4040PD mags in a 3913

S

squidsix

Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2006
Messages
3,595
Reaction score
5,811
Location
East Missouri
So while browsing my favorite local gun store, they had a few blued 3914 magazines in the bin: one with red follower and two with black follower. I saw them, thinking it a little odd that they would have a black follower, but knowing I have the proper red ones at home I grabbed them up. They were a hair more expensive than normal for that stuff at that store. I figured its just a sign of the time.
Bring them home and WHAT? What the heck is this weird rivet on the red follower?
Look the mag over carefully, and sure enough, its a 4040 mag, and so are the other two.
I have nothing chambered in .40 and tossed them in a bin thinking I might sell them here on the forum to someone in need, break even, and go on with my life.
But last night, getting ready for today's range day, I grabbed those three mags and loaded then with 9mm and slapped one in the 3913. Locked into place.
Today I fired the compact guns: 3913TSW, 3913, 4516, and Recon 45.
It was a beautiful day and a good time at the range. I had it to myself so broke out the shot clock and did some drills.
I fired all 8 rounds out of each of the 4040 mags through my 3913TSW, the reloaded them and shot them through my 3913, and had zero problems of any kind.
Reloaded them again with as much different ammo I could dig up. Federal HST 147 grain, Remington Golden Saber 124 grain, S&B 115, Federal 147 jacketed flag point. Etc.
Fired ever round again, no issues.
These are unmodified 4040PD mags.
Now you know, your 4040 magazines will work in a 3900 pistol. I was pleased as punch. Maybe I will keep them after all.
 
Register to hide this ad
Yep, I actually learned recently that the reverse is supposedly also true, and 5906 Magazines will function in a 4006, so I'm actually planning on getting some of those Mec-gar flush fit 17 round 5906 Magazines to test out on my 4006.
 
In the old days, before the sunset of the 1994 ban, we used 10-round .40 cal mags in lots of 9mm guns. I had .40 mags for HiPower and Beretta with slightly modified feed lips that held 13 and 15 rounds of 9mm, respectively. They worked perfectly.
This is similar in concept, but the weird part for me is that they seem to be structurally identical to the 3914 magazine. I dont have any .40 ammo to check, but it appears improbable that it would fit in these mags. Of course thats nonsense, but 9mm fits perfectly.
I swapped for 3913 followers in all of them as an afterthought, but they may have been totally unnecessary. They worked just fine with the .40 followers.
 
Well, last night I was checking prices on those Mec-gar 17-round 5906 Magazines I was talking about, and found them for $23, so I went ahead and ordered one.
If it doesn't work, then I have 60 days to return it, but I'm confident that it will work just fine because I've read so many reports that they'll function 100% reliably in a 4006TSW.

I'll report back on my results either way, but it won't be arriving at my door for over a week, and I don't that I'll be able to take it to the range anytime soon, but as long as it will hand cycle ammo I have no doubt that it will work well enough for range use.
 
Last edited:
Dirty Harry Callahan said:
Yep, I actually learned recently that the reverse is supposedly also true, and 5906 Magazines will function in a 4006
Click to expand...
The only difference is the follower.

When the 4006 was in the early design/testing phase, the factory used 5906 magazine bodies with the new 40 caliber follower. Note that the witness holes go past 11

4006%20prototypes.jpg


4006%20prototype2s.jpg
 
colt_saa said:
The only difference is the follower.

When the 4006 was in the early design/testing phase, the factory used 5906 magazine bodies with the new 40 caliber follower. Note that the witness holes go past 11

​
Click to expand...


Good information.

I was looking into it ever since I got my 4006TSW CHP just awhile ago. The one I got only came with one magazine, and replacements are absurdly expensive. The lowest price I could find was $19.99 for used police trade-ins, but I didn't want to buy any from them because it just felt to me like they took a couple out of each box to sell separately. (Other sellers elsewhere sold them with 3 mags each, which is what they were issued within with.) So I started looking into aftermarket options, to which I found none, but I kept seeing folks saying that Mec-gar's 17-round 5906 Magazines would work in a 4006TSW.

Based on what I've read, 4006 Magazines only difference from 5906 Magazines is a little bump on the front of the 4006 Mags which prevent them from being inserted into the magwell of a 5906. Supposedly this was done because 4006 Mags could hold more than 10 rounds if loaded with 9mm Luger, (as squidsix spoke of earlier) so they had to make them non-interchangeable to uphold the stupid Assault Weapons Ban. However, 5906 Magazines will fit a 4006, they just don't seat securely due to the lack of the bump, ergo they can shift back and forth somewhat, and don't always lock in correctly. Supposedly this isn't an issue for 4006TSW models though because they have tighter magwells which will hold 5906 Mags securely enough to function.

Unfortunately, not all of the folks I've seen attest to Mec-gar 5906 Magazines working in 4006TSWs can confirm reliability, merely that they will fit, manually feed/cycle, and lock the slide back when inserted. I can't find any in-depth range reports of folks function testing Mec-gar 5906 Mags in a 4006TSW, so I'll just have to do that part myself. Fortunately, I was able to find a Mec-gar 5906 Magazine for a relatively cheap price, and even if it doesn't function perfectly, it's strictly for range use anyway, and I'm fairly confident that I could modify one to function reliably at the range.​
 
Last edited:
Dirty Harry Callahan said:
Yep, I actually learned recently that the reverse is supposedly also true, and 5906 Magazines will function in a 4006, so I'm actually planning on getting some of those Mec-gar flush fit 17 round 5906 Magazines to test out on my 4006.
Click to expand...

Do you suppose this applies to the MecGar 15 round 5906 ones, too? Since I live in an untrusting state, and can only get 15 round mags, I'd be interested in trying some in my 4006CHP. For range use, of course; save the official mags for posterity.
 
