For the most part, the issues are with regular to heave usage of the light projectiles by folks that shoot often. Police qualifying quarterly plus practice for example.

On the average, K-frame 357 Magnums will last a lifetime of Magnum shooting for the normal user. You have two boxes, 100 rounds, you can shoot that every year for as long as you own the firearm and the odds are that you will never have an issue. Odds are 500 rounds a year is a non-issue.

When I worked the range, I shot my primary firearm at least 50 rounds every night. That is too much for a K-frame 357 Magnum.

Yes, the 125s and 110s will erode the forcing cone faster than 140s, 158s or 180s.

Even so, this is not a catastrophic failure that is going to blow the gun apart an embed cylinder and barrel pieces in the ceiling. A crack builds slowly. Finding one would simply mean a barrel change.

This is one of those issues that the Internet has blown way out of proportion to what happens in the real world. Remember that this Urban Legend starts back in 1955 when Bill Jordan convinced S&W to chamber the K-frames for the 357 Magnum. In the 55 years since then, metallurgy has improved. S&W has evolved along with that. The materials used in 1955 are inferior to the materials that your revolver was manufactured from. As evidence of that improvement in material strength you just have to look at the new breed of tiny J-frame 357 Magnums, even with alloy frames that weight in under 12 ounces, that came on the scene 14 years ago.

I am sure I will get flamed for daring to imply that the old guns are inferior to anything new.