tom-tom
Member
My new-to-me 6906 arrived and I'm favorably impressed with it. It came with two magazines (one stamped for restricted use only and an S&W serial number and one plain but otherwise identical), but no box or paperwork. Although it's used, there are very few handling marks; the slide's nearly pristine and the frame has worn spots off the high points around the trigger guard. The front sight still has it's white dot, while the rear has lost them. That's easily mended with a toothpick and model paint. I don't know if I'll bother: I'm concentrating on the front sight anyway and never notice the rear specks of white. Otherwise, the gun's box-fresh. The internals are wear-free, the bore crisp.
This is my first double stack Smith auto and it's a handful compared to my single stacks. It's nothing extraordinary compared to a CZ or Glock, though. It's got the round trigger guard. OK. I don't care for the right-side decock/safety. Does it bother me enough to have it removed? Probably not.
I enlisted a shooting buddy to help put it through it's paces. We put about 250 rounds through it, exclusively 115 HP reloads a retired LEO friend cranks out for me. These are loaded to factory velocities and have never caused any problems in any of my guns.
Does the 6906 shoot? Boy, howdy does it. At 7 yards from a rest I got 5-shot, 1-inch groups. Fifteen yard groups opened to twice that. Switching to an off-hand combat stance and rapid fire, I was able to keep them in the black on bullseye targets. More than combat accurate. I typically shoot a couple inches low with all my guns and the 6906 was the same. I'm not sure if that results from my grip, eyesight, or the position of the moon. It's just a fact of life that I have to remember when shooting guns without adjustable sights.
I had zero feed issues. My shooting buddy Jeff had similar results at the beginning of our tests, but as the shooting continued, the 6906 started to fail to return to battery. A quick thumb press on the back of the slide put the gun back into battery. It was happening with every shot and either magazine. I field stripped the pistol and made sure it was clean and adequately lubed, then had him try again. The return to battery issue remained for him. I couldn't get the gun to misbehave and Jeff had no issues at all with my CS9 I'd brought along.
Except for Viet Nam army service and using a Smith & Wesson 59 a few decades ago, Jeff's a revolver guy. I'm afraid the 6906 didn't endear him to semi-autos. (He'd buy the CS9, though, if I were willing to sell it. Otherwise, he's happy with J-frame Smiths.)
Since I couldn't get the 6906 to bobble for me and the CS9 gave Jeff no issues, I'm assuming the issue was specific to his grip of the '06. My experience with other 3rd generation 9s and their reputation for reliability indicates I won't have operational issues.
I'm happy with the purchase. Another day at the range and it'll be my nightstand gun replacing my CZ.
Ah, the serial number's THE9XXX. Any idea on it's age? I think the early 6906s had the round trigger guard and later versions went to the squared off style, but I may have that reversed. When did that change take place?
This is my first double stack Smith auto and it's a handful compared to my single stacks. It's nothing extraordinary compared to a CZ or Glock, though. It's got the round trigger guard. OK. I don't care for the right-side decock/safety. Does it bother me enough to have it removed? Probably not.
I enlisted a shooting buddy to help put it through it's paces. We put about 250 rounds through it, exclusively 115 HP reloads a retired LEO friend cranks out for me. These are loaded to factory velocities and have never caused any problems in any of my guns.
Does the 6906 shoot? Boy, howdy does it. At 7 yards from a rest I got 5-shot, 1-inch groups. Fifteen yard groups opened to twice that. Switching to an off-hand combat stance and rapid fire, I was able to keep them in the black on bullseye targets. More than combat accurate. I typically shoot a couple inches low with all my guns and the 6906 was the same. I'm not sure if that results from my grip, eyesight, or the position of the moon. It's just a fact of life that I have to remember when shooting guns without adjustable sights.
I had zero feed issues. My shooting buddy Jeff had similar results at the beginning of our tests, but as the shooting continued, the 6906 started to fail to return to battery. A quick thumb press on the back of the slide put the gun back into battery. It was happening with every shot and either magazine. I field stripped the pistol and made sure it was clean and adequately lubed, then had him try again. The return to battery issue remained for him. I couldn't get the gun to misbehave and Jeff had no issues at all with my CS9 I'd brought along.
Except for Viet Nam army service and using a Smith & Wesson 59 a few decades ago, Jeff's a revolver guy. I'm afraid the 6906 didn't endear him to semi-autos. (He'd buy the CS9, though, if I were willing to sell it. Otherwise, he's happy with J-frame Smiths.)
Since I couldn't get the 6906 to bobble for me and the CS9 gave Jeff no issues, I'm assuming the issue was specific to his grip of the '06. My experience with other 3rd generation 9s and their reputation for reliability indicates I won't have operational issues.
I'm happy with the purchase. Another day at the range and it'll be my nightstand gun replacing my CZ.
Ah, the serial number's THE9XXX. Any idea on it's age? I think the early 6906s had the round trigger guard and later versions went to the squared off style, but I may have that reversed. When did that change take place?
