What good is the 357 Sig?

[RWK]

Threads comparing the .357 Sig to other defensive rounds have been frequently posted here, on TFL, and elsewhere. Whenever they are, some posts are certain to suggest: “The .357 Sig provides ballistics similar to the .357 magnumâ€. These comments are essentially inaccurate.

The fact is, top-end .357 Sig performance roughly equates to bottom-end .357 magnum ballistics. With 124/125 gain loads, essentially similar performance is obtained; however, the .357 magnum offers a wide-variety of heavier rounds and higher velocities for personal defense, hunting, and so forth.

This is not .357 Sig “bashingâ€; I certainly understand why this is an attractive caliber, especially for major state and Federal law enforcement agencies. But -- PLEASE -- don’t imply that the .357 Sig is the autoloader equivalent to the .357 magnum.

Rant-Mode now deactivated.

 

[tex_n_cal]

RWK is right, the original load for the .357 was a 158gr gas checked lead bullet at 1500 fps, which was a formidable load.

You can't buy them that hot anymore, probably due to the plethora of small light revolvers that would give their owners nightmares should they actually touch off a '50's vintage .357 mag load.

******

I've never loaded for the .357 Sig, but I do have a .400 Cor-bon 1911 barrel, and have shot it in my Colts.

You better be damned careful handloading any of those short bottlenecked cases - it is very difficult to get the bullets fitting tight enough to prevent bullet setback in feeding, which causes pressures to skyrocket and guns to Kaboom!

I was able to successfully load the .400 Cor-bon, but I knew how to modify dies to get bullets to fit cases properly. In 10mm it's hard to find bullets with channellures, though the factory CB's come with them.

In the .357 Sig, you may actually have a little easier time, since it may be possible to find such bullets. Even if you don't handload, I'd suggest you carefully check your ammo (especially if it's reloads) to make sure you don't have a bullet setback problem.

******

As for the caliber? I'm sure it's fine, but I prefer the .45, thank you.

 

[usnavymasterchief]

What Good Is It??? It's very, very good.

 

[M58]

More choices!