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Smith 356 TSW

dustebutt
Hello,

I am trying to find out some info on a pistol. It is a Smith single action in 356 TSW from the Performance Center. I am trying to find out any info on the round and the gun (I don't see a model number on the gun). If you know where to point me that would be great also. Thanks for your help.
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2 comments

Date Votes
  • mpolans
    The gun was designed to solve a problem for IPSC shooters back in the day. In IPSC competition shooting back then, for maximum scoring points your ammunition had to make a power factor of 175 (PF= bullet weight in grains x velocity / 1000. This has since been lowered to 165). Back in the mid 1980's, the hot set up was to hotrod the .38super in a 1911 frame. This gave you a 2 round advantage over the .45acp and was much more efficient when shooting compensated guns. However, some folks wanted even more capacity. Back then, doublestack 1911 frames weren't in existence. The only doublestack guns around were in 9x19.
    However, USPSA (US governing body for IPSC shooting) had a rule banning the use of 9x19 at 175PF. This was because some of the powders and parts that we have today weren't available back then...some people were blowing guns up and stuff. USPSA wanted to avoid the spectre of having people getting hurt when their guns went boom.
    By the end of the 1980's technology and understanding of loading and shooting high pressure ammo had progressed but the 9x19 ban remained. Some of the more gamey pro shooters started coming up with ways around this. The most popular way was to get a gun and chamber it for 9x21. FYI, the only reason 9x21 exists is because some countries (like Mexico and Italy) ban firearms that chambered in calibers used by the military...it's normally loaded to 9x19 specs and has the same overall length...they just lengthened the case 2mm.
    Team Smith and Wesson, led by J. Michael Plaxco and company, decided to go their own way and came up with the .356TSW. IIRC, it's dimensionally about equivalent to a 9x21.5 or so.
    Both 9x21 and .356TSW were deemed legal just because they weren't 9x19. Several folks started shooting Tanfoglios (imported by Springfield as the P9, now by EAA as the Witness) in 9x21 and the Smith 5906 from the Performance Center in .356TSW (much fewer did the latter).
    Eventually, the Para-Ordance, Caspian, STI and SV doublestack 1911 frames came along with more capacity and interchangeability with familiar 1911 parts...the longer overall length of ammo allowed shooters to go back to shooting .38super, which was easier to load to the requisite power factor. Thus, 9x21 and .356TSW all but faded away into history.
    Recently, USPSA has dropped the 9x19 ban that gave rise to 9x21 and .356TSW altogether.

    Your gun is probably a tricked out Performance Center 5906.
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  • bleu
    Starline still makes the brass. You can get it from Graf and Sons, in Mexico, MO. Only Federal ever offered it as factory ammo, and only for a couple of years. It was a 357 Sig performer, at about 40,000 CUP, 125 grs at 1350 fps. It makes a great load for a pocket 9mm, but only with the very lw prefrag bullets, 55 grs at 2200 fps, for 590 ft lbs. You can have much more power in a full size gun, and the normal wt bullets give far too slow split times for repeat hits with a pocket gun.
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