6906 magazines - a conundrum

[ISCS Yoda]

HEY! I got the two magazines from Midway that I discussed the other day:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-...86848-3rd-gen-magazines-available-midway.html

Now I have a puzzle for y'all to solve.

These are S&W magazines, boxes identify them as S&W, etc. I have not had time to take them to the range yet nor have I tried to load them up to capacity. I might try that later. What I did try was to see if the fit my 6906. They do.

BUT!

When I rack the slide back and it locks open I cannot unlock it; it stays back like it's hitting a wall - you can "feel" the fact that it's stuck and pressing the slide release, pulling the slide back various ways, nothing, nada, zip, it's locked open. The factory magazine that came with the gun lets me drop the slide on an empty magazine. As it should.

So, what next? Of course, I load one round into a magazine. Rack the slide, zip, it slams straight home, chamber loaded, ready for decocking. Both magazines do this, no problem.

Why does the slide stay locked back when the new magazines are empty but work perfectly fine when a round is loaded and why does the old magazine allow me to drop the slide on an empty magazine?

Thanks.

***GRJ***

 

[handgunner356]

They are working as designed, your old mag either has a weak spring or worn follower. The mag follower is what holds the slide stop lever up, when a round is in the mag it holds the follower down so it doesn't engage the stop.

 

[kbm6893]

Have you ever shot the gun with the old factory mag in? If so, it should lock open when empty. If you were able to pull back on the slide with the empty old mag and let it go the. The mag was defective. If you have an empty mag in and want to drop the slide with it in, you need to press on the slide release lever to drop the follower in the mag and allow it to go forward

Now before you post another thread about a rattle in your fully loaded mags, that is normal too. Don't know why they do it, but every double stack 3rd gen I have ever owned does it. Download by one and it goes away but no need to download it. Just something 3rd gen mags do

Your new mags are fine. Replace the spring in your old one or leave it for range use only. It's not working the way it should

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Thanks. I didn't notice a rattle, actually, but tonight I'm going home, opening this thread, and playing with those magazines with your comments right in front of me. I will also play with the magazines in my other pistols and list the result right here for comments.

***GRJ***

 

[kbm6893]

Thanks. I didn't notice a rattle, actually, but tonight I'm going home, opening this thread, and playing with those magazines with your comments right in front of me. I will also play with the magazines in my other pistols and list the result right here for comments.

***GRJ***

Another thing to avoid is letting a slide slam forward on an empty chamber. Just not a good thing for the gun. Hold the slide and ease it forward if the chamber is gonna be empty

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Okay, I think I have been misunderstood. First, let's start off by y'all understanding that I am an adept at handling pistols. That doesn't make me an internals expert, not at all, but I have shot my share of various pistols over many, many years, and I know how they operate. So maybe I was unclear. I KNOW that they lock back when shot dry. But I also KNOW that the slide is supposed to be able to be closed afterwards without removing the magazine. So I pulled a few guns from my safe:

Walther P-22
Browning Hi-Power
Colt Mustang Plus
S&W CS-45
S&W 6906

They all work the same. When you rack the slide on an empty magazine the slide locks back. If you press the slide release the slide closes. Period. Maybe there are pistols that don't do that but all of mine do it and always have.

So, then, what's up with the 6906 and the 2 new magazines? Nothing. They're just super tight. When I pressed the slide release hard the slide dropped, just like it is supposed to. I just didn't realize how tight they were but after checking my other guns, including a 3rd Gen S&W, I knew there was more to it so I pressed the slide release harder than before and VOILA! The slide dropped as per usual.

Sorry if I created confusion.

***GRJ***

 

[kbm6893]

Okay, I think I have been misunderstood. First, let's start off by y'all understanding that I am an adept at handling pistols. That doesn't make me an internals expert, not at all, but I have shot my share of various pistols over many, many years, and I know how they operate. So maybe I was unclear. I KNOW that they lock back when shot dry. But I also KNOW that the slide is supposed to be able to be closed afterwards without removing the magazine. So I pulled a few guns from my safe:

Walther P-22
Browning Hi-Power
Colt Mustang Plus
S&W CS-45
S&W 6906

They all work the same. When you rack the slide on an empty magazine the slide locks back. If you press the slide release the slide closes. Period. Maybe there are pistols that don't do that but all of mine do it and always have.

So, then, what's up with the 6906 and the 2 new magazines? Nothing. They're just super tight. When I pressed the slide release hard the slide dropped, just like it is supposed to. I just didn't realize how tight they were but after checking my other guns, including a 3rd Gen S&W, I knew there was more to it so I pressed the slide release harder than before and VOILA! The slide dropped as per usual.

Sorry if I created confusion.

***GRJ***

Load them fully and let sit for a week or two. Loosen them up. You can also fully load them and then manually unload them once a day to work the springs a bit. Do that for about a week

 

[Gearhounds]

I was going to suggest that sometimes brand new mags are extremely difficult to accomplish what you are attempting, but KBM sorta beat me to it. Load and store for a bit and I'll wager it will work.

