New to me - 1006

[Nicholas]

Been shooting and reloading 10mm for about a year and just acquired a 1006 in fairly good condition, just a few tiny scuffs, nothing to bother with.

I've converted from the straight S&W grips to the curved grips as I prefer the arched MS housing on 1911's.

Changed the recoil spring to a new replacement Wolfe - supposedly 18 lbs. It was about an inch longer than the old spring and man, was it a *itch to install. Is there a trick to this?

The aluminum spring guide shows some rough places which I assume a previous owner failed to lubricate the guide. Sure would like to find a stainless version.

Next improvement will be to brighten the white dots with "white-out". 68 year old eye find the tiny dots tough to get focused.

I've read the archives here regarding the 1006 and picked up some good information. Will appreciate any 1006 tips.

 

[Sevens]

There's lots of good "3rd Gen in general" info to share if this 1006 is your first 1-2-3rd Gen S&W. In the mean time, just 10xx and 1006 specific I guess.

All the guide rods are aluminum, if you want otherwise you would need to scratch-build it. If yours looks bad... polish it. (the guide rod, don't polish anything else)

I elected years ago to upgrade to 22lb recoil spring. You will find that this pistol sends precious 10mm brass in to low orbit -- to the point where (if you are a handloader) it may ruin your experience.

Grips... you may actually enjoy the fat rubber Hogue aftermarket grip as it tends to mimic the more rounded profile. The Hogue is a better fit if you have large hands I would say.

They made a little over 50,000 10xx pistols across six models. The 1006 happens to be my favorite of the six different configurations... it is also the most plentiful of the six and would likewise seem to have the "least" collector value/easiest to find, nearly 27,000 of the 1006 were shipped.

Folks often ask about the 10mm magazines as two different followers were offered. The yellow follower was the original design, the white follower was a later upgrade -BUT- my experience going back to 1992 with my 1006 is that I have zero failures with either, all the time. The market for these magazines has gotten a little nutty lately, but don't ever let anyone try to tell you that a yellow follower S&W 10mm magazine is "lesser" because it certainly is not.

 

[jsbethel]

The aluminum spring guide shows some rough places which I assume a previous owner failed to lubricate the guide. Sure would like to find a stainless version.

Ed Brown made a stainless guide rod but it will probably be a long search.

 

[Fishslayer]

I elected years ago to upgrade to 22lb recoil spring. You will find that this pistol sends precious 10mm brass in to low orbit -- to the point where (if you are a handloader) it may ruin your experience.

I recently acquired a 1076 & ordered a Wolff calibration pack. Pretty much every Youtube video I've seen the 10xx really launches the brass. Seein's how my brass is all brand new Starline that would be unacceptable.

 

[GaryS]

Any 3rd Gen out and about and being shot is good. 10mm is definitely a niche caliber, but people seem to have a special fondness for the 10xx guns.

As to throwing brass, my Bersa Thunder 380cc throws brass almost as far as it shoots the bullets!

Installing recoil springs just takes patience. I use the OEM ones on my 9mm guns and they are always a bit longer than the ones that I'm replacing.

 

[robertrwalsh]

These are excellent weapons. I own one and shoot it every now and then in IDPA competition. Unless you are rich it is definitely a handloaders weapon.

 

[Walter Rego]

One of the sets of assorted weight Wolff recoil springs is a good idea. Factory loads vary widely in bullet weight, pressure and velocity, some are loaded down to .40 S&W levels and some are real thumpers like Buffalo Bore and Underwood brand. Here is my ten ought six. It has factory night sights which unfortunately are now completely depleted.

 

[Charlie Foxtrott]

I have two of the 1006s.

They are awesome guns. I will never get rid of either one of mine. I have a 1066 as well, but I like the 1006s better. The only thing that I would tell you to do at this point is keep an eye out for magazines. From the usual sources they have pretty well dried up.

They are out there, but it is all a question of how hard up are you? I saw a pretty beat up one for sale at a recent show for a hundred bucks which I walked away from. I have enough to last me for the time being. But this is an issue.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Next improvement will be to brighten the white dots with "white-out". 68 year old eye find the tiny dots tough to get focused.

