Several Questions about .357

[dogngun]

Blues Bear :
My recollection is that most of the actual damage was to some early stainless steel .357 Smith K frames. This was corrected by improved steel and the eventual introduction of the L frame, but it was never a widespread problem.

This seems to have grown way out of proportion due to repetition of the tale.

Mark

 

[BluesBear]

Yep, you're correct. There were some problems with the early stainless S&W revolvers. Especially in rapid or extended firing sessions when they became hot.

But flame cutting was a problem in both carbon and stainless models. Although I have never seen a blued or nickeled gun that was cut as badly as most stainless ones I've examined. It seems to stop all by itself after a while.

The only K-frame S&W revolvers that I have ever seen that were shot loose were K-frame .357s that had endured a lot (5,000+) of 125gr JHP Winchester or Remington ammo. The interesting thing is that I have seen a larger number of the same models that had fired the same amount that had NOT shot themselves loose.

I have never been able to figure out why some shoot loose and others don't.
The real kicker is that even the ones that had shot themselves loose were still reliable and accurate.