What's wrong with the 357 sig?

Since its inception 18 years ago, many standard and 'boutique' 9mm loads have improved and approach .357 Sig velocities. Cor-Bon sells a 9mm+p 115 grainer at 1350 fps out of a 4" bbl. Speer's 115 +p+ Gold Dot is marketed at 1300 fps. If you can come to terms with the loss of 10 grains (.02 ounces) of bullet weight, you're in .357 Sig territory.

If you can carry a hot 9mm round like that for defense and plink with relatively cheap 9mm Wolf/WWB out of the same gun, and hold 2-3 more in the magazine vs 357 Sig, I could see as how one would pause before buying a firearm in .357 Sig today.

Performance is fine, but getting there for a hand loader is a royal PITA. Loading those short neck bottleneck cases is not a lot of fun with way too many out-of-spec loaded rounds compared to say, the 40 cal, 9mm, 10mm and 45ACP.

The whole idea of the .357 Sig is a solution hunting for a problem.

If I want 9mm performance, I shoot 9mm. If I want 357 Magnum performance, I shoot 357 Magnum.

If I want 357 magnum performance in an auto loader, I shoot 135 grain JHP clocked on my PACT2 at 1,450 fps. And my Glock 20 has sixteen of them on tap and ready to roll.

I bought a Lone Wolf .357 Sig barrel for my G23 (also fits G27) to see what the hoopla was all about. Works fine but still ... solution hunting for a problem.

If you have a compatible Glock (or other make) a 357 Sig barrel is not a bad investment. I'm giving my son one for Christmas to fit his G22 along with 450 rounds of 124 grain JHP ammo. But these are loaded to 1,150 fps and the idea is to provide him 9mm capability. Much greater value to buy a $150 barrel (Glock) than to buy a $600 gun. If he wants to buy and shoot full house 357 Sig on his dime that's his call.

Performance is fine, but getting there for a hand loader is a royal PITA. Loading those short neck bottleneck cases is not a lot of fun with way too many out-of-spec loaded rounds compared to say, the 40 cal, 9mm, 10mm and 45ACP.

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Loading the 357SIG is really no big deal, and only requires one extra step if you use a .40 carbide sizer first.

Ive loaded a ton of it, and never had any troubles. If you do your homework, and use a proper bullet and powder, all the so called problems never surface.

If I want 9mm performance, I shoot 9mm. If I want 357 Magnum performance, I shoot 357 Magnum.

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What auto loading, 9mm sized high cap guns are you shooting 357MAG out of?

357SIG gives you basically the same performance as the long touted 125 grain 357MAG load in that high cap auto loader.

For that matter, +P+ 9mm comes pretty close too.

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For that matter, +P+ 9mm comes pretty close too
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No SAAMI spec for +P+ anything......but I agree with you totally about reloading not being an issue.

My Glock 33 is more manageable in 357 SIG than it is when I swap to my G27 barrel, simple as that. I'm still looking for a 357 SIG conversion barrel for my CZ-75B in 40 S&W, it's quite accurate with my handloads, but I shoot my baby Glock more accurately with 357 SIG than 40 S&W.

My sons used to shoot my G33 with a LWD 9mm barrel, nice soft shooting pistol. The reason the Glock 26 is one of the pistols I recommend to people for carry, at least when I know they're going to shoot often enough to be competent, is that it is a good balance between caliber and size for a broad range of people.

Of course my boys are now 13 and 10 and shoot my Glock 21 more than I do......point being, if you practice enough then maybe the additional recoil is "worth" the additional horsepower?

Regards,
Brian in CA

What's wrong with 357 sig?

The reason I sold mine off was due to the cartridges fatal flaw.

BULLET SETBACK

Just two reloadings was enough to generate almost . 060" of bullet setback in duty grade carry ammunition in my g32

This would be OK if I were an officer shooting the ammo as practice that I carry with the .gov footing the bill.

But as a ccw piece that gets loaded and unloaded often for cleaning or to use practice loads this quickly became a problem

also most 9mm guns will not let you shoot +p+ ammo w/o voiding the wnty.

If this has already been said, I apologize...but, it's an answer without a question.

.357

I do not like the .357 Sig. I found it expensive to shoot and "snappier" than every other caliber I own. I found little difference in the Sig than the regular .357 mag revolvers in both "bang" & "flash". Also every shooting session at around 100 round mark my wrist was getting sore. I'm sure it's a great defensive round and I'd carry one. However, I shoot too much to have one as a range gun. Most of my shooting is at the range, hopefully it will remain that way.

Bottleneck pistol cases are a pain in the neck to reload when compared to straight walled cases.

I don't think it's necessarily a matter of people disliking the .357SIG or that the .357SIG is an inferior cartridge. It is more a matter of price and necessity. You can go with 9mm and pay less for ammo and have a softer shooting gun or you can bump up to .40SW and pay less for ammo and that makes bigger holes. I would love to have a .357SIG, but I'd want to get a lot of the other pistol calibers before I went with .357SIG.

Why isn't .357 Sig more popular? Well, IMHO ...

Strike 1: Ammo cost and availability in my parts. Even if you can find it, you have to have a pretty decent sized disposable income to afford to shoot factory ammo. Which leads to ...

Strike 2: I am a reloader. .357 Sig is a auto cartridge. Cleaning up after guns that barf brass everywhere gets real old real quick (I tolerate it with my .45 1911, barely). I suppose some folks love scrounging around on their hands and knees to recover 80% of their brass. Not for me. That's why 9x19, 9x18 and .22LR are my favorite auto cartridges ... I can afford to shoot the factory stuff.

Strike 3:

Its a bottleneck case and I loathe trimming cases.

