Decided to do a visual and weight comparison between my new 6906 and my M&P Shield. In its most compact (with flat mag plate), the 6906 Holds 13 rounds. The Shield with the flat 7 round mag holds 8 rounds - 5 rounds less.





With an empty mag, the 6906 os 1 pound 10 ounces, the Shield is 1 pound 5 ounces. 5 ounces less.

The 13 round 6906 is a credible combat and self defense handgun, where I feel the 8 round Shield is more of self defense only weapon.

You can increase from 8 total on the Shield when you use the 8 round mag for 9 rounds, or a Strike Industries +2 extension cup on a 7 round for 10 round total. The problem is that with either of those, the grip becomes noticeably larger than the 6906 and harder to conceal than the 6906. You loose the one advantage the Shield has.





I will probably hang on the the Shield for use with the 7 round mag, if I need a pocket gun. In my mind, though, it makes no sense to carry the Shield with 10 rounds instead of the more compact 13 of the 6906.

Don't get me wrong, the Shield is a great little pistol, especially with the high-viz sights. I choose to carry the 6906 for the most part for two reason:

One, I shoot the 6906 way better than the Shield. That's important. Second, I like having 13 hollow nosed friend on board, instead of 8 in the Shield and having to carry a spare in the pocket.

I had a Shield.....for me it was this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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You didn't mention what the shields' trigger was like compared to the 6906 . I shot one last time I went to the range , my neighbor brought his . After shooting my 2nd and 3rd gens , all he did was look at his and shake his head . Triggers do account for something .

I agree. While my Shield has a better trigger than my Glock 19's 3.5, the Shield SUCKS compared to my 6906's single action. The Shield and the Glock are a little easier on first shot control, the 6906 really shines after the first shot.

I often consider trading my Model 6946 for something in the M&P or Glock lineup, but other than weight savings and maybe spare parts, I have a hard time justifying such a trade.

I have a Shield and got the rebate. I use it as my truck gun because it is worthless as a trade or to sell. My 6904 is a rehabbed import with new night sights, bulky to carry though.

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The 6906 everyday!!

While my Glock does carry three more rounds than the 6906, and weighs one ounce less than the Shield, the slide is longer and wider, and the grip stick out farther than the 6906. Along with that, I shoot the 6906 better than the Shield, which I shoot better than the Glock. The choice for carrying the 6906 seems simple enough. The Glock just seems bulkier.

I tried 3 different Glocks over the years; a 27 when they first came out, (already had a Sig and Browning in .40) and it was a bit snappy in my hands. I later bought a 17, but I couldn't shoot it very well and was a bit large to carry. Lastly I traded I to a 19, which I liked ok, but I still couldn't hit well with it and the light trigger left me wanting a safety. All of them would suit me better with one.

I bought both of my Shields with safeties (9mm & 45) because both of the triggers let off so easily. But I've just decided I like hammer fired guns better than the striker fired. And the 6906 just works for me all the way around. I found a good deal on a 6904 first and decided that I really liked it. But I generate a lot of sweat, and my preferred method of concealment is IWB carry. So I needed a stainless version, the 6906.

They are seldom seen locally, although a 469 seems to show up quite often around here. Fortunately a fellow member had 6906 to sell right about the time I was ready to take my chances with GB, and the price was right.

I like pretty much all of the 3rd gen S&W pistols, but the 6906 gets to go most days, until the weather gets cooler at least. Then I give it a good cleaning & pull out a .45 acp.

Slide longer:



Slide wider:



Grip longer (though slide on 19 rides lower on axis):

Got them both.
Shoot them both.
Keeping them both.
Just thought I'd mention that I found the source quite a while ago for the spacers for using 5900 magazines with a 6900 gun. I finally bought 3 a couple months ago, $10 each. I carried my 6906 for several years way back when using these spacers and never had an issue. 14+1 is no more difficult to carry or conceal than the normal 12-round.
Precision Gun Specialties and look for "grip plus 2 magazine adapter."

This is a very timely thread for me. I currently carry a Shield .45 that has replaced my Colt Commander for edc. (I know, I know. It seems a bit sacrilegious, but the Shield holds the same # of rounds, is half the weight, and is incredibly accurate.)
Now I'm grooming my 6906 as an alternate/cold weather edc weapon. It's got a new barrel from S&W Performance Center and is just as accurate as my shield, but the trigger pull is so different from the striker that I'm spending a lot of time getting re-accustomed to the long takeup of the single action pull.

