Can my 6906 handle +P rounds?
 

Hello
I was looking at some home defense rounds marked +P and the box said only use in guns designed for the +P round.
What do you think?
Thanks.

Alloy frame will take a beating. There are good SD loads for that gun. I carry the Federal 135 gr SD HP's and I don't feel undergunned. Joe

S+W does not rate these pistols for +P ammunition,but they can take them without problem..........Mike

As Pharmer said the alloy frame will take a beating...also you will find your gun will become looser and seem to rattle because the tolerances between the slide and frame will have been compromised. This doesn't mean the gun is unsafe but it does mean you will have a gun that has worn out much quicker than one that hasn't been exposed to +P ammo.

Your 6906 will handle thousands and thousands of high pressure, hot ammo without measurable wear. Just keep and eye on the springs.

If you could afford enough +P+ ammo to induce failure of your Smith Alloy frame gun, you could easily afford to buy several new guns.

If your 6906 is not broken or defective in any way, +P rounds are quite safe.

I think that if your ONLY going to use the +P rounds for home defense, then statistically you should never have to fire the gun... so the question becomes moot.

Now if you did have to use it in defense of your home, I don't think it would matter if you bent the gun a little if you won and would be moot again if the bad guy won... so go buy the +P ammo... shooting +P for target and plinking can be very expensive.

Not rated for +P but can handles them. The more +P you shoot the more you accelerate wear and tear.

For several years the blued version, the 6904, was our issued duty weapon. Same gun except in blued and steel slide instead of stainless slide. Both alloy frames. Our issued duty ammo was W-W 115 +P+. We shot tons of ammo thru ours.
It's like comparing driving your car everywhere at 100 mph or 50 mph. At 100 mph you'll have accelerated wear but it's not going to blow up. How much longer will your car run at 100 mph than 50 mph? No way to say. Your car at 100 mph may last longer than mine at 50 mph but generally yours will start having problems sooner than mine at 50 mph.
The 5904 is the blued full size version which was our main issued duty gun for several years. One of our range guys decided to see how many +P+ rds he could fire thru one before it quit. When he retired he had documented 80,000 rds. He had replaced the barrel at 50,000 as the rifling was pretty much gone and he had replaced springs. That's it. He bought the gun when he retired and is still shooting it as of last fall when I saw him last.

ISPCAPT:

Thanks for contributing. There ought to be either a sticky on +P ammo so we could quit wasting bandwidth discussing it twice a week.