r/ThirdGen

SMITH & WESSON® 5906 9 TACTICAL TEE

A little Sunday appreciation for one of the less common S&W 3rd Gens: the Model 3906.

I’ve always thought Smith & Wesson’s 3rd Gen autos were some of the best service and defensive pistols ever made. I carried a 4506 on duty in the ’90s, so I’ve always had a soft spot for them.

The 3906 is a slim, single-stack 9mm that was only produced from 1988–1990. I picked this one up about three years ago and later found the wood grips on eBay. They really finished it off nicely.

Still one of my favorite 3rd Gens in the collection.

Thinking about getting this nice 645. The smudge sticky looking stuff on the slide is from a sticker apparently. Luckily not a scratch. I think i want it but i would like fellow Smith&Wesson enjoyers to throw me some opinions. Much appreciated.

Smith and Wesson 4506-1
Gerber covert folder
Tag Heuer 2000 automatic
Cheap polarized glasses

My 5906 & my recently acquired 4516!

22XX: The forgotten Third Generation pistols.

Three of the last four guns I have bought were .22LR, one revolver and two pistols. I don’t ever remember actively looking for a .22 anything, but I have more than a few at this point.

Anyway, this one was bundled with a 4506, both arrived at the same time from one seller. I was initially not interested in adding the 2213 to the deal, but I think that the owner was concerned that he was going to end up with this in the case forever.

Oh, yeah, both guns came without magazines. I have 45XX magazines , so that was not an issue. He said he had a friend who would drop off one magazine, but it would extend beyond the grip.

So, because I am weak I ended up taking both home.

I learned that Model 41 magazines are compatible, although they stick out the bottom of these short barrel versions (but are fine in the more common longer barrel 22XX variants). So I bought two brand new ones in S&W packaging.

If you read about the SIG Mosquito ( the other .22LR I recently bought) over on r/sigsauer, you will likely guess what is coming.

While the slide action was reasonable, I ended up lightly greasing the barrel and rails that I could get to without removing the slide. The action was significantly easier.

I shot it today with CCI MiniMags. I put 100 cartridges through it with no issues.

Shot remarkably easy. The low bore axis makes .22LR effortless.

If you run across one, highly recommend.

My obsessive daily checks finally paid off. Got this one for 499.

Maybe an odd choice for a grail gun but after searching everywhere in a 200 mile radius I finally landed a S&W 4506-1. Not perfect but it’s my new beast! Absolutely love these 3rd gen Smiths

Anybody got a source?

Here’s one of my favorites: my Smith & Wesson Performance Center Model 945, product code 170152.
This particular version is the 4-inch, black-finished stainless 945 with the polished stainless “racing stripe,” fixed Novak sights, full-size 8-round grip and those wonderfully over-the-top Performance Center dragon-scale serrations.

It was a Camfour distributor special from around 2000, and it’s an early no-dash 945. A good description is that the 945 is basically 1911-inspired from the frame rails down and Third Generation S&W from the frame rails up. It uses S&W’s linkless barrel system, external extractor and other Third Gen design DNA, but with a straight-pull SA trigger, thumb safety and grip safety.

Production numbers are still a bit of a mystery. I haven’t found a documented factory total, but known examples in the CFR serial range go from at least CFR0058 to CFR0330. Mine is CFR0209. If that CFR block was dedicated primarily to this Camfour run, the best working estimate is somewhere in the low-to-mid 300s, although I wouldn’t call that a confirmed production number.

Regardless of the exact count, you sure don’t see many of them. And for anyone wondering: yes, it shoots every bit as nicely as a Performance Center pistol ought to. 😎

Anybody else here have a 945, 845, 745, 4506 or one of the other big-bore Third Gen S&Ws? I'm missing an 845, but I'm always keeping an eye out.

Finally got to pick this up from my FFL today! This is my second Third gen.

One of the favorites in the collection, WVSP 4566TSW