advice on 5906 (time sensitive)

D

dinkytheman

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 28, 2011
Messages
58
Reaction score
0
Location
Northwest wisconsin
So, I called up a local gunstore I haven't been to in a while to see what they had in 9mm autos. Owner tells me they have some police trade-in 5906s coming in and he got a good price so he's selling them for $369. Now I've seen these for about the same price on the CDNN website for $299, but then I'd have to add shipping, transfer fee, etc and I can't see gun in person, so this sounds like a good deal. Now the gunshop owner says he hasn't seen them yet becasue they don't come in til tomorrow, but the place he'd buying them from says they are in great shape. He also mentioned that he was told that these were used by the Puerto Rican police force, but he wasn't sure about that and then he said soemthing about export stamps, blah, blah. So should I jump on this? I'm not a big fan of glocks, xd, and the other plastic guns. And I really like TDA with a decocker. I figure if I ever conceal carry it'll be a J-frame so this would be a range/home protection gun.
 
Last edited:
Just form hitting the wikipedia site and looking up Puerto Rican police I see that from 1999 to 2009 the 5906 was the duty weapon.
 
That price isn't anything to jump on for a site-unseen 5906. They go for that all the time. Take a look at auction sites, plenty available--27 on GB right now.
 
The 5906 is my favorite S&W pistol, and that sounds like a pretty decent price for one in good condition. I'd say look them over and pick out the best one if you can.

I wouldn't worry too much about cosmetic condition - an all-stainless pistol is probably one of the easiest things to refinish if necessary (just have it bead-blasted), and new grips can be had for around $20.00, making it look like brand new. It might not be a bad idea to throw a new recoil spring in there as well.

As has been said here before, many police pistols may have been carried a lot, but shot very little, so no matter what, the all steel 5906 will still have plenty of life left in it.
 
I bought one of the CDNN 5906's for my wife a few months ago. It was in really nice condition. The only thing I did was change the grips and it looks practically brand new. They charge $15 shipping as I recall. Don't know what you pay for transfer fees, but the CDNN gun looks like a better price to me. You will also pay sales tax on the $369, so the TX fee may be a wash, depending on your tax rate.
 
Here in WI we have a $13 state handgun background check fee. So, I doomed to pay that no mater what. Tax rate is 5.5%. So, I'd be looking at $389 with tax. With CDNN I'd be looking at $299 +shipping + transfer. So, if shipping is $15 and Transfer around here is at least $25. I'd be looking at $340. Huh. I like the idea of being able to inspect it with no obligation to buy.
I was planning on buying a stoeger cougar for $400, but then this came up. Of the two I think I'd be better off customer service and quality wise going with a used smith? From the little bit I've read this forum it sounded like smith and wesson was real good about service and parts on the older autos.
 
Here is one of the CDNN 299+ shipping 5906s. It was in very good condition. I polished it to get rid of the scuffs. It's always nice to look at one before but.....
000_1134.jpg

000_1135.jpg

000_1136.jpg

I do not have local choices close for me to handle one before buying.
 
I have a Cougar and a couple of 5906's. If given the choice to do it all again, I'd have three 5906's. The Cougar is not a bad gun, mind you. The 5906 is just better. IMHO, of course.
 
I think tomorrow I'll go check those guns and see what kind of shape they are in. If they look brand new I'll grab one. When I talked to him on the phone he said that they looked new other than the grip. If they are not so hot I'll pass. Sounds like I could save $40-$50 going through CDNN.
Do you guys have any advice on inspecting this particular auto? Anything in particular to look out for?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but being that Puerto Rico is a US territory, I don't think guns from there would be required to have import/export stamps.
 
deanodog said:
Here is one of the CDNN 299+ shipping 5906s. It was in very good condition. I polished it to get rid of the scuffs. It's always nice to look at one before but.....
000_1134.jpg

000_1135.jpg

000_1136.jpg

I do not have local choices close for me to handle one before buying.
Click to expand...



That looks great. What did you polish it with and how long did it take?
 