Liftrat said:
Do you suppose this applies to the MecGar 15 round 5906 ones, too? Since I live in an untrusting state, and can only get 15 round mags, I'd be interested in trying some in my 4006CHP. For range use, of course; save the official mags for posterity.
Click to expand...

I don't see why it wouldn't. I've heard of both the flush-fitting 17-round Mags and extended 20-round Mags working, so I'd be surprised if 15-round Mags didn't.
 
Thanks. I've ordered a couple of the 15 round 5906 Mecgar mags as a test. I have a couple 40S&W followers, so I'll play around with those, too. If nothing else, it might be motivation to get a 5906 :D. Not that I need it, of course.
 
Once in a while I find a roll pin in a desk drawer, and build a rifle around it. I found a 4506 mag in my truck tool box when I was cleaning it out to sell it.
Bought two more 4500 pistols to support it.
Found a holster at a flea market for a single six. So....
Got a single six.
Perfectly normal
 
Dirty Harry Callahan said:
Good information.

Based on what I've read, 4006 Magazines only difference from 5906 Magazines is a little bump on the front of the 4006 Mags which prevent them from being inserted into the magwell of a 5906. Supposedly this was done because 4006 Mags could hold more than 10 rounds if loaded with 9mm Luger, (as squidsix spoke of earlier) so they had to make them non-interchangeable to uphold the stupid Assault Weapons Ban.
Click to expand...

Not sure about that argument. The original 4006 mags held 11 rounds and they had the bump. The brady bill banned anything greater than 10 so the 11 round mags didn't need a bump. Whether you had 11 40 S&W or 15 9mm, you was still illegal. Now once the 10 rounds were in production and the brady bill was in effect, the bump would have made sense on those 10 round mags.

S&W made several mags non-interchangeable with some sort of bumps. The 1006 has a bump in a different place so it will not fit the 4013. Maybe they though thew were idiot proofing the mags so you didn't insert in the wrong gun. Who knows?

Rosewood
 
Last edited:
UPDATE: Upon receiving the magazine in the mail today, I can confirm that said 5906 magazines will fit/function in a 4006TSW with absolutely no modifications necessary, at least as far as hand cycling the ammo goes. It will be awhile yet before I can take it out to the range, so that will have to wait for a future update.

However, I can confirm that the Mec-gar 17-round 5906 Magazines will indeed fit .40 S&W cartridges without any modifications to the feed lips, the magazine will fit securely into the magwell of a 4006TSW, and rounds will manually feed from the magazine into the chamber when the slide is cycled or otherwise locked back to the rear then manually released with the magazine inserted.
Admittedly, my first two attempts to chamber a round did hangup on the feedramp, but a simple tap to the magazine caused the rounds to chamber, and subsequent attempts in which I was more conscientious about pulling the slide fully to the rear then releasing it as well as attempt to chamber rounds with the slide locked back then released were successful, ergo I attribute those first couple of hangups to myself short-stroking the slide.
Regardless, the magazine is at the very least adequate for range use.

Lastly, I was able to squeeze 12 rounds into rhe magazine before my thumbs gave out on me, but I'm confident that with the aid of a mag loader that the magazine could fit at least 13, possibly even 14 rounds of .40 S&W.

As previously stated, once I finally get a chance to go out to the range, I will report back with the results of how reliably the magazine functions, but with the threat of COVID-19 among us, many ranges in area are closed, so don't hold your breath.
 
I never even considered trying the 59 mag in the 4006, just assumed it wouldn't fit since the 4006 had the bump, figured there was something the other way that wouldn't let it fit. Also, in the Sigma/SD series, the 9mm mag and 40 mag are different widths, bad assumption that it was the case in other series.

Rosewood
 
Thanks squidsix! I have been needing some 3913 mags so I will give this a try. Stay Healthy!
 
I did compare the 2. The feed lips are slightly wider on the 40 mags vs the 9mm mags. Not sure if it could cause any feeding issues or not since the 40 round cannot come up quite as high in the 9mag.

I have not tried it at the range yet though.

Rosewood
 
Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for posting this. Based on the OP's experience, I recently bought a factory 4040 mag that shoots perfectly fine out of my 3913. Granted, I only shot about 24 rounds or so out of it. So time will tell how it fares with higher round counts later on.
 
equin said:
Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I just wanted to say thanks to the OP for posting this. Based on the OP's experience, I recently bought a factory 4040 mag that shoots perfectly fine out of my 3913. Granted, I only shot about 24 rounds or so out of it. So time will tell how it fares with higher round counts later on.
Click to expand...

This is why some of us ramble on with our experiences, may not help the OP, but may help someone else down the road that reads the post. :D

Rosewood
 
Sorry. I'm a slow learner. So is it;-

A. 5900/5906 magazines will work in a normal 4006.
Or
B. 5900/5906 magazines will only work in a 4006TSW.

4006 magazines are hard to come by in Australia. Especially 10 rounders which I need to comply. However, I have got OEM and Mecgar 5906 magazines. I cannot test this myself at present as my 5006 and 4006 are stored at a dealers premises while I shift house.

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
potential 3913 purchase
2
Replies
24
Views
2K
Tom 1951
T
T
4506 Mags - Black vs Yellow Follower - Feed Lip difs.
Replies
14
Views
2K
crows
C
E
  • Locked
Sold/Withdrawn WTS: S&W Factory Mags: Stepping Away From Collecting
Replies
2
Views
811
ElectroMotive
E
D
Finally first range trip with my 4" Shield Plus P/C
Replies
3
Views
266
Beju
B
D
Random failure to feed with M&P 2.0 Compact
Replies
8
Views
398
BBMW
B

Latest posts

Back
Top