LGS find 5946

[Gath of Baal]

Pick this up today, needs some tlc. But i been wanting another 5900 series and found this one and had money on me so it followed me home. For some reason S&W is a pain for me to look up and learn anything about it. Story is a retiring officer bought his service weapon and finally upgraded and my LGS got it on trade.
Serial # BEM 33XX if anyone can give me any information on ship date, manufacturer date or where to go to look it up or who at S&W to contact about it.
Be nice to know what law enforcement agency it was originally shipped to if the story is true.
Best I have figured out (if I figured it correctly) its an early 5946 model maybe???

This is my second attempt to post this with a picture. Hopefully it works. Ignore the ruger p95, i knocked 2 off my want list today.

I'm new to the forum hope to learn a lot from you all.

 

[Gath of Baal]

P.S. no box, no paperwork. Just the handgun and 2 spare 15rd mags.

 

[JohnHL]

Welcome to the Forum, Gath!

Based on the laser engraved slide, MIM trigger, and BEM serial number, what you have is a very late (not early) production model 5946.

I would guess circa 2006 production. (Call or e-mail S&W customer service for a more accurate date and possibly where it was sent.)

The 5946 is the S&W double action only (partially cocked hammer) version of the 5906.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[Dave Baird]

That's not a Cleveland PD gun is it?

 

[ACEd]

Most likely 2006-2008. I have BDK dated March 2006 and BJM dated Sept 2008. Easy to email and ask SW (Mon-Fri excl holidays) at [email protected]

 

[Gath of Baal]

I thought they stopped making them in 99?
It has no dept markings so no idea if it was a law enforcement firearm.
Well thats why I'm here. If I'm going to collect newer S&W weapons is to learn about them.

 

[Gath of Baal]

Welcome to the Forum, Gath!

Based on the laser engraved slide, MIM trigger, and BEM serial number, what you have is a very late (not early) production model 5946.

I would guess circa 2006 production. (Call or e-mail S&W customer service for a more accurate date and possibly where it was sent.)

The 5946 is the S&W double action only (partially cocked hammer) version of the 5906.

Hope this helps.

John

Whats an MIM trigger?

 

[JohnHL]

Whats an MIM trigger?

Metal Injection Molding.

It's a very precise way of making parts that formerly required machining.

John

 

[JohnHL]

I thought they stopped making them in 99?

There are a number of sources (including Smith & Wesson) suggesting this or that model was no longer cataloged.

However, if S&W received a sufficiently large and profitable order for a particular model, they would build them.

John

 

[rwsmith]

NICE!

I have a 5943, with the alloy frame, Stainless slide. I too would like to get more 3rd gens. I want a 5906 most of all. I was about to 'pull the trigger' on one for my birthday, but this time, a 9mm carbine won out. Well, maybe later.

 

[ACEd]

I have a 5943, with the alloy frame, Stainless slide. I too would like to get more 3rd gens. I want a 5906 most of all. I was about to 'pull the trigger' on one for my birthday, but this time, a 9mm carbine won out. Well, maybe later.

Lots of 5906 and 5946 out there at reasonable (my opinion) prices. No real change in availability over last 3 years. Less of the alloy frame 5903/5943 were made so you have a somewhat more rare item. Prices about same when the 5903/5943 show up - often less if Aluminum frame is beat up.

 

[jbtrucker]

There was a batch of new 5946's $600 or $700 here at Cabelas few years ago .

 

[growr]

Buy it now before some one else finds out about it!!!
They will even feed empty casings and will last about a million rounds....

Randy

 

[Gath of Baal]

Picked this one up for $400. Had a 5900 series 25+ yrs ago, was young and dumb and traded it off. Dont even remember what it was exactly.
Older and wiser now. Just collect and shoot my firearms.

 

[ACEd]

There was a batch of new 5946's $600 or $700 here at Cabelas few years ago .

S&W released a large quantity of 5906 (SKU 108176U) and 5946 (SKU 108176U) in 2019 and possibly later with 2 new mags and matching case. They were generally considered by S&W as used (the U suffix to SKU) but were for all intents and purposes New Old Stock. At least half a dozen major retailers were moving these.

I saw lots of odd S/N prefixes for the 5906's KLF, KMF, KNC plus TDP, VCZ, VUV, VZB, VZC, VCE all with box end codes 011119 or 011419. Bar Code 0 22188 87779 3. I checked Manufacture dates on several - the Vxx dated by S&W as 1996, but Kxx and Txx came back 1998-99. It was believed that these were surplus parts / pistols from Law Enforcement contracts where the agencies had transitioned to a different firearm.

The 5946's Bar code was 0 22188 11841 4 and included VJN prefixes with Manufacture Date from S&W as 1999 and an odd VJP that I got that SW dated as 7/2009 with a box end date of 011419. Oddly enough I happen to have a 6946 VJP with a serial number 16 higher than the 5946 that SW dates as 1/1998. Go figure that one out.

All the 011119 and 011419 pistols I saw were conventionally marked as Springfield, MA.

But there were also some 5946 UCV, UCW, UCY prefixes that were Houlton ME manufacture with a SKU of 149332 (Bar Code 0 22188 11189 7) believed to be NYPD pedigree with end code dates of 040716 that appear to have been released earlier. At least one of these had a fired shell dated 11-17-2014.

 

[GaryS]

IIRC, both NYPD and the RCMP used the 5946. A few years back there was an incident at the Canadian Parliament where the Sgt. at Arms used his 5946 to dispatch a bad guy or two.

Someone mentioned Cabelas having some a few years back and I also remember some gun shops having new 3953TSWs and a few 3914TSW as well. The speculation here was that S&W was releasing warranty replacement guns held for agencies that had retired their guns and also using spare parts to make some new guns for civilian sale. Since no one had heard of the 3914TSW before then, that seems possible.

It was during that same time frame that some NIB 3914DAO guns showed up for sale as NYPD had removed it from their authorized off duty gun list.

I remember some of this because my son moved to SC in 2017 and a large LGS was advertising the 3953TSW guns. I would have bought one, but since they were not on the MA approved roster, it would be very, very difficult to get one shipped to a MA FFL.

 

[Gath of Baal]

Ty, thats some interesting history.
This one has a lot of holster wear. And the grips are beat up.
Typical of an old duty weapon. Not heavy wear from being fired a lot.
Been a lazy day but I will tear it down and go through it tomorrow and test fire it.

 

[veeklog1]

I have a 5943, with the alloy frame, Stainless slide. I too would like to get more 3rd gens. I want a 5906 most of all. I was about to 'pull the trigger' on one for my birthday, but this time, a 9mm carbine won out. Well, maybe later.

I was going to get a 5906 to go with my 5903, 6906, 4006 TSW, and 4506, but I couldn’t pass the price of a USP-9 for $699. Will be looking for one next month

 

[pbramlett]

The 5946 is one of my favorite SW 3rd gen autos. I picked up one of mine from Cabelas in 2019 as mentioned earlier. An excellent buy for me and a great companion to my camp 9 carbine which can use the same magazines.

 

[Gath of Baal]

The 5946 is one of my favorite SW 3rd gen autos. I picked up one of mine from Cabelas in 2019 as mentioned earlier. An excellent buy for me and a great companion to my camp 9 carbine which can use the same magazines.

So the camp9 uses the same mag? That I did not know. I knew the camp 45 uses 1911 mags, but didnt know whos mags interchanged with the 9.