I've considered purchasing a M&P Compact in 9mm so I have the same 2.0 trigger with 15 rounds, but the 6906 is such a great package that I'm sticking with it.

Besides the nostalgia of having fired a pre-production 469 in 1982, and having had numerous Smith 9mms, the majority having been 469, 669, and a 6906, my choice of the 6906 is simple.

Mainly, I shoot it better than any of my other pistols, and secondly, it offers the best balance of conceal-ability and firepower over the Glock 19 and the 9mm Shield.

I tried a Glock 19 back in the 90s and tried a Model 26 on two different occasions...... for me neither was better than my 3913s ,6906s or PC Shorty-9s..... Didn't like the triggers vs the Smih DA/SA set up.

I saw no reason to invest in holsters and magazines..... Newer? yes better? Not for me.

Traded off all three Glocks on more 3rd Gen Smiths..... 3913s & 14s, 6904s etc.....I'm

Never had a 6906 but I do miss the 5906 and 915. Want them back and hope they are doing fine.
Got a 9 and 45 shield both good guns but sitting on a shelf.
My 3913 got newer night sights and still gets to go away with me.
Best replacement for that is a Sig P225-A1 which shoots better than all the above.

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Some assembly required..

A little necromancy here. Thought I would resurrect this thread. I compared my last 6906 to both a Shield and Glock 19.

I all cases, the Shield has both the 6906 and Glock 19 beat on weight.

With the flat bottom mag, the Shield has a smaller size than the 6906, even with the flat bottom 59 mag base. With the Shield's plus one mag base, the grip is slightly longer than the 6906 and the +2 Strike Industries equipped mag, the Shield grip is way longer than the 6906.

The 6906 does beat the Glock 19 as far as conceal-ability, both in length and height. The 6906 is even thinner than the Glock 19.

I can see the comparison for 9mm.

45 tho, I held a 45 Shield and it seemed awfully skinny in the grip. A Glock 30S is too much recoil for me to enjoy, and a loaded Shield is maybe 3 oz lighter. I might go for a 3rd Gen 45 based on the additional weight to be able to practice with it.

Mike, I have a Shield 45 and have fired it a few times (I'm retired with a few choices for my EDC, and really just got it to try it.) I can tell you, it doesn't seem to recoil any more than my steel-frame ATI compact 45. It's not bad at all. You ought to at least try one at a range.

Wondering why a 9mm Shield, when the Shield .45 (with the M2.0 trigger) is, at least for me, quite as shootable as the 9; plus it fits nicely in my jeans pocket with a "Sticky" holster. In fact it's totally replaced my PC 642 as my pocket carry gun.

For regular IWB carry I've got a 4513TSW. Now that doesn't carry as easily as my CS9. But lately it's kinda a battle between the 45 and a .40 Beretta PX4compact, which after a Langdon trigger job is a very sweet shooter.

Honestly, however, I don't see how anyone can go wrong with a Shield, a 6906 or any of the Smith 3rd gens. For me though, Glock is another story. I've tried three different ones and all three were for sale or trade in a matter of 2 or 3 range sessions. Much prefer M&Ps and like DA/SA a lot better.

I have a really nice police trade in 6906 with a trigger job and nite sights and when I took it to shoot the first time, a friend's son went with his dad and me to the range.


He was carrying his Glock 17. He only owned Glock handguns. My friend had his well worn Beretta 92 that needs to be refinished, it's down to about 50% finish now, from carrying it in a leather holster for about 20 years. His son doesn't like the 92 much, but I would take it over any of his Glocks, which, I will admit, I do not understand the appeal of at all. Weird grip shape, weird trigger, and it's ugly. He did like my 6906 a lot, once he put a couple of mags shot DA to get used to the DA trigger. One thing just floored me, he didn't like my Tanfoglio "Mossad" CZ Clone at all. It's my favorite gun of all I own. His main complaint about it was one of my favorite things about it, the grip shape, which to me is about as perfect as a grip can get. The slide fit is as good as several multi-thousand dollar 1911's I've shot. IMHO, the only negatives about it are the sights, which are just 3 dots with high impact colored paint on them, and the pretty heavy DA trigger. I have two other Tanfoglio made surplus guns, but this one is the best of them all.