The S&W 3rd Generation has entered this sort of legendary, cult favorite status. S&W discontinued these guns and stopped supporting them almost 20 years ago. At one point, they were cheap trade-ins, but they’ve grown substantially in price. I’m an unashamed fan of all-metal, double-stack, hammer-fired, DA/SA, 9mm pistols. So, 3rd Gen guns like the 5906 hold a special place in my heart.
The Smith & Wesson 5906
After finding one for a fair price, I grabbed it. I don’t have much experience with the 3rd Gen series, and the experience I have comes from the .45 ACP series, and it comes from a time when I didn’t have a ton of shooting experience. After buying and shooting the 5906, I came to an important realization.
The Beretta 92FS came out in 1975 and is still in production and still coming out with new generations. The CZ-75 came out in 1975 and is still in production. The 5906 came out in 1989 and ended production in 1999. It hasn’t come back. There is a reason for that. The 3rd Gen S&Ws are a bit overrated.
The S&W 5906 – A Wonder Nine’s Last Years
The 5906 is a 3rd Generation S&W semi-auto handgun. It’s descended from the Model 59, which was a double-stack version of the Model 39. The guns have the same core mechanics. They are all-metal, hammer-fired, DA/SA semi-auto pistols. The 59 was the original double-stack variant, which came from the Navy’s adaptations of the Model 39 for SEAL Teams.
The 56 became the 459, which is the second-generation model. Finally, S&W produced the final generation of these automatic pistols, the Model 5906. The S&W 5906 is the all-stainless steel model of the third-gen 59 series. There is also a 5903, a 5904, a 5905, a 5946, and a 5967. The 5906 featured a four-inch barrel and utilizes a 15-round magazine.
The gun has a slide-mounted ambidextrous safety that doubles as a decocker. There is a magazine safety, which is annoying. The sights are adjustable and protected by a large set of wings that protect the sight. The all-stainless-steel nature of the gun makes it extremely heavy. It weighs 38.3 ounces.
This makes it four ounces heavier than the Beretta 92FS, three-ish ounces heavier than my CZ 75, and only an ounce lighter than the M1911. It’s a hefty gun, and it’s clearly made for police or military use rather than concealed carry. No effort was made to reduce the gun’s bulk or width to make it more concealable.
That’s not a huge problem, and it’s not why I think these guns are overrated.
Handling the 5906
Weight doesn’t bother me. Weird design does. The gun’s grip is an odd shape that reminds me a bit of a wedge. When I apply a tight grip, it feels like it wants to drift upwards. The crappy plastic grips don’t help. This is most noticeable when shooting the gun quickly. It doesn’t want to stay locked in my hands. The grip texture could be more aggressive, which would likely help.
To be clear, the gun isn’t escaping my hands, but it feels like it wants to. The small movements in my hand make it tough to rapidly shoot tight groups and to control the gun as well as I can control something like a Glock, or even a Beretta 92. A slide-mounted safety and decocker on a DA/SA gun has always been less than optimal.
A decocker-only version would be fantastic, but that’s not the case. Additionally, the magazine safety is a silly feature that I can’t get behind. I’ve always thought those were dumb additions to a modern handgun.
These guns also seem to have snappier recoil than competing 9mm handguns. Why does this thing recoil so much more than a Glock, Beretta, or CZ? In terms of the CZ and Beretta, the S&W 5906 appears to have a bigger slide. A bigger slide is a heavier slide, which means more mass going rearward and creating more muzzle rise.
Compared to a Glock, there is no flex in the frame to absorb some of that recoil. It’s just stiff steel. I just can’t shoot these guns as well as other 9mm, full-sized guns. The 5906 doesn’t compete with modern handguns, and doesn’t compete well with older guns like the 92FS.
Is It Terrible?
It’s not a terrible gun. I’d carry a 5906 if necessary and not think much about it. The gun’s reliable, accurate, and ultimately, it’s not difficult to control. It just doesn’t handle as well as other high-quality pistols. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but there are plenty of brand new guns that I’d pass over for a 5906.
I think they were a firearm of their era, and escaping that era wasn’t in the cards for S&W. Following the 3rd Gen series, they threw their backs into polymer frame guns. Although, since everything is cyclical, they are making M&Ps with metal frames. If you can find a 5906 for a good price, it’s worth it, but if it’s hitting those 800-dollar price points, walk away.
I still like mine, and I’ll still probably buy the first 4506 I see, but I don’t think the 3rd Gen series gets a spot in the Handgun Hall Of Fame.
