Smith & Wesson Performance Center Model 356TSW Prototype

Most competition pistols are interesting for what they do. This one is interesting for who held it. According to the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation letter that comes with it, signed by historian Roy G. Jinks, this Model 356 was special built on July 11, 1992, and delivered on a memo account to champion IPSC shooter Judy Woolley. It was not a catalog gun. It was one of the first prototypes the Performance Center turned out as the .356 TSW program was just getting off the ground.

The cartridge is the whole reason this platform exists. Roy Jinks, captain of Team Smith & Wesson, wanted a 9mm that could meet the IPSC major power factor without giving up the capacity of a double-stack. Bill Kame at Federal Cartridge lengthened a 9x21 case by half a millimeter so it would not chamber in standard 9x21 guns, and the .356 TSW was born. The name marks the bore diameter and the team it was built for.

The build is pure race gun of the period. A 5 inch ported barrel runs an integral compensator with three rows of vents to flatten muzzle rise. The frame-mounted scope mount carries the optic stationary to the frame, not the slide, so it stays put through every cycle. The period Aimpoint ProPoint electronic sight sits in a clamshell ring with that blue index stripe still bright. Up front the slide wears longitudinal cuts, and the controls include a frame-mounted safety. The finish is black with honest handling marks, and the smooth checkered wood grips show real use.

That's the thing about prototype Performance Center guns built for named team shooters. They don't come around often, and the documentation here ties the whole story together. For a collector chasing the roots of the TSW program, this is the front of the line.