S&W 351 PD: rule No. 1 of Gunfighting is: Have a gun. Everything else is negotiable

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2005 by Charles E. Petty

Of course some say that the gun must be the biggest, baddest SOB in the valley. Others, like me for example, believe that the gun you have with you all the time since we never know when we will need it should be the finest gun in all creation. If that happens to be a .22 because your 11-ounce .357 Magnum hurts so bad to shoot that it stays at home in the dresser, so be it. You still have not broken rule No. 1.

Right about now macho men who have bought into the power mythology are gonna be puffin' and struttin' and pounding their chests to tell the world, 'Tin a man. I can handle magnums. Bring it on! Bigger is better." I, for one, rejoice in their manliness and pray to a benevolent God that He not test them too hard.

In total honesty, I must also admit that 1 love to watch some guys like that shoot their eyes are screwed tightly shut and their faces hideously contorted when they jerk the trigger. Worms at their feet flee in terror. Then they turn around and splutter, "'Damn gun ain't no good. Won't shoot."

There is one immutable goal in a gunfight: Make the other guy bleed. After that, everything is just a matter of degree. A .22 in the right place is every bit as lethal as an 11-ounce .357 that makes you bleed too. So if one of those guys tells you that you simply "must" have his favorite magnum megablaster, just thank him for caring or, better still, smile sweetly and tell him you are perfectly capable of making your own choices. If he's really obnoxious you might suggest that he go perform an unspeakable act upon himself.

The 351 PD is the latest addition to S&W's groundbreaking line of Airlite revolvers that combine aluminum alloys with exotic metals such as titanium or scandium. This time they don't need those because the .22 Magnum can live quite happily in an aluminum cylinder. It does, however, follow the construction established with the first ultralight magnums. The 1 7/8" barrel is actually two separate parts. There is a stainless steel "barrelette" within an aluminum shroud. The original design was conceived to prevent the barrel from unscrewing itself with hot magnum loads and it has been the downfall of more than a few would-be gunsmiths who tried to unscrew it as you would a conventional barrel. Those that didn't realize that it was taking way too much force to "not" turn the barrel ended up wrecking the frame instead. The larger caliber models used a special wrench that engaged the rifling, but this one must use a tool that matches a series of scalloped cuts recessed in the muzzle. To put it another way l suspect that S&W really doesn't want us removing the barrel.

There really isn't much original to say about "J" frame revolvers. We already know they are going to work and what few changes there are of recent vintage have already been discussed to death, but there are a couple of things we can talk about on the 351. S&W has put Hi-Viz sights on a few revolvers before, but this is the first time I've used them on a little gun. The sight groove in the top of the frame is just a little wider and deeper so the effect is of a glowing ball easily centering itself in the groove. When I brought the gun up the front sight magically aligned itself within the rear notch and yelled, "I am your front sight! Watch me!" In the context of a defensive firearm this is a good thing. Even in dim light it is there for you.

One of the biggest raps on S&W .22 WRM revolvers has always been difficult extraction, but a couple of years ago S&W radically re-designed the extractor and all those troubles are over. I first saw the new part on a revolver chambered for the .17 HMR and the design has been adapted to the seven-shot configuration used on the 351. What it does is make the extractor become a part of the chamber wall. This better supports the case and also gives a little mechanical advantage since it can pull on almost half of the case circumference. In shooting, the 351 revealed no extraction difficulties.

Another great plus for the 351 PD is the choice of grips. While rubber grips may be great for hard kickers, a gun you carry in a pocket will be stuck like glue the moment they contact cloth. They have wisely chosen cocobolo grips that both look and feel good.

One thing to keep in mind here is that the .22 Magnum cartridge was designed and loaded for use in rifles. You won't get blazing speed from the 1 7/8" barrel, although the light show is pretty spectacular. You do get more speed than a typical .22 Long Rifle cartridge and you still have a revolver that is virtually recoilless.

Testing

Actually it's hard to truly "test" any revolver. Autopistols need a fairly extensive function test to prove their reliability before they get anything other than plinking use, but you can tell whether or not a revolver will work by simply taking it out of the box and maybe popping a couple of rounds to make sure it has a firing pin. Otherwise it is fruitless to just run lots of amino through a revolver. So instead we look at things we can measure such as weight of the trigger pull, velocity and accuracy. Then you add subjective stuff such as appearance, feel and smoothness of action and you've gone just about as far as you can go.