59XX series extraction issues?

[hammy5150]

Just came back from some rather frustrating range sessions with my new 5906TSW. The gun itself feels great to shoot, the trigger is excellent, it fills my hand well, it points naturally and the weight makes placing shots feel almost like cheating, but unfortunately it's also plagued with chronic failure to extract issues. It's been hard getting a variety of 9mm ammo in this market to test a spread but so far it's choked on 9mm 115gr Browning value ammo and 125gr remanufactured ammo, and it especially did not seem to like the remanufactures. It has no problem feeding the ammo but it'll fail to extract spent casings and then double feed the next round right under it, I considered it was possibly because of poor quality ammo but I always felt like a 5906 would be a lot less sensitive to that sort of thing and my HK P2000SK happily ate the same reloads without issue the same range session. Before the 5906TSW I also had the same issues with a 5926, so I'm wondering if it's an extractor issue specific to the 59 series guns since I've never had any kind of issues with the 4013TSW I used to have or my 1006. Both the 5926 and 5906TSW were at one point police guns, and the 5906TSW is very well worn so I suppose it could be down to poor maintenance, but the 5926 is in very good shape still and still has those issues. Is it also possibly a recoil spring issue? The other common denominator between it and my 5926 has been the new recoil springs I ordered from MidwayUSA and installed before actually firing them.

[just plain joe]

When we had problems with our semi-automatic pistols and AR15 pattern rifles, most times it could be traced to magazines, especially as relates to double-feeds. Occasionally, but rarely, little or improper weapon lubrication was the culprit.

I would try to determine if these malfunctions are occurring with a specific magazine or magazines. I always told my fellow officers not to fall in love with their magazines. They don't last forever and should be treated as a "wear" item. Consider checking the magazine lips for signs of damage or deformation. You might wish to consider replacing magazine springs. Cycling the magazine through loading/shooting contributes to spring failure. Contrary to what some espouse, I never found a quality magazine taking a "set" from being left "loaded". Instead it was the many loading/shooting cycles where the spring was compressed and then released by firing the weapon that led to its eventual failure.

I'm certain others more knowledgeable than I will be by to provide further information.

HTH.

JPJ

[mscampbell2734]

I have a square trigger guard 5903 and I've had to have the extractor replaced twice.

I know Smith went through at least 3 changes to the extractor, and at 3 for the spring. The original spring was a single spring, then a dual spring and back to a single spring.

[hammy5150]

Originally Posted by just plain joe

When we had problems with our semi-automatic pistols and AR15 pattern rifles, most times it could be traced to magazines, especially as relates to double-feeds. Occasionally, but rarely, little or improper weapon lubrication was the culprit.

I would try to determine if these malfunctions are occurring with a specific magazine or magazines. I always told my fellow officers not to fall in love with their magazines. They don't last forever and should be treated as a "wear" item. Consider checking the magazine lips for signs of damage or deformation. You might wish to consider replacing magazine springs. Cycling the magazine through loading/shooting contributes to spring failure. Contrary to what some espouse, I never found a quality magazine taking a "set" from being left "loaded". Instead it was the many loading/shooting cycles where the spring was compressed and then released by firing the weapon that led to its eventual failure.

I'm certain others more knowledgeable than I will be by to provide further information.

HTH.

JPJ

I had the issue with both OEM mags and brand new Mec Gar ones. The FTEs also happen when hand cycling with snap caps which doesn't occur on any other pistol I have so I'm inclined to think it's some sort of extractor issue.

Originally Posted by mscampbell2734

I have a square trigger guard 5903 and I've had to have the extractor replaced twice.

I know Smith went through at least 3 changes to the extractor, and at 3 for the spring. The original spring was a single spring, then a dual spring and back to a single spring.

My 5926 is a square trigger guard so I'd expect that to have some early extractor issues but my 5906TSW is newer by almost a decade and I'd have thought whatever issues it had would've been worked out by S&W by that point.

[stansdds]

Originally Posted by hammy5150

...but unfortunately it's also plagued with chronic failure to extract issues. It's been hard getting a variety of 9mm ammo in this market to test a spread but so far it's choked on 9mm 115gr Browning value ammo and 125gr remanufactured ammo, and it especially did not seem to like the remanufactures. It has no problem feeding the ammo but it'll fail to extract spent casings and then double feed the next round right under it, I considered it was possibly because of poor quality ammo...

Before the 5906TSW I also had the same issues with a 5926...

Since it only happens with the Browning value ammo and a certain remanufactured ammo load, I'd say it is not a problem with your pistols, but with the ammo being a little under powered.

[hammy5150]

Originally Posted by stansdds

Since it only happens with the Browning value ammo and a certain remanufactured ammo load, I'd say it is not a problem with your pistols, but with the ammo being a little under powered.

Don't know if it only happens with those yet since I've been pretty reluctant to break the rest of my 9mm stash open in these times, I figured that could be the case with the Browning value ammo since it seemed like pretty cheap and awful ammo, and the last time I took it out it had around 2 FTEs in 100 rounds which wasn't great, but seemed acceptable. The remanufactures were pretty bad though and I had 7 FTEs in 100 while my HK fired the same amount and spat them out with no issue.