and forth. Never fully understood the slide/frame issue. I hope it gets explained.

Last edited by Racer X; 03-11-2017 at 03:54 AM.
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Old 03-12-2017, 04:18 PM
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Well, that's always been the answer -- that if the top end is tight and repeatable, it will work work well and outside of horrible sloppyness, accuracy simply isn't affected. So most will agree with exactly the way you put it.

However, when it comes to buying, owning and loving your guns... the inspiring confidence when ALL of it feels nicely fitted really means a lot. It can make you simply like the pistol more and if it inspires confidence, that alone can make you shoot better.
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Old 03-12-2017, 05:21 PM
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Yes, if the barrel locks up tight to the slide in the same position relative to the sights, accuracy should not be impeded, unless the impact from the falling hammer knocks a very loose slide out of alignment with the frame and consequently the gripping hand with which you aimed.

Does that make sense?

John
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Old 03-12-2017, 11:22 PM
Racer X Racer X is offline
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yes, thanks so much. The only thing I recall when checking out my semi-autos was to check the barrel to bushing to slide movement with a plastic ball point pen in the barrel. See what moves, and how much.
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Old 03-16-2017, 09:56 AM
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Originally Posted by ericlw View Post
I own a couple performance center guns. NON of them have any slide sloppyness. Guns that are built for accuracy dont have sloppy movement in the slide.
IMHO Use & Care play a Huge part in all of this also, Thanks
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Old 03-19-2017, 07:00 AM
hooksnatcher hooksnatcher is offline
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I have several 3rd generation S&W's, 9mm's and .40's; a couple of them are TSW models and they are a bit tighter, especially "side to side". On all of them though I've observed that there is much less slide play when the pistols are loaded in battery.
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