Q's for those reloading .357 SIG

[critter]

For those experienced in reloading the .357 SIG, I have some specific questions.

1. Do you use (do they make?) carbide dies for the round? Do you HAVE to lube the cases since they are bottleneck?

2. Do you have any trouble with neck tension and bullet setback? Are some brands of brass better than others at this?

3. Do you use ONLY .357 SIG brass or can you neck down .40 S&W?

Thanks guys.

 

[shu]

I have loaded 357sig, but not recently - been working mostly 9mm and 45apc. Cost and scarcity of 357sig brass is one reason I have done less of it lately.

1. My understanding (fwiw) is that 'carbide' dies for straight wall cartridges have a ring of carbide steel at the mouth. That is, the carbide part is an insert; the entire die is not made of carbide steel. Putting carbide at the interior of the die to form the shoulder of the case would be a additional, more difficult, matter. The short answer is: no carbide dies for bottlenecks; ya gots to lube the cases.

2. I have not had problems with bullet setback, but do press test finished samples when I load 357sig. I do favor BlueDot, which mostly fills the case; AA #9 is another recommended powder for that purpose.

3. Speer #13 manual strongly counsels against forming 40s&w into 357sig. The overall cartridge length of 40s&w leaves even less neck to grip with than 357sig. I did try it once, thinking to use them as throw-aways at matches. I abandoned the idea at the dummy load stage (no primer or powder) because of totally inadequate bullet grip.

I once found and scrounged some 357sig brass at the range. After cleaning and running thru the first die I noticed most of the brass showed splits at the lip. I resolved to thenceforward abjure scrounging 357sig brass.

My early 357sig reloading was done with 125gr Speer 4360 (taper profile designed for 357sig). Shortly I shifted (for cost) to 124gr plated flat point from Rainier and WestCoast. For some time (to keep bullet inventory to a minimum) I used these for 9mm also. I now believe 9mm prefers the more standard round nose profile and so will reserve the flatpoints for 357sig only.

 

[critter]

Good info-Thanks!

 

[griz]

For questions 1 & 2 my answers are the same as Shu's.

I did load some with necked down 40 brass. As already mentioned the neck is extremely short, even when compared to the 357's already short neck. I did it for throw away plinking brass because I shoot in the woods sometimes and the leaves swallow brass easily. It worked for the light loads I tried. (about mid 9 mm velocity) But around here the gun shows have bags of once fired 357 Sig brass at reasonable prices, so I just use that.

 

[m1911joe]

I have not loaded the 357 Sig. But have found that Dillion has carbide
sizing dies for $83.

 

[Nero Steptoe]

Dillon also makes carbide .223 dies.

 

[vikesh]

necking a 40S&W brass to 357Sig is not a safe solution, but be a cost effective solution to those who cannot get their hands on the proper brass, but certainly not safe.

The Neck "support" area is just too small, not enough grip, the 40S&W brass is also thinner, thus cannot handle the pressure of a hot 357Sig load.

I learnt the hard way, Necked a 40 case and loaded a few rounds with 124grFP, had a blow out, at the un-supported part of the barrel of my G32 357Sig, split brass and a serious numb hand. couldn't feel my fingers for a few minutes. Imagine my surprise when I looked down to see all my fingers were still attached and no blood.

Then bought 300 Winchester 357Sig brass and always played safe.

 

[caz223]

Bought a big bag of 357SIG brass at the last gunshow I was at.
I had been buying winchester white box 357SIG at $15.00 a box, and saving the brass. Tried all the different brands, but had constant problems with uniformity.
Found that winchester brass worked the best for me, and sorted out all the other stuff.
No problems after that.
After the problems I had with just using different kinds of brass, I wouldn't even waste my time forming brass from .40, just too many ways to mess up.
I save my scrounged .40 to shoot out of my 610, no problems there.

One time, I was getting loads from a new book and must have misread the charge, bullet weight or something like that.
Long story short, I put 1 grain too much blue dot in 100 rounds.
I decided to shoot them, the gun was a SIG 2340, and that poor thing really RANG! when shooting those loads.
I considered myself fortunate when I was done, and the gun was in one piece. Also, all my winchester brass was fine, no bulges, splits, or blown primer pockets.
For me, reloading 357SIG wouldn't even be possible without winchester brass.

 

[pilon]

I'll start at the end:

Q3: I use mostly .40S&W brass - .357 Sig is practicaly nonexistent here.

Q2: I never had a problem with bullet set back -at least that would know of - if you really don't want to learn that you have a problem - A VERRY BIG BANG AND DO I STILL HAVE AVERYTHING ATTACHED? use every pricousson you can - use only .357 SIG if available , inspect your reloads thourughly (scale check, raching the slide and meausering C.O.L., use voluminus powder - AA#9....) and have fun at the range couse it shure ain't reloading it.

Q1: I lube them and most who reload .357 SIG do too. And yes, you have to remove the lube afterwards.


and check the guru : petej...