Congrats on your new find!

I didn't like those tiny dots either & I changed to a revolver style white outline blade. I posted this in another thread concerning the rear adjustable sight:
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I recently worked on the adjustable rear sight of my "new to me" 1006 & will add some additional info that might be useful.

The rear sight blade & it's windage screw are not the same as on S&W revolver adjustable sights even though at first glance they might appear so. However, the windage screw's nut is the same as the ones used on S&W revolver adjustable sights.

I wanted to replace the 1006's rear blade as it had some minor damage. The new 1006 replacement 2-dot blade I purchased did not come with it's dots painted; weird. Because it's rear dots were slightly smaller than the front dot I decided to just go with a white outline rear blade (.146") used on the revolvers, which I had an assortment of on-hand.

The auto blade's threads are the same, diameter & pitch, as on the revolvers. The revolver's blade fits but are too wide (.530" vs .495") to allow it the full range of adjustment so each end to the blade needs to be filed down, contoured & blued to shorten it up.

Once reassembled the nut needs to be staked on the screw the same way you do on a revolver by slightly flaring the screw's hollow end where it pass thru the nut, so it won't come off when adjusting the sight's windage.
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Concerning the new recoil spring, they are tight the first time you install them but will compress & be easier after some use.

I use a Wolf 20# recoil spring in my 1006 & a Wolff 22# in my 1076. A heavier mainspring will also slow the slide down a bit at the expense of a slightly heavier trigger pull.

I went with a heavier Wolff (23#) mainspring in the 1076 (vs the standard 20#) but the brass still goes into sub-orbit with full loads. Not much you can really do about that.

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S&W 1006

(-01c)

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[Nicholas]

Thanks to all who replied, appreciate the comments.

Yep, brass goes into orbit for sure. I shot indoors and backed out of the lane about 18" so the brass would generally end up behind me. Probably lost 10 pieces out of 150.

I also shot my Ruger SR1911 and Glock 29 at this session. I'm not fond of the Glock 29 with near full power loads, PPU 180 grain are about my limit for hand punishment. I felt like the Ruger had softer recoil than the 1006 but it had been modified with a flat bottom firing pin stop.

As for the sights - I found a thread on another forum where an owner had used a dremal with conical stone bit to enlarge the dot depressions. I don't recall the type of pistol but in thinking back it seems like a positive modification.

My 1006 came with 3 magazines, two with white followers and one yellow. I completely disassembled all three mags and gave them a good scrubbing. I have also picked up a like new white mag for $60 so I have 4 mags now.
The yellow follower mag worked fine, no issues so I may not change the follower.

This is my first ever S&W third generation gun. I've tried M&P's and Shields but just have not taken to them like other brands.

My local Armslist had a CS40 listed yesterday for $550, clean looking but that seems a bit high. I had just finished reading the 10mm conversion thread on the CS40 but thinking about shooting a short 10 would probably be like the Glock 29, a hand full of punishment.

If I were to acquire another third generation gun the 1076 would be on my wish list.

 

[Big Shrek]

...My local Armslist had a CS40 listed yesterday for $550, clean looking but that seems a bit high. I had just finished reading the 10mm conversion thread on the CS40 but thinking about shooting a short 10 would probably be like the Glock 29, a hand full of punishment.

If I were to acquire another third generation gun the 1076 would be on my wish list.

At $550, it'd best have at least two mags, but its not out of the usual
Ohio ballpark for a nice CS40, as they are kinda rare now.

The Hogue grips are what makes the Converted CS40 less of a bear
to handle...those grips are KEY to soaking recoil

 

[Nicholas]

CS40

That CS40 disappeared in a heart beat, gone, just like that. I guess it wasn't too bad of a buy after all.

A 4006TSW popped up this morning but looks a bit rough as a police trade it.