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Double whammy on top of having to pick up cases; double pain in the butt. Sorta like getting a root canal and a proctology exam all in the same day!

Thats why I love this place! I came here with just a couple of questions regarding a .357, and after reading this thread, all of my questions were answered!
Thanks Guys.
DB

With the ammo that matters the .357sig is a <150ps faster 9mm offering less capacity with greater recoil. What's that worth to you?

With the ammo that matters the .357sig is a >150ps faster 9mm offering less capacity with greater recoil. What's that worth to you?

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Me personally...........quite a bit.

It's the watered down 9x25 Dillon.

Nothing is wrong with the 357 sig. It is just another great round among many. I think that you can make a lot of arguments for and against it but in the end it is just another good round.

Compared to say the 45GAP it is doing great.

The reason I sold mine off was due to the cartridges fatal flaw.

BULLET SETBACK

Just two reloadings was enough to generate almost . 060" of bullet setback in duty grade carry ammunition in my g32

This would be OK if I were an officer shooting the ammo as practice that I carry with the .gov footing the bill.

But as a ccw piece that gets loaded and unloaded often for cleaning or to use practice loads this quickly became a problem

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This.

Also, I can't reload it with my other .355 bullets because it demands a very short bullet ogive. I'm not interested in a 9mm/.355 chambering if I can't share projectiles between it and my other chambers of the same caliber.

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Also, I can't reload it with my other .355 bullets because it demands a very short bullet ogive. I'm not interested in a 9mm/.355 chambering if I can't share projectiles between it and my other chambers of the same caliber.
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Baloney. Just say you don't care for it, don't stretch the truth to justify it. I reload the same 115 gr Hornady XTP in both 9mm and 357 SIG, I just use a lot more Power Pistol for the 357.

Sheesh.

Regards,
Brian in CA

I had a glock g32 in 357 sig and love the idea and ballistics of the round BUT for someone who doesn't reload (yet) it is a very expensive round. At least in my neck of the woods. And realistically I personally don't need another cartridge for a handgun, I can use my 45 acp (self defense) and 10mm (hunting sidearm) for anything I need a pistol for. Others people are different, thank god!

Having seen some wounding profiles and read results of shootings with the .357 Sig round I would love to own one. BUT the additional cost over the 9mm I usually shoot for my primary purpose of punching holes in paper isn't justified. Instead I kinda came up with a "poor man's .357 Sig", shooting hot +p or +p+ in a long barrel Glock 17L. The extra barrel length helps me in two ways; first it wrings the maximum fps out of the ammo, secondly it helps me with sighting as I can see the front sight much easier with the longer slide.

I found some chronograph figures someone posted one time with the extra fps on a longer barrel G34 or 17L and the hot ammo gets you into .357 Sig territory. One of these days if I can afford it I'd like to see how much gain .357 Sig would see in a similar long barrel.

Baloney. Just say you don't care for it, don't stretch the truth to justify it. I reload the same 115 gr Hornady XTP in both 9mm and 357 SIG, I just use a lot more Power Pistol for the 357.

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Not baloney.

I have pistols that simply will not feed the short OAL resulting from using 357Sig bullets in a 9mm or 38 Super, and I certainly cannot use any bullet designed for 9mm or even 38 Super in my 357Sig due to their long OAL and ogive.

Oh, and you might want to take care to recall that this forum is called The High Road for a reason. You are more than welcome to engage in debate, but are expected to do so without name-calling or boorish behavior.

I had some problems using standard 9mm 124 grain ball type bullets in the 357SIG, so I didnt bother after trying. 147grain bullets are more along the lines of the 125 grain 357SIG bullets in shape, and werent as much of a issue. I just didnt get very good results with the couple of loads tried, so I didnt bother with them either. 357SIG specific 125 grain bullets worked the best for me.

Now, going in the reverse, I didnt have any troubles at all. When I got rid of my 357SIG's and had around 2000 rounds of reloads I couldnt/wouldnt trade off, I pulled the bullets, dumped the powder, decapped the primers, found a usable load for 9mm, and re reloaded them all in my 9mm brass without issue. They all worked fine too.

I like the sig round in my G23 with a G32 barrel. I never get setback with Gold Dot or HSTs. as far as target ammo I buy from Georgia arms @ 30.00 per 100.00 [9.00 shipped], for SD ammo I can easily find it online for less than .45 ammo. for both 9mm and the sig round I don't go below 124grns. and with the 4 major ammo companies the 125grn sig runs about 100 to 150fps over hot 124-127grn +P 9mm. as far as a defense round that stops a person from doing you harm, all that I have read it does that very well. in the hands of a seasoned shooter the recoil and report is a non-issue. although you can find hot 9mm ammo from smaller ammo manufactures those same companies produce much hotter 357sig rounds. I'm not saying its the best or even so much better than others, but in the hands of a seasoned shooter its a very effective SD round.

It just isn't much different than what's already out there in the top 3. I have guns in all 3 calibers, 9,40,and 45, and I like to shoot the 9mm, because it really doesn't make that great a difference if you shoot well. The 45 is what I would carry, and have shot enough of all 3 to not have it make much of a difference which I practice with, other than the cash.But sometimes a small 9 is much easier to carry than any of the others because they make so many guns in 9. Adding yet another round to stock, is just redundant.I would prefer another 1911, before a 357, because I like the trigger in a 1911, in 45.

It's a fun round to shoot, but it ends there. I don't reload, so that part is redundant. It's expensive to buy, but not too hard to find. I like the ballistics if the sig better than .40. Near supersonic at 100 yards. Not bad.

Did I mention it's expensive?