Dear friends gunlovers,

You won't believe the trouble I went through for getting my S&W Super 9 approved. Guns regulations in Europe are ridiculously strict. I got the barrels 9x19 and 9x21 approved easily. The trouble was with the 356 TSW. The amo at the official 'testing agency' was destroyed end of the 90's. The result is the barrel could not be tested. This meaning I could not get an approval.

The officials threatened to withdraw my licenses. It took me literally hours to explain to them that this 356 TSW was the least harmless barrel since there's no ammo available in Europe. They wanted to cut my barrel in half!

Finally I found 100 empty shells in northern Germany. They cost something close to the price of pure gold. I got them by special courier service.

After that I had to get all the ammunitions calculations. None of the manufacturers were willing to give the info. So I approached a ballistics lab to make all the calculations.

After that I had to make a deal with the guy at the lab of the 'approval agency'. Fortunately I'm fluent in French and after some 20-30 telephone calls we got to know each other and this guy was willing to help me.

Finally all docs I submitted were accepted. And my barrel got approved. I'll get my hardware back somewhere next week. I'm really looking forward to testing it ... .

Right now I'm looking into another thrilling project. A Sphinx grand master. Which I'll be able to buy at 1/3 of the new price. It has fired only 500 shots so far. Testing next Saturday... .

I'd love to get some of that 356TSW amo to shoot it. I'm afraid I'll have to manufacture it myself.
Should anyone would have to go through a similar process and have to manufacture his own ammo for an official approval, I'd be willing to share this information. This might be of particular interest for people inside Europe.