S&w 5906

[aguyindallas]

Hey all, I have a couple questions. I have an S&W 5906, that I purchased lightly used about 4 years ago. I recently contacted S&W to determine the age of this gun. They just told me that it was manufactured in 1990. Wow, fairly old I thought, especially surprising based on its condition IMHO. Anyway, in light of the info I found regarding the age, I thought I may want to do a little more than just regular maintenance. I was thinking that some new springs would be a good start. Tell me what you think:

Mainspring - Are these hard to change?
Recoil Spring - Easy of course
Mag Springs - Easy of course
Trigger Spring - Any need for this? Hard or easy to change?
Firing Pin Spring - Any need for this? Hard or easy to change?

I am fairly mechanical and technical, but have never done any real dissembly of my guns other than for routing service.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[stans]

In most pistols, it is the recoil, magazine, and firing pin springs that take the most beating. I would not worry about the mainspring or trigger return spring unless they seem weak or the trigger return is sluggish.

 

[aguyindallas]

How difficult is the firing pin spring to change? Should I just drop this off to a smith?

 

[aguyindallas]

By the way, this gun functions fine. No problems that I can recall. I was just thinking more of the preventive side of things.

 

[Badger Arms]

There is no reason to change any of these springs. Unless they have seen an absurd amount of use, they should be fine for 20-50,000 rounds or a hundred years or so of use. If it isn't broke, don't try to fix it. Since you state that the gun is performing well, you would be more likely to cause a problem than prevent one by trying to replace springs. Preventative maintenance should include cleaning the gun sparingly after use and maybe a bit of grease on the rails and face of the hammer where it rides down against the slide under the firing pin rear face.

 

[Tecolote]

Call S&W and ask how much they'll charge to replace all the springs. You might be surprised by how great their customer service is. One of my buddy's sent in a used 6906 and they replaced all the worn springs for free.

 

[aguyindallas]

Tecolote:

Great Idea, I will do that!

 

[Longbow]

If any springs should be changed, I say it would be the recoil spring and the mag spring.

 

[AndABeer]

FYI, the mainspring is fairly easy to change, knock the grip pin out, take grip off, mainspring and cap will come right off, it may take a little manipulation to get the grip back on but thats the only really tricky part, be sure the hammer is in the down position though so tention is off the spring

 

[PieThatCorner]

Steve-

I would have to agree with Badger in that in all likelyhood, your 5906's component springs are, and should be, still in good condition. By the way, I also have a S&W 5906 that I purchased in 1991, and I've fired well over ten thousand rounds through this Smith & Wesson marvel. Many of those cartridges were +P's on the 115gr mark, some less and some more. A recent (or not so recent... it's been about a year) inspection by a S&W qualified armorer did not reveal any unusual wear or shortening in the spring lengths... and I'm talkin' about a real perfectionist that doesn't like to have any firearm leave his armory without an upgrade of some sort.
Granted, he didn't do any magazine spring checks.

On the other hand, if you're going to relegate your 5906 to primary self-defense duties, then your precautionary measures will be a good investment of time & money.

I'm sure you're going to enjoy your new acquisition... in my opinion, it's one of the best firearms that S&W has ever produced.

-Jim

 

[aguyindallas]

Thank you guys for your input.

 

[aguyindallas]

Thank you guys for your input.

 

[aguyindallas]

Oops, sorry about that!

Pie: I have owned it for four years and love it. I primarily carry a Sig for my carry weapon, but have thought about rotating the 5906 in once in a while. I have shot a few thousand at least out of it and it has served very well. For now, I think I am going to leave it as is. I will just do my regular maintenance and may go a little deeper on that. The one thing that is frustrating is that there is no way to add a rear night sight to it. Apparently, there were 3 rear sight configs. The regular fixed, low mount Novak sights, and what I have, which is an adjustable sight that has this steel guard around it so that if you are drawing from concealment, it would not snag on clothing. Its a nice setup, just no sights for it. Even asked S&W, they dont make them anymore

 

[orangeninja]

Steve, just leave it alone. It seems to be functioning fine. Don't fix what ain't broke. My .02

 

[JNewell]

The springs in the 59xx series are pretty robust. Change the mag and recoil springs if it makes you feel better and forget the rest unless S&W has a specific recommendation.

IIRC, some mfrs (like SIG and Beretta?) do recommend changing the trigger return springs periodically, but in both cases these are very small diameter, more or less L-shaped, springs that have some track record of breakage. SIG redesigned that spring several years ago to address that issue, I believe.