 

[BruceM]

Trying to "tune" the distance brass ejects on a 10mm autoloader with a heavier recoil spring is a fools errand IMO. Just way too much slide velocity. Further, going from the factory 18 lb. spring to a 23 lb. spring will likely cause battering in the other direction. If there is no evidence of unusual wear or damage due to a weak recoil spring, there is no need for a change. When Smith & Wesson was engineering the 1006, a big problem holding the slide open after the last round was fired became evident. It vexed them to the point that they had to use high speed video to see what was actually happening. What was revealed was that the slide was moving too fast for the slide stop to pop up. The problem was resolved by adding a little mass to the slide along with relocating the slide stop notch in the slide. Additionally they lengthened and deepened the notch. Do you really think if the slide could have been slowed effectively by changing springs they would have gone that route instead of revising the machining of the slide?

Bruce

 

[Nicholas]

Thanks BruceM, I see on other forums people changing the recoil spring when shooting higher power 10mm loads and was curious if that would introduce other problems.

I slowed down the slide on my Ruger SR1911 10mm by using a flat bottom firing pin stop but staying with the factory stock spring. I still maintain it shoots softer than the 1006 with the original OEM spring. Now that I have a new 18lb. spring in the 1006 I'm curious to try it again.

 

[Nicholas]

Range visit RO comments

Just wanted to relate a couple of comments from my 1006 range list.

RO#1: "Wow man, is that a Bren Ten?"
ME: "No, just a very distant third cousin."

RO#2: "Hey, my Dad carried one of those on duty."
ME: "Really? Where?"
RO#2: "He was a deputy sheriff in Butler County and loved his model 59."
ME: "Uh, it's not a 59, it's a 1006."

In their defense my gun was probably five to eight years older than these RO's.....

 

[oldman10mm]

The CS40 is still listed,550 w/3 mags.

 

[stansdds]

Trying to "tune" the distance brass ejects on a 10mm autoloader with a heavier recoil spring is a fools errand IMO. Just way too much slide velocity. Further, going from the factory 18 lb. spring to a 23 lb. spring will likely cause battering in the other direction. If there is no evidence of unusual wear or damage due to a weak recoil spring, there is no need for a change. When Smith & Wesson was engineering the 1006, a big problem holding the slide open after the last round was fired became evident. It vexed them to the point that they had to use high speed video to see what was actually happening. What was revealed was that the slide was moving too fast for the slide stop to pop up. The problem was resolved by adding a little mass to the slide along with relocating the slide stop notch in the slide. Additionally they lengthened and deepened the notch. Do you really think if the slide could have been slowed effectively by changing springs they would have gone that route instead of revising the machining of the slide?

Bruce

Excellent information given by Bruce. My experience with the 10mm has been with a Colt Delta Elite. Early "experts" in the gun magazines said that it needed a much heavier recoil spring to control unlocking and slide velocity, 23 pounds was the Colt factory dual spring, but the "experts" recommended 28 pound springs. Such heavy springs can result in battering of the barrel hood, barrel feet, slide stop pin, and the slide stop pin hole in the receiver.

Real gunsmiths figured out that controlling the higher velocity slide was best accomplished by returning to design features of the original 1911, a flat bottom firing pin stop and a main spring that is 2 pounds heavier. Yes, it adds to the trigger pull, but it does not batter any of the parts and it retards the rearward motion of slide and barrel better than a heavier recoil spring.

The S&W pistols, with the slide mounted safety, do not allow for a simple of a modification, so they made the slide heavier. If you are worried about battering a 1006 with heavy 10mm loads, then use a heavier hammer spring to control slide velocity.

 

[captain92]

OP I sent you a PM regarding a member here that can machine you a stainless guide rod.

 

[Nicholas]

The CS40 is still listed,550 w/3 mags.

Your right, I just didn't look far enough down the page. It looks good but converting that to 10 would be similar to the Glock 29 only with much better looks.

 

[Nicholas]

OP I sent you a PM regarding a member here that can machine you a stainless guide rod.

Got your PM and sent an email, hope I hear something tomorrow.

Thanks very much