Hopefully it won't have the Century dot matrix stamps on it, I've seen some pics of 3rd gens they imported and it just wrecks them for me, especially when the price isn't much better than a us police trade without them
 
I just received my second 5906 yesterday that I purchased from CDNN. It arrived in MINT condition. Shipping was $18.00, no tax and ordered with an extra 17 round mag.

Last night I ordered the 6906 which the sales person indicated were in even better condition than the 5906s.

CDNN has a great deal going on both, don't wait too long because you'll miss out on a really great deal. I will def buy more from CDNN.

5906 had no scratches or marks, came with new Hogue grips. I didn't have to polish mine, but I did.
 
dinkytheman said:
I think tomorrow I'll go check those guns and see what kind of shape they are in. If they look brand new I'll grab one. When I talked to him on the phone he said that they looked new other than the grip. If they are not so hot I'll pass. Sounds like I could save $40-$50 going through CDNN.
Do you guys have any advice on inspecting this particular auto? Anything in particular to look out for?
Click to expand...

Not a lot other than cosmetic issues. Outside of outright abuse, there isn't a whole lot you can do to hurt one of these tanks. I would inspect the bore and look for obvious missing/damaged parts. If it cycles and dry fires like it ought to, chances are it will perform at the range as well. You might look closely at the extractor. If you do have any kind of parts failure this is about the only part I ever see folks having to replace. This is pretty rare too.
 
I also CDDN. I've not bought on of these 3rd Gen Smith's from them but a lot of my friends have bought shotguns from them. You can see a lot of good comments about CDDN on another forum I really like- ShotgunWorld.

as for the 5906- I had one for years and loved it and had to sell it a few years back- which I really came to regret. A couple of months back, after a lot of patience and waiting, I bought a mint/LNIB 5906 from a guy on GunBroker and it is awesome. My son has had a Walther PPS for about 9 months, and I really like it- it's a well made weapon and great for CCW. However; I like the 3rd gens so much and my 5906 in particular, that I'm looking for a 3913/4013/6906 or CS for a smaller piece for carry. You can't go wrong with a 5906!

Good luck
 
well I did some calling around today. The transfer fee in my neck of the woods is $30. CDNN said the shipping would be $18. So gun would be $350 from CDNN and $390 from my local guy. I think My local shop is selling them with two mags, whereas cdnn is selling with one mag.
 
Either way it is a good deal. Your local gun shop will also have to charge sales tax whereas CDNN won't so you will have a few dollar savings there on top of the 40.

You'll love the 5906. I've got two of them now. Once they are gone I think they will be hard to come by at a later time.
 
I would go for the local pistol that you can inspect before you buy. I'm sure the CDNN pistols are fine but it's luck of the draw. You may end up with one that skidded accross the street during a scuffle. You just don't know.

I have a 5903 which is the aluminum frame version of the 5906 and love it. It accurate and very reliable. It's a great option if you want a lighter gun. They are not as common but the prices are about the same. You can't make it fail to fire. I am thinking of getting CT Laser Grips for it.
 
Well I bought it from local gun store. They had two of them. One wasa little rougher looking than the other and had a real gloss finish, whereas the other was more of a matte finish. I picked the matte because it was in better shape. Comes with two 15 round mags. Gun looks great. I'd call it very good condition. So, even with the WI $13 handgun background check it was $402 out the door. I look forward to picking it up this friday afternoon. I'll be sure to post some picks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

1backdraft1
Smith & Wesson 4013 Review
2
Replies
20
Views
20K
CQB60
CQB60
Silversmok3
Availability of 3rd Gen guns?
2
Replies
32
Views
5K
Arik
A
D
5906 question.
Replies
19
Views
5K
John Fritz
John Fritz
H
Reliability: Does anything else BEAT a S&W 3rd Gen. auto?
2
Replies
38
Views
9K
calmex
calmex
Y
Decision time, needing a little help
Replies
10
Views
1K
yaggieke
Y

Latest posts

Back
Top