110 gr. WW in 360

[charliek]

Awhile back, I bought 7 boxes of Winchester 110 gr. JHP ammo, mainly for the brass. Since then, I bought a M360 .357 S&W, and was wondering about using this ammo in it. The barrel is marked "no less then 120 gr bullet", but the owners manual says this is for the titanium cylinders. The 360 has a SS cylinder, so, can this ammo safely be fired? I have shot several cylinder fulls of it with no adverse effects, so can I keep it up, or just shoot it in my DW 15-2, and reload with a heavier bullet for the 360? Thanks for any input, guys.

 

[coach22]

You didn't say whether your Winchester 110 is 38 or 357.
The 120 minimum applies ONLY to 357 magnum ammo,
according to the people at Smith & Wesson.
Any 38 is ok to use.
I don't recall seeing the warning on the barrel on the 360
for the reason you mentioned (SS cylinder).
It does appear on the 340 PD.

 

[charliek]

Yes, the WW 110's are .357. The warning is on the barrel, just like the 340's etc.

 

[colt_saa]

This is not an issue of the firearm being able to SAFELY handle the ammunition.

With the lighter projectiles, the sharp recoil of the little J-frame acts as a Kinetic bullet puller and each time you fire, the remaining projectiles will creep a little farther forward in their cases.

The danger is that a projectile will creep so far forward that the cylinder will no longer rotate thus rendering the firearm inoperable.

This is not a condition that you wish to occur while carrying.

However at the range it is no big deal. Just keep an eye on rounds 4 and 5 and make sure you do not have an issue.

 

[charliek]

Put about 50 rds. thru it today, 110 gr. WW 357, 140 gr. JHP handloads. All did great. Recoil not bad on the WW's, but a handload of 18 gr. 296 behind a 140 gr. JHP, OUCH! A load of 7.5 gr. Power Pistol gave about the same recoil as the 110 gr. factory loads. Shot real good. Highly recommend.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

This is not an issue of the firearm being able to SAFELY handle the ammunition.

With the lighter projectiles, the sharp recoil of the little J-frame acts as a Kinetic bullet puller and each time you fire, the remaining projectiles will creep a little farther forward in their cases.

The danger is that a projectile will creep so far forward that the cylinder will no longer rotate thus rendering the firearm inoperable.

This is not a condition that you wish to occur while carrying.

However at the range it is no big deal. Just keep an eye on rounds 4 and 5 and make sure you do not have an issue.

True for some ammunition, but not for the 110 gr .357 in the titanium cylinder. The lighter bullet actually reduces the problem of inertia pulling, but...
Lightweight bullets in magnum loads will quickly damage the front face of the titanium cylinder. It happened on my 340PD, I sent it back to S&W for a new cylinder. When I received the repaired gun, I didn't believe what S&W told me about 110 gr magnums, so I fired just 10 rds of 110 gr magnums. Sure enough, the front face of my new cylinder was scored just like before, only not as much because of the much lower round count.

Since then, I have fired about 2,000 rds of .38's ranging from 110 gr to 158 gr, jacket and plain lead; no additional cylinder damage (and no bullet pulling).

But, my Owner's Manual does explain the possible bullet pull issue and how to check your ammo. So there are to issues at work here.