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Old 01-12-2020, 05:34 PM
bulletslap bulletslap is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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Default 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet

A rhetorical question.

So why does the 3914 shoot better for me ?

Same range, same target, same time.

The 3914 groups better with 124 grain Remington green box FMJ, the 5906 likes federal 147 grain hydroshoks, so different ammo.

I have noticed that most 3913/3914 pistols are more accurate than they should be.

I don't have much experience with 59xx pistols, so I don't know much about them.

At 50 feet the 3914 will keep them in a 6 inch circle for me, the 5906 more like 12 inches. Extremely counter intuitive, and very frustrating.

Longer sight radius, heavy weapon, better grip, less felt recoil, and rounds all over the target.

Last edited by bulletslap; 01-12-2020 at 05:38 PM.
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Old 01-12-2020, 06:13 PM
jbtrucker jbtrucker is online now
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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I can barely see were I'm hitting at 7 + yards even with splatter targets. My 5906 does best with 124 gr hits real low with 147gr and groups spread at distance . I'm very accurate with M&P Shield to 5 yards and not as good with M&P 9FS . I assume it is muzzle flip with full size M&P been working on my grip . I can handle 5906 pretty good but also been shooting it for awhile

Last edited by jbtrucker; 01-12-2020 at 06:18 PM.
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Old 01-12-2020, 06:14 PM
robertrwalsh robertrwalsh is online now
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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One obvious possibility is the grip. Unless you have very long fingers the double column magazine makes for a significantly larger butt frame than the single column magazine. That being said there are a LOT of variables.
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Old 01-12-2020, 07:09 PM
fotoman12001 fotoman12001 is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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I ditched all my double stack 3rd gens because they were bricks in my hands and I shoot the single stacks better. I had a 5906 and a couple of 5946s. I still have 3906, CS9D, 3953, & 457D. All great shooters.









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Old 01-12-2020, 07:30 PM
bulletslap bulletslap is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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I can even see the sights better on the 5906 and it fits my hand better, maybe something with the pistol. No obvious signs of abuse or wear.

Danged odd, I can even out shoot it with my 30+ year old Glock.
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Old 01-12-2020, 07:53 PM
JohnHL JohnHL is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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Sometimes, it's just the gun...

John
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Old 01-12-2020, 08:19 PM
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VictorLouis VictorLouis is offline
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I recall that shortly after this 4-digit version came into play, Masaad Ayoob wrote of their accuracy edge over the longer siblings. Your's is so blessed.
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Old 01-12-2020, 08:36 PM
M29since14 M29since14 is offline
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This used to be a topic of considerable interest 25-years ago, but not so much anymore. I think about everyone accepts the 3913/3914 series are usually very good shooters. The 5900 series...

I rarely saw a 5903/5906 that I could shoot better than 5-6 inches at 25-yards, if you counted ALL of the shots fired in a 5-round group. The guns were notorious (with me shooting, anyway) for throwing flyers.

In tinkering around with stock guns, I found three things usually helped.

1) The fastest ammunition, and the guns seemed to favor the traditional RN shaped bullets, rather than the truncated-cone shape.
2) The best possible trigger. Always helps me with any gun. Watch your sights when you dry fire.
3) Either Hogue aftermarket grips or a Hogue Handall over the regular Delrin grips.

I did not shoot a lot of 147s when monkeying around with the 5900s. They weren’t too popular back then. The guns I experimented with liked the plain 124 gr Remington JHP (not the GS) and as much HS6 powder as you dared use. The Federal Hydrashoks that seemed to work so well in the 3913s didn’t seem to do much for the 5900s.

I was always disappointed by the 5906. It seemed like such a great design, but I never saw anyone do any particularly good shooting with one. The little 3913s were a different story. Given a decent trigger, they shot very well for me. I once shot a 5-round target at 50-feet with Federal 124 gr Hydrashoks that might have been more luck than skill. Nevertheless, I kept the target handy on my desk for a long time, for the sake of “conversation.” It was always viewed with great skepticism, so after a while I took it down - to save listening to various accusations, some of them downright insulting.
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Old 01-12-2020, 09:39 PM
oink oink is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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Shouldn't have left the 9mm ball point sitting on your desk.
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Old 01-12-2020, 09:42 PM
oink oink is offline
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My 669 has always been more accurate than my 659 but I attributed that to the barrel bushing, but maybe not.
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Old 01-12-2020, 10:13 PM
Wdbutcher97 Wdbutcher97 is offline
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I must be lucky, because I'm not that good. I'm almost as accurate with my well used 5609 as I am with my nearly new M&P9 2.0 at 15yds from a rest. That wasn't always true. When I first got my 5906, the well used stock grip was so slick that I couldn't get a good grip on the pistol. My first trip to the range was not impressive. It all changed when I installed a Hogue handall grip. It made the grip a bit fatter, but the 5906 didn't slip around in my hand like it did before.
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Old 01-12-2020, 10:24 PM
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My early production 5906 is my most accurate 3rd Gen. My 6906 and 6946 are almost as accurate, especially the DAO 6946.

