What's been the most reliable S&W auto-in your experience?

[heekma]

Howdy folks,

I've been a fairly dedicated 1911 shooter for 20 years-until I watched my girlfriend's 5906 gobble up 3,500+ rounds of hollow point, reloads, cheap range ammo from every manufacturer without a single hiccup of any kind.

My Glock 17 choked once or twice over the same number of varied rounds-and that's been my benchmark for reliability for any combination of gun and ammo-until the 5906 came along and stole the show.

This 5906 has made a believer out of me, that's for sure.

What's been your most reliable S&W auto?

Best,

Heekma

 

[Stu1205]

The three semi-autos that have never failed me yet no matter what I feed them. All 3rd generations.
4506
4006
5906

Stu

 

[heekma]

Hey Stu,

My 4506 is creeping up on the 5905-2,000 rounds of various ammo with zero malfunctions. I've owned 1911s that were accurate, I've owned 1911s that were reliable, I've owned a few that were both. I have a very strong feeling my 4506 will be the most reliable and accurate .45 I've ever owned-and I've owned a fair amount of. 45 autos over the last 20 years.

Best,

Heekma

 

[Stu1205]

I'm more of a revolver guy, but out of all the semi-autos I own, these three S&Ws are my favorites.
Especially the 4506. Accurate, balanced, and comfortable to shoot.
Oh yeah....fun too.

Stu

 

[18DAI]

Well.....all of em. I've got around eighteen of them.....and have owned more than that. I've never had a 3rd generation pistol that was unreliable.....ever. Regards 18DAI

 

[Shadow1006]

All of my 10xx series have been fantastic!

 

[JJEH]

That one you maintain properly

We shot Walther P38 (P1 Military Version) back in Germany.
These ones are old as hell - born in the Nazi time - but work just fine. I remember at one day at the range I could barely see the Hakenkreuz on the frame...

Walther P38

 

[Silversmok3]

I wish I could say all my Smith semi autos have never failed. The only one ive seen that has is a 5906 made in November 1990 that has lived a VERY hard , neglected life.

To backtrack a moment, I owned my 1st Smith as a 4506 with no failures. The second one, a Model 459, never failed either.

Back to the third Smith, my 5906 has a level III failure every other mag.I was honestly pissed.Honestly just how unlucky does a man have to be to get a bad 3rd Gen Smith & Wesson semi-auto? I felt something that must be akin to what that golfer felt laying on the ground roasting from a lightning strike.

I cried my tears, went to wolfsprings.com and got a new recoil spring. I wasn't giving up on the 'Ought Six' that easily.

New recoil spring arrived, I tore open the package...and the old spring in the gun was 1/2 inch shorter than the new one.

The week after I was loading FMJ rounds into the one mag the gun came with when I notice something on the 14th round.Once the 15th round was stripped cartridge #14 was askew nose first in the mag.Mock stripping cartridges #13-1 revealed nose dives on #6 and number 7.

Got to the range and had one failure to eject...on the second to last round in the magazine. The gun ran 100% the rest of the time, which goes to show that even with a **** magazine these guns still go.

Slightly off topic, but when I was convinced the issue was a dead magazine spring I asked the rangemaster if they had 59xx mags in stock. Confident I would be greeted with a "sorry kid, aint seen those in 10 years" like last time surprised I was when the clerk produced a magazine! At last, my baby would run 100% no matter what....until I saw the last witness hole was marked '10'.


Talk about being the hydrant. Spend $36 on a communist magazine in exchange for a functional gun, or walk away with a 75% 5906?

I walked on the deal since ill be getting a 5903 down the line anyhow, so I can carry something else while the stainless wonder awaits new mags. I tell that story to state that even a 3rd Gen lemon beats the competition hands down!

 

[cmr314]

My most reliable is my S&W 645. I've got several thousand rounds through this pistol, and it's never had a problem yet. Right behind this is my S&W 4566, which is my go to pistol, again with several thousand rounds fired from it.

 

[sjmjax]

The ones I own with a significant number of rounds down the tube are my 9mm's - 39, 59, M&P 9 and 952. All have been completely reliable with no failures to feed, fire & eject. But have been fed nearly 100% factory loaded ammo. However the small number of my reloads tested in them have so far been 100% reliable as well.

My 52-1 and M&P 45 have occassionaly choked on my reloads. More likely the fault of my ammo rather than the guns themselves. Neither sees factory ammo with any regularity.

Also have frequent failures to fire with my model 41. Does not seem to be an ammo related problem. Appears to be the magazine disconnect not allowing the trigger sear to reset. Not magazine dependent as it happens with 1/2 dozen different factory mags. One that need to go back home for a tune-up.

Some limited use of 10mm guns 1006 & 1076. Shooting factory ammo and my reloads have so far been 100% reliable also.

While S&W may be best know for revolvers, looks like they know what they are doing when it comes to semi-autos as well.

 

[rdc]

4506
4586
4586 TSW
1006
1076
3956

Never any issues, ever. They work, period.

 

[datsun40146]

I use my 3913 in USPSA, Steel Challange, and IDPA. Thus its racked up about 5000 documented rounds give or take 200 of anything I could throw at it. Usually the cheapest FMJs I could find. Its been everything from Wolf, Blazer, Lead reloads, ect. Never misfired, misfed, never jammed. I'm a happy camper.

 

[GregG]

I owned a 439 for a long time, and have had 645's for about 20 years. Never any problem whatsoever. And they came that way out of the box.

 

[pacific keeper]

1911 PD , Eats like a teenage boy . But hey , so does the 4563 and the 3913 and the 108309 1911 !

 

[bulletproof-791]

my 4506-1 2500 rounds later, no problems

 

[Mule88]

Have a 4506, a 1006 and 2 M&P 40's Ive been shooting for sometime now. I have yet to have any jams, FTF's on any of them yet. All of them have been very reliable and very accurate.

 

[growr]

Any 3rd Generation S&W and my M&P's..My M&P .40 FS has over 15,000 rounds downrange in USPSA/IDPA matches without a hiccup ever.
Randy

 

[DavidA]

I would go with my 4006, but , believe it or not, I have a lot of faith in my Signa SW40VE. It has never failed me and I understand that it does not have a percision target trigger.

 

[Arizona5906]

My 5906 without a doubt. I have had it for 22 years now and thousands of rounds. It willingly fired my reloads when I was just learning to hand load. It shoots mild load and hot, any shape of bullet. It never had even the slightest problem.

 

[Kelly Green]

I can’t speak for others but I have a S&W 4553 TSW with over 30,000 rounds through it and it has never once jammed or failed to fire. It has handled factory ammo, reloads, hollow-points, FMJ and lead cast without a hiccup. The third generations are great guns.