I just got in a bunch of the orange 15 rd followers for my 5906 and 6906 mags. The 5906 mags are the early 14 rd ones, so that was just common sense to upgrade them. I plan on ordering the Wolff extra power springs eventually.

But when I opened up my 6906 mags, the followers are the original black ones, but they look essentially the same as the orange 5906 late model 15 rd followers. Will the orange 15 rd followers from a 5906 actually make a stock 6906 mag a 13 rd mag? The orange followers for the 5906 are deffinitely different than the black 14 rd 5906 versions. Shorter legs, and the body between the ramp and the spring pad on the bottom are thinner. But they look essentially the same as a stock 6906 follower.

What, if anything, will add an extra round to a 6906 mag? I have the 17 rd MecGar mags, but they stick out a bit. The spacers for the 5906 mag in a 6906 are on order.

Racer,

By putting the orange followers into 6906 mags you gain a round, bringing capacity to 13 rounds.

BTW-where did you purchase the orange followers? I'd like to pickup one, maybe two?

God Bless!!!!
Rev. Charlie

I ordered them from S&W direct. They are about $3.29. part # 23944 there are a bunch of 0s after that, but the numbers I gave you are all S&W needs. You need to call and order, but they will ship in a USPS padded envelope, and order a new recoil spring or two while you are at it. Most are about $1.45 each.

Great News!!!

I'll give them a call.

well, the orange 5906 followers in stock 6906 mags, with 6906 springs are 12.5 rd mags. Not sure what others are doing to get 13 rds in a stock 6906 mag with stock springs and the orange followers.

Trimming the legs down .25"?

That was what I found...I had some extra 5906 followers and tried them in my 6906 to see, found 12.5 rnds was the capacity. Then I said, wait a second, I'm sitting here wasting all this time to gain ONE round??? I carry my 6906 12+1 w-TAP +P. Is that not enough??? Of course it is. We all go a little far w-mag capacity sometimes, me included!

If some mags are lucky enough to hold 13 rounds, it isn't because they have orange followers. The only difference between the black 69 followers and the orange 59 followers is color.

I have a few 59 mags w/ black followers that hold 15 rounds but they cannot be locked in to the magwell with the slide closed, too full.

Original 59's held 14 rounds, as did 459/659's. When they introduced the mini-gun, I suspect they had to modify the follower so it would hold 12 rounds. Later someone probably realized that putting the 69 follower in a 59 mag increased the capacity to 15 rounds so they started making them in orange to show the difference. That's my theory and I'm stickin to it.

I have 14 round 5904 magazines that have 69 followwers in them so they hold 15 rounds but maintain the correct look of the black followers.

I just went and got my three 6906 Orange Follower mags out and each one has 13 rounds in it and they all fit fine in the gun.

I'm going to try the 6906 Black Followers in 14 rnd mags and see what happens.

God Bless!!!!!

thanks RevCharlie. I need to do some head scratching right now.

I found the orange followers have shorter front legs than the black followers. There is about a 1/4" difference in length. I'm not sure if that will allow an additional round or not. I would think that both legs would have to be shorter to allow the room for an additional round. I'll do a little experimenting.
Here is a pic of the two side by side.
Early 1990's black follower and a current orange follower. The orange follower is being propped up with a .22 case.

and about 1/4" on a staggered stack of 9mm rounds is about one round most likely. My current dillema is that the new orange followers essentially look the same as the 6906 black followers in my 6906 mags. But a number of folks here have said they can get 13 rds in their 12 rd 6906 mags with the new orange followers. The one I tried was 12 rounds, and maybe room for an extra half. Don't know if the follower legs were bottomed out, or if the spring was bottomed out and stacked solid. Maybe there was a revision change on the springs, and some will work for this, and others not. (I am swapping in the 904/906 9 rd follower into my old 39 and 439 mags to get the extra round, and the 39 magazine has a steel follower, and an oddball spring, so it will need a new 904/906 style spring to work. That's why I think an early vs late production spring may have some part in this)

The height/thickness of the body on the orange followers is maybe 1/4" less than the old 14 rd black 5906 followers, that's for sure.