Options on 357Sig?

XD?? Well, it's kind of a fake Glock, but it's not a Glock.

Smith and Wesson M&P, although it seems to cost more than the 9mm or .40 for some reason.

SIG P226 or P229.

I shoot 357 sig in my Sig P229. Out of the Sig, I get 3" groups at 40yds on a rest. Almost as much punch as a .357 mag. Very reliable feeding, bottleneck cartage. Accurate, yes, reliable, yes, expensive, yes. When I run low on 357's, I switch barrels to .40S&W.

I'm a big fan. I have a Sig 229 as my bedside gun, and a Glock 33 that I carried for years before switching to a Kahr. Accuracy is good and the feeding reliability of the bottlenecked round is exceptional. Another advantage is that the bottleneck allows for a truly supported chamber, so less chance of a kB!

It's not a great choice for somebody who relies on factory ammo for shooting practice unless somebody else is paying the bills, but if you reload it ends up being a little cheaper than 40 because once fired LE brass is cheap and 9mm bullets use less lead per round than 10mm ones do.

I have a 357 barrel I use in my Glock 20. I find I need to load close to max in order to get enough inertia to reliably cycle, but having a fully supported barrel lets me do that without worry. It also lets me lose relatively plentiful 357 brass as opposed to more expensive 10mm.

I love 357 sig. Kind of a pain to reload though. I shoot it out of a Sig P226. Never had any hiccups with it. I went through the police academy with this gun, I scored 100% on all of our combat accuracy tests. Which is being able to keep 36 rounds all inside the 7 ring of a B-27 target at 7, 10, 15, and 20 yards. As far as precision accuracy, I can keep 36 rounds all in the X ring at the same distances.

I am a big Sig fan. I own the P220, P226, and P229. They just fit my hand like a glove. I have never noticed any adverse wear on the parts due to the extra power of the round. In the academy alone we shot close to 3500 rounds.

I currently use the Mec-Gar 15 round mags. They have worked great. Have not had any problems with them and they lock the slide back like they should.

Eric

HKP2000. Capacity is 12 rounds. Reliability and durability are excellent. Accuracy is good and multiple trigger configuration are available. Ergonomics are great although can be improved with an HK45 mag release to enlarge it.

I have a P2000sk in .357 and .40 and couldn't be happier with the gun.

Another vote for the SIG 229.

I've got a P239 DAK. Originally a .40. Dropped in a new barrel and I rarely shoot .40 out of it anymore.

It's a neat round. Very flat shooting.

While the good feeding characteristics of .357 Sigs has been documented, not so with other handgun bottleneck rounds. Good luck on getting .400 Cor-Bons and .40 Supers to reliably feed from double-stack mags!!!

NCSHP is experiencing some issues with 357 sig m&p's. The issues aren't documented well for the general public. "Ejection port issues." That's pretty vague. There's all sorts of internet buzz about it. Everything from ammo selection, 357 sig wearing down those silly plastic things, they never should have switched from sig sauer, operator error, blah, blah, blah. Who knows what the issues is, but they feel strongly enough that they are evaluating other models but not strongly enough to replace them immediately. Take that for what it's worth...which is not much.

I don't care to buy a 357 sig, but if I absolutely had to, I'd get a sig sauer. Honestly and straying off topic...I'd rather go with a 10mm. I like the heavier bullet and comparable velocities. As a matter of fact, I've been eyeing those rock island 10mm 1911's to experiment with.

Other than ammo costing more and holding fewer rounds it won't do anything a 9mm won't do. There are lots of good 9mm options.

jmr40 said:

Other than ammo costing more and holding fewer rounds it won't do anything a 9mm won't do. There are lots of good 9mm options.

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Many feel it offers slightly better barrier penetration. I'm with you, though. Hot 9mm store bought rounds that most use perform pretty well. The cost different isn't worth it for me, even as a reloader. Now if I was an FPS junkie with a long barreled semi and a chrono, that may be different.

Both my M&P40c and XDm 4.5 have Storm Lake 357Sig barrels. Reliability has been perfect with every load I've tried so far.

jmr40 said:

Other than ammo costing more and holding fewer rounds it won't do anything a 9mm won't do. There are lots of good 9mm options.

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Yes and no. A 9mm platform holds more rounds, provides less recoil and 9mm cost much less.

Also, the 357Sig has been watered down from the original 125gr @ 1450 formula.

That doesn't mean factory loads of such velocities don't exist.

For example, Underwood offers a 125gr Gold Dot that routinely exceeds 1500 FPS from the muzzle. Many have reported around 1600 FPS from 5" barrels. That's something a 9mm cannot do.

Most will agree that 625 ft/lbs (or up to 720 ft/lbs) of energy is wasted energy for most applications. However, this does make it a viable contender for trail use and that's precisely what my XDm is used for.

Sig P250.

Get the S&W M&P40 and a 357 Sig drop in barrel for about $80. The mags work for both calibers and if you decide on abandoning 357 Sig, you still have a 40 S&W gun that will also shoot 9mm with a barrel and magazine swap. Three guns for the price of one and a half!

You could also buy the "official" Storm Lake barrels at about double the price, but the factory barrels also work fine (if you can find them in stock).

AND no Glocks please.

Your story but kind of like asking opinions about who makes the best truck and saying no Fords.

I have to agree with rocket. Get the M&P .40. I just picked one up and haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, I have tried other M&Ps and really like the way the pistol fits my hand. Storm Lake makes conversion barrels too but they are more expensive than the ones in the links above. I also have a G23 with two conversion barrels both in 9mm and .357 sig that shoots and functions very well.

Sig P226!!

There are lots of options. Plastic, steel or aluminum frame?

Personally I'd go P226/229

Sig 229, I have shot many 357s out of it. super accurate and reliabale.
50 rounds of SPEER Lawman $27.95 at SGAmmo.com -- less than 60c a round ain`t a bad price.

I'd buy a gun in .40 S&W and buy an aftermarket barrel for .357 sig.

I have a Glock 23 with a Storm Lake barrel for .357 sig.

osteodoc08 said:

There are lots of options. Plastic, steel or aluminum frame?

Personally I'd go P226/229

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Who is selling steel framed guns in 357?

.357 sig is a monster of a cartridge. I carried a P226 in .357 sig for a long time. Never felt under-gunned

Who is selling steel framed guns in 357?

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Sig's P226/229 Stainless versions have steel frames.

Personally, if I'm not allowed to have a Glock, I'll go with a P226 Elite Stainless (or any P226, really).