The 4506 Lite

[ColColt]

I had been sort of looking for a good, safe carry pistol that I wouldn't have to worry about it snagging a piece of clothing or getting somehow snagged on the holster and got to thinking about my good ol' 4506 but, it's way too big and heavy for carry purposes...for me. So, I found it's little brother, the 4516-1 and agonized over maybe getting it for about three weeks. I was surprised someone hadn't snagged it before but here it was still waiting for me.

I've always liked 3rd Gen S&W pistols as they've always been 100% out of the box(unlike a lot of 1911's) from my experience. So, I finally gave in and bought it and discovered I still had a couple mags left over from when I had the 457. They fit nicely. I haven't gotten the chance to take it to the range yet-that's Friday but I'm sure it will live up to expectations. I don't have to spend a small fortune on "bullet proof extractors", beaver tails(that look more like a duck's tail), buying several magazines and then having to replace the factory weak ones with Wolff springs, or being concerned over the guns barrel to frame geometryl as these 3rd Gen pistols out of the box are most reliable and great shooters.

Without further ado, a quick and hasty shot of this new family member...

[waksupi]

Ya, but is it a .45 ACP?

[subsonic]

I think you just jinxed yourself.....

Never say how sure you are that something is going to be great, until it has proven that it is. That's a surefire way to disappointment!

[ColColt]

Ya, but is it a .45 ACP?

But of course.

I think you just jinxed yourself.....

Don't even go there!

[wcp4570]

ColColt
That is one fine looking Smith you have there. I know what you mean by the Smith's being 100% and not needing anything to make them work. I have a number of Smith autos and love them. Mine were all purchased used and they are all reliable and will eat anything you feed them. My all time favorite for carry is a 3913 Lady Smith. I do not have a a 45ACP in a Smith but would like to find one and the 4516 looks like the perfect model. Let us hear how it shoots.

wcp

[ColColt]

It's going to the range tomorrow along with it's big brother(4506). I haven't shot that one in awhile and thought I'd give it some exercise, too. One things for sure, I wont be getting malfunctions with these like those blasted 1911's.

[Catshooter]

This little beauty is similar to yours:



And it's in my waistband right now. She has an aluminum frame so it's about eight ounces lighter than the 4516. It will feed anything that will fit the mag, including an empty case. Try an empty in yours, chances are good it'll feed. I can also slowly let the slide forward and it'll feed just fine. Has never, ever failed me.

They're keepers. Enjoy yours!


Cat

[ColColt]

I tried that trick with the 4506 and sure enough...I think it would feed frozen green beans if hand cycled. Any pistol that will gobble 200 gr short, fat, wide mouth bullets like the Flying Ashtray like they were hard ball is a tough one to complain about. I still wish S&W hadn't stopped production on these fine pistols. They haven't made any better than the 3rd Gen pistols.

[MGySgt]

I have 2 45's from S&W 4516 and a CS 45. Both feed empty cases. Good way to see if some one is flinching when they are shooting. Load some live rounds and put in an empty case. They are real surprise when that muzzel heads to the dirt when they pull the trigger.

My CCW = 3913. even the light weight CS 45 is heavery with 6 rounds of 45 than the 3913 with 9 round of 9mm.

[Catshooter]

Col,

I answered your chambering problems over to the Smith forum in your thread. Good luck.


Cat

[dmize]

When I was a LEO I bought a 5906. Even tho I am definately NOT a Smith fan I loved it,expecially the mag disconnect. I however eventually HATED and still do the 9mm round, I will buy the next 4506 I find in the lgs.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I to have turned into a fanboy of the S&W Auto! A 645,1006,4566,and a 4506! I'm looking for a 1066 as we speak. The only pistol I've ever shot in 10MM that can keep up with my 1006 is the tricked out Glock 20! Here are some pics,the 1006 and the 645 are my actual pistols. By the way,if you have never handled a 645 try it when you see one they are 2nd gen. but VERY nice!

[ColColt]

Col,

I answered your chambering problems over to the Smith forum in your thread. Good luck.


Cat

Yep, I saw that a couple hours ago. If you didn't see my response, this was it.


"Actually I seat the bullet to the length of 1.255" which puts it right about at the top of the band marked as .422" in the right sketch. This is the bullet from the custom mold I make the bullets from. So, That shouldn't be a factor in that it's smaller than barrel diameter.

I noticed in checking right at the mouth of the case with a loaded rounds I brought home, the crimp diameter ranged from .472-.475". I don't know why the variance since they all go through the same taper crimp die. I'm going to "tighten up" to about .468"."


http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_...=45-230B-D.png

Odd that it fed the GDHP's perfectly but not the lead bullets since the shape/ogive is similar to the GDHP's

[Catshooter]

Here, look at this:



See the little tiny bit of front driving band that is sticking out of the case mouth? Much more than that and it will strike the begining of the rifling, not letting the round chamber. Virtually all round nose/hollow points, at that point are already well below bore size so they don't touch the rifling.

I could be wrong (hardly be the first time) but it sounds like this is what is happening with your 4506.

Hope this helps.


Cat

[ColColt]

That's about what my H&G #68's looked like although I did re-seat the rest of what I didn't shoot Friday this afternoon 1.245" and re-crimped(taper) to .468"...they were .472" as the last reloads before these were loaded with GDHP's at that same diameter and I didn't change the crimp die when going to the lead bullets.

It was the 4516-1 that wouldn't take the lead bullets. I didn't try the 4506 with lead but knowing it to feed anything, it probably would have done just fine.

[ColColt]

I went back to the range Friday and shot a box of GDHP's without incident as did the H&G #68's. However, the 230 gr RN still gave about 2-3 FTRTB issues out of a mag of 7 rounds. I took the barrel out the first time that happened and tried to drop the first offending round into the chamber and it wouldn't drop in. I cleaned the barrel and chamber and it did drop in a bit more but not entirely. You wouldn't thik the chamber got that dirty after just 50 rounds of the GDHP's to prevent full seating of the 230 gr lead boolits but it seemed that way.

I brought the remainder home and reseated yet again to 1.245" and recrimped to .468" as the wider sized section of the boolit was now further down in the case. I wouldn't have thought you'd need to seat that short but now they all (save one) fit in the case gauge and barrel on all I reseated and crimped. Now I'm donw to .010 shorter than I initially started out with. I tink some of the issues are because of a lack of consistency with the OAL of the case. You can't expect to get a consistent seating depth and crimp with cases varying by up to .005" or so. I'll try again next week. If that don't work, I'll consign those boolits to another pistol. These are sized to .452" and you can see where that sizing ends. I seated to just above that top band.

[Catshooter]

See? Most 45s have little to zero throat. Was a real puzzler to me till I finally figured it out. This was years ago long before the interweb. I didn't know what a throat was and that didn't help much.

You got it roped know though, that fix will see you through.


Cat

[ColColt]

Zero throat is right. Just ahead of the end of the chamber is the lands and grooves. I'll bet there's not .025" lead into them. I probably should back off a little on my charge of 7.8g gr of HS-6 since I'm seating it deeper.

[canyon-ghost]

Nice 45 there, Col. I have a 5906 duty weapon that I'm pretty fond of, well, for a 9 millimeter anyway. They are some really nice pistols.