 

[lowriderfxr]

Honestly, I understand what you are saying but this would not be an issue for me. My training is that you should never use your slide release /stop, except as a take down to field strip your pistol. When it locks back you can remove the magazine and pull back on the slide. When you insert the new magazine simply pull back on the slide as far as it will go and release it to place a new round in the chamber. This allows for the most possible travel of your slide and aids in positive placement of a new round in the chamber.

I had a buddy that bought a new Kimber and he also was complaining about the slide release being too tight. I also told him that it wouldn't be an issue for me.

I'm not saying you should abandon the way you have always operated your semi-automatic pistols, but I think it's at least worth considering.

 

[kbm6893]

Honestly, I understand what you are saying but this would not be an issue for me. My training is that you should never use your slide release /stop, except as a take down to field strip your pistol. When it locks back you can remove the magazine and pull back on the slide. When you insert the new magazine simply pull back on the slide as far as it will go and release it to place a new round in the chamber. This allows for the most possible travel of your slide and aids in positive placement of a new round in the chamber.

I had a buddy that bought a new Kimber and he also was complaining about the slide release being too tight. I also told him that it wouldn't be an issue for me.

I'm not saying you should abandon the way you have always operated your semi-automatic pistols, but I think it's at least worth considering.

Me too. Pulling back the slide and letting it to gives the forward momentum for force for better feeding. We were always taught to only use the slide release if you only had use if one arm , and even then we were also taught to holster the empty gun with slide locked back, put mag in, unholster, and then use he front site as a push off point and rack the slide by pressing the front site against your duty belt

If anyone saw lone survivor ( and if you haven't you should. Great movie) Axelrod does that at the end with his beretta when he's reloading it for his last stand. I gotta think that's how he SEALs train since the true survivor of that mission was an advisor on the film and trained te actors to look realistic.

 

[SMSgt]

I release the slide by both methods on my 6906 (& others) and if it takes extra "momentum" to chamber a round, the gun needs to be fixed.

I'm wondering if the OP has a higher weight recoil spring placing too much pressure on the slide stop. Leaving the mags full a day or two might also help.

 

[lowriderfxr]

I release the slide by both methods on my 6906 (& others) and if it takes extra "momentum" to chamber a round, the gun needs to be fixed.

Now that I'm retired from being a full time LEO, ( currently armed security at an oil refinery ) it's highly unlikely that I will need a firearm to defend myself or someone else. It's even more unlikely that I will be in that situation with a gun that needs to be fixed. But in the unlikely event that it would occur, it would be a small comfort for me or my kids to say, if only he hadn't tried the slide release on a gun that needed to be fixed! I know this is far fetched but my point is why not do it the best way, every time?
I always turn the cylinder clockwise when I load a S&W without loaders. I always fire a double action S&W double action, never single action.
My belief is develop good habits and stick to them. You never know when the smallest thing might make the biggest difference.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Okay, I understand your points but that's creating questions - and this is not about reloading - if I'm going to shoot more I will just load a full magazine and drop the slide. For practice or if I'm unfortunate to get into a gunfight and have to reload, that's the ticket. But let's say it's time to go home.

Honestly, I understand what you are saying but this would not be an issue for me. My training is that you should never use your slide release /stop, except as a take down to field strip your pistol. When it locks back you can remove the magazine and pull back on the slide.

Okay, you're at the range, you just fired your last 12 rounds, you're ready to go home. As I see it, you have several options:

1. You can pack your pistol up with the slide locked back.

2. You can press the slide release and let the slide drop, then put the gun away.

3. You can press the slide release while retaining the slide and lower it slowly, and then put the gun away.

4. And, finally, I guess you can remove the magazine, and either quickly or slowly, you still have to press the slide release to let the slide close before you put the gun away.

What's your call? My practice was always 2 or 3. Seems some of you think that's not a good plan so what do you do instead?

***GRJ***

 

[lowriderfxr]

or
5. Drop the magazine, pull back on the slide, let it go or ride it down, your choice.

I'm going with 5.

 

[kbm6893]

I always ride the slide on an empty chamber. No reason to let it slam forward on an empty chamber. These guns are tough, but why put more abuse on them?

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I can live with number 5 - and I often do that although I admit I don't do it as often as I should - but I will! I was just getting a little confused by the concept of putting a gun away with the slide locked back.

***GRJ***

 

[Muss Muggins]

or
5. Drop the magazine, pull back on the slide, let it go or ride it down, your choice.

I'm going with 5.

what he said . . .

 

[Muss Muggins]

I always ride the slide on an empty chamber. No reason to let it slam forward on an empty chamber. These guns are tough, but why put more abuse on them?

I don't understand this. A round in the chamber doesn't create any sort of cushion, and the same metal parts are colliding, round in or round out, and at a much level lower of force than actually firing the pistol.

 

[rbmcmjr]

I don't understand this. A round in the chamber doesn't create any sort of cushion, and the same metal parts are colliding, round in or round out, and at a much level lower of force than actually firing the pistol.

I think you misunderstood the comment. If you let the slide go forward with a magazine in place, the action of stripping out the top round and chambering it provides a certain level of cushioning to the impact that you don't get if you drop the slide on an empty pistol.

Putting a round in the chamber and then shutting the slide causes a whole different set of problems, all associated with damaging the extractor.