Description
The Smith Wesson 360PD Airlite 357 is about as much cartridge as anyone has put into as little revolver. A scandium alloy frame and a titanium cylinder bring the weight to 11.8 ounces, and it is chambered in 357 Magnum. Those two facts together define everything about how this revolver is used.
Smith Wesson 360PD Airlite 357 Scandium and Titanium
Scandium is alloyed into aluminium in small quantities and produces a frame significantly stronger than aluminium alone, strong enough to contain magnum pressures at a weight aluminium could not survive. The cylinder is titanium, roughly forty percent lighter than stainless at comparable strength, and since the cylinder is the heaviest single component in a small revolver that is where most of the savings come from.
The result is a 357 Magnum that weighs less than most polymer framed 380 pistols. For anyone who has decided they want magnum power available and refuses to carry the weight that normally implies, there are very few alternatives.
Recoil, Sights and Action
It has to be said plainly: full power 357 Magnum in an 11.8 ounce revolver is punishing. Recoil is sharp enough that most owners fire a cylinder or two of magnum ammunition to confirm zero and function, then practise with 38 Special, which the revolver also chambers. That is not a criticism of the design so much as the unavoidable consequence of the physics, and it is worth understanding before purchase rather than after.
The front sight is a HiViz orange fibre optic, which gathers ambient light and is far quicker to pick up than the milled ramp these revolvers traditionally wore. The hammer is exposed, so single action fire is available for a deliberate shot, unlike the enclosed hammer Centennial models. The trigger is a conventional revolver pull at around ten pounds in double action.
Ammunition and Care
Two cautions that apply specifically to ultralight magnum revolvers. First, very light bullets in a very light gun can suffer from crimp jump, where recoil pulls unfired bullets forward out of their cases far enough to bind the cylinder. Ammunition with a firm crimp avoids this, and it is worth confirming that whichever magnum load you carry stays put after firing four rounds from a full cylinder.
Second, the titanium cylinder needs a specific cleaning approach. Abrasive cleaners, wire brushes and aggressive bore solvents are not appropriate for titanium, and lead fouling should be removed promptly with a nylon brush and normal solvent rather than allowed to accumulate to the point where it invites scrubbing the material cannot tolerate.
Specifications
- Model: 360PD AirLite
- Manufacturer part number: 163064
- Caliber: 357 Magnum, also chambers 38 Special
- Capacity: 5 rounds
- Barrel: 1.88 in. stainless
- Overall length: 6.31 in.
- Height: 4.3 in.
- Width: 1.3 in.
- Weight: 11.8 oz
- Frame: Scandium alloy, black anodised
- Cylinder: Titanium alloy
- Action: Single and double action, exposed hammer
- Front sight: HiViz orange fibre optic
- Rear sight: Fixed notch
- Rated for continuous Plus P use
- UPC: 022188630640
Why Buyers Choose the Smith Wesson 360PD Airlite 357
Weight is the reason carry guns stay at home, and this is the lightest way to carry five rounds of magnum ammunition. For backcountry use in particular, where the concern may be an animal rather than a person and where every ounce is carried up a hill, the case makes itself.
The ability to run 38 Special is what makes it liveable. Practice with mild ammunition, carry magnums if the situation calls for them, and the revolver covers both roles without compromise in either direction.
Who Should Buy It
The Smith Wesson 360PD Airlite 357 suits the hiker or backcountry carrier who wants magnum power at minimum weight, the shooter who carries all day and notices every ounce, and the owner willing to accept sharp recoil in exchange. Anyone planning high volume magnum practice should look at a steel framed revolver instead.
Learn more from Smith and Wesson, or browse the rest of our firearms selection.
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