When the 5906 was introduced the 147gr 9mm was the standard LE round. That's what I generally shoot at the range and carry for all of my 9mm 3rd Gens except my CS9.

I've found that my pre rail 3913TSW does not like 115gr rounds and shoots very low. 124gr is acceptable, but it really shoots best with 147gr.

There are so many variables that go into "liking" a gun, including how it feels in your hand and how it points. It's hard to give anyone advice. If a gun doesn't work for you, then sometimes it's best to move on.

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Originally Posted by Wdbutcher97 View Post
I must be lucky, because I'm not that good. I'm almost as accurate with my well used 5609 as I am with my nearly new M&P9 2.0 at 15yds from a rest. That wasn't always true. When I first got my 5906, the well used stock grip was so slick that I couldn't get a good grip on the pistol. My first trip to the range was not impressive. It all changed when I installed a Hogue handall grip. It made the grip a bit fatter, but the 5906 didn't slip around in my hand like it did before.
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Old 01-13-2020, 09:14 PM
Classic Radio99 Classic Radio99 is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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I've done a couple of things that have really helped me with this kind of inconsistency between different models. I'm not saying this is the be-all-end-all, but it's really helped me in the last couple of months.

The first is to get a bore sight that fits in the chamber of the guns and check to see if and/or how far off your sights are on each of the guns.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2738211655

Clamp the gun in a vice, aim the sights at a dot, and see where the laser lands. It's not match-grade accurate, but if the sights are off by a few inches at say 20 ft., it will show up with this method.
I think what was happening to me was that I shot OK with the guns with accurate sights, but I was subconsciously trying to correct for the guns with inaccurate sights, so I tended to be all over the place, even at closer ranges. And, I believe it started to affect my use of the guns with accurate sights, as I found myself chasing the sights no matter what I was shooting.

The other thing I did was to get a laser training cartridge, these fit in the chamber and will flash a laser dot when the firing pin hits the switch on the back of the laser. ($35 @ Amazon)




You can then see if you've got any bad habits you don't know about (I sure did!) I've been using this for a lot of dry-fire practice, probably two or three times a week, if not more, and that has really helped.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that this particular one from Amazon is not the best quality, the switch is starting to go bad after a mere 6 weeks. Replacement switches are available from the manufacturer for $19.00.
On one hand, that's outrageous. But on the other hand, I spend $13 for the range fee, $40 on ammo ($10/box), plus gas and time, I'm up to say $50-60 for a couple of hours at the range with 200 shots at the target.
$19 for 20-30 dry fire sessions, i.e., 1000 to 3000 trigger presses with feedback (before the switch breaks completely)is at least a little more palatable.

Anyway, I wanted to pin down the problem, is it me or is it the gun? The guns with the inaccurate sights are going to get repaired.
And I've learned that with a gun with accurate sights, if I do my part with sight picture, trigger control, and follow through, I can chew the center out of the target. With me it's a BIG IF though! Of course being able to do that consistently all the time is the trick isn't it?
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Old 01-16-2020, 02:32 PM
rosewood rosewood is offline
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3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet 3914 vs. 5906 at 50 feet  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bulletslap View Post
A rhetorical question.

So why does the 3914 shoot better for me ?

Same range, same target, same time.


Longer sight radius, heavy weapon, better grip, less felt recoil, and rounds all over the target.
I have the same experience. I shoot my 3913 and 908 significantly better than both my 6904 and 5903. Makes no logical sense. Shooting off sand bags, the groups are significantly tighter in the 3913 and 908 also.

Rosewood
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Old 01-16-2020, 02:52 PM
malph malph is offline
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Don't discount the possibility that the one gun is just more accurate than the other.

I probably own a couple dozen 3rd gens. They are not all created equal.

Some were just put together better than others.
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