We take a quick look at .356 TSW, aka .356 Team Smith & Wesson, one weird step-cousin of a cartridge
The .356 TSW centerfire pistol cartridge was designed by Smith & Wesson in 1994 as an IPSC round. The .356 TSW fit into a 9mm magazine, and Smith & Wesson convinced Federal to load it and submit it for SAAMI-spec approval, where it saw promise as a Limited-class competition round.
However, because of a rules change, USPSA didn’t approve it for that class, and there were other rounds that were better choices for Open guns. Smith & Wesson scrapped the project, effectively killing the cartridge. Federal case heads and the box were marked “356 TSW.” The load was a 147-grain FMJ Match product number GM356SW.
The TSW is simply a slightly longer 9mm case (9×21.5mm), and it uses ordinary 9mm bullets for reloading purposes. To meet IPSC’s major power factor back then, the TSW had to send a 124-grain 9mm bullet at about 1,450 fps. A .356 TSW performs on par with hot 9×21 IPSC loads or full-house .357 Sig loads, but it has an advantage over the .357 Sig.
The Sig cartridge is a bottleneck round, a .40 S&W case necked down to 9mm. The .356 TSW is a straight-walled 9mm casing, thus more .356 rounds can fit into a magazine. The .356 TSW was mainly chambered in 150 Smith & Wesson Model 3566 Performance Center .356 TSW pistols.
Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
| Bullet (GRAINS/TYPE) |
POWDER | GRAINS | VELOCITY | ENERGY | SOURCE |
| 147 Federal Match FMJ | FL | FL | 1,220 | 486 | Federal GM356SW |
| 124 Winchester FMJ | VV3N37 | 9.1 | 1,446 | 576 | IPSC Loads List 2001 |
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest’s Cartridge’s Of The World.
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