Are they interchangeable? I swapped mine and it seems to work but I'm not sure. Haven't shot either and don't plan to. Just a question.

You now have a 5906 SSV!

Yup!

John

They are…
However there are gun to gun differences and you will find if you swap enough of them around that some are looser and some are tighter.

Being that I am no manner of a gunsmith or craftsman when it comes to things of this nature, my pea brain believes you are going to “give something up” here if the match isn’t very close.

I believe the looser match is going to be… metal parts reciprocating at high speed that are fit looser than they oughta be… but worse, the other pistol, where TIGHTER fit parts are going to be doing the same thing until they wear themselves in.

So call me crazy, but if I owned a 5906 and somebody stole my slide or maybe if Walter White tossed it in to a bathtub full of acid, then yes, I would go ahead and slap another slide on there to make a working pistol once again.

However if I had two guns that I really liked and the slide swap felt TIGHT on one of them, I would probably leave them be and go drink a beer.

I’m certainly looking to hear opinions from others on this.

I'm not gonna shoot either gun like in that configuration just because of what you said. Wear. Niether gun is new, obviously. I believe they would run ok but I'm not taking any chances. Both guns were used. The 5906 was a sock drawer gun and not shot much, my 6906 has import marks and I believe it came from Isreal. Carried and handled a lot bit not shot much. My question was purely curiosity. I was an armorer and firearms instructor for my department and I learned a lot. I try to keep learning. Thanks to this board and guys like you, that's just what I'm doing! 👍

What ???

I’m pretty sure Sevens was very clear.

How does the 6906 top end fit on the 5906 lower? Do you have to force it on or did it sloppily go on? Does the slide rock left right on the 5906 frame rails? Even if it was tight going on, how does it cycle? Some of my PC’s are almost impossible to to get back together but once the slide is on they are perfectly smooth as glass in cycling.

Like most here I’ve been swapping slides and frames throughout, (before I heard it was even possible, no Forum no internet,) with no problems. My extra 3913/6906 complete top end is very happy on both my 5906 and 3906 lowers. Same is true on the various.45’s and .40’s.

Jim

I have swapped a couple just for shiggles, but never subjected them to live fire. I could never come up with a genuine reason to do it.

But I enjoy hearing about what other folks are doing.

Swapping slides on S&W pistols can be a hit-or-miss deal. I bought a 469 top end, thinking it would look good on my 439 and might make it a little more appealing as a carry piece. Both pistols being S&W 2nd generation, I figured it would be drop-in project. It fit, sort of, but was overly tight on the receiver rails and the back end of the 469 slide is very rounded and did not fit anywhere near flush with the back end of the 439's receiver. I also tried it on my early production 6906, as it's slide has the same generous radius on the rear of the slide. The fit was about the same as that of the 6906 slide. So there are differences in fit, it's not always a direct replacement thing like with military grade M-1911's.

__________________
VCDL, GOA, NRA

This is my 3953 LS (Long-slide). It is a 5946 slide on a 3953 frame.

Attached Images

3953LS.jpg (51.8 KB, 35 views)

I put a 6906 slide on my 669 to get better sights and it works fine.

I''ve got two 6915..... 6906 frame with a 915 upper. Both work fine.

Remember the rails are heavier/square on the later Tactical guns......

Just to "flesh-out" my answer a tiny bit...

5906/6906 are "combat" pistols and therefore tend to have "generous" clearances.

It is extremely rare to run into a "stack-up of production tolerances" that would result in an over tight fit.

And if you do run across one of these, you'll know it as soon as you try to slide it on.

John

My internet was called Britanica. I learned everything the hard way until I received formal training. Everything was good. Cyclied dummy rounds, locked on an empty mag. Didn't feel any binding on either frame/slide combination. I'm sure they would work fine. I'm just not gonna shoot them like that. I like them just the way they are.

To me, it's no different than growing up in the 80's and buying junkyard 351W heads and slapping them on my 302 block.

I put 302 heads on my 351W because the 302 heads had smaller combustion chambers and it raised my compression.

John

Have you actually put live rounds down the pipe?

Have you actually put live rounds down the pipe?

Yes, functions fine.

My understanding is the internal mounting geometry on the 3906, 3913, 5906, 6906 slides / frames are mostly compatible.

Two noteworthy exceptions:

1. The TSW variants are NOT compatible with the non-TSW variants - I.E. a 5906TSW slide will not fit a 5906 non TSW frame and vice versa.

2. There are significant variants for a given Barrel to Slide interface even for a single pistol such as an early 5906 (narrow hood) vs a late 5906 (wide hood), so if you are going to play swapperoo make sure the barrel hood and the ejector port are a matching pair.

I did know about the differences from the standard pistols and their TSW counter parts. Excellent point! What I didn't think about is the continual production changes made during the model runs. I'm always grateful for that kind of information. That's what makes this and other forums so valuable! 👍

I have one 5906 and a few 3913/6906's. I've tried the swap and it works just fine. No injury to the guns or me, function 100%, kind of a no-brainer. They're built pretty well, so I'm not afraid of doing any damage. I guess y'all should do what you want, I just wanted to throw in my experience.
Now, I admit I don't do it as a regular thing, because since I have the 6906 and magazine adapters to use 5900 mags in it, it doesn't fill a need. It's just for fun instead.