Cast in .357 Sig?

[mecoastie]

Anyone shoot cast in .357 Sig? I an interested in starting as the price of my jacket is going up. How hard would they need to be to push them around 1250 fps? Thanks

[Buckshot]

...............Might not be the velocity was the issue vs the pressure. However I've shot cast 147gr BB slugs from my 38 Super at 1260 fps before (WC820) with sub 1.5" groups at 25 yards, and no leading. Probably the boolits would need to be hard to stand the feed cycle? Guessing here.

.................Buckshot

[PatMarlin]

I have one, and cycled lead with no problems, but leaded terribly on account of I just used ACWW alloy. I think there's hope for harder cast boolits and the 357 Sig.

You also need a very hard roll crimp with these little bottlenecked beauties, to keep the boolit from backing down into the case. Even with copper and factory loads there is a real problem with that.

Law enforcement officers have had problems with chambering, and de-cocking the same round day in and day out, and that round has backed in the cased and caused a serious excessive pressure problem.

Use the thumb test with your load to test your crimp at the specified OAL. Try to push the boolit in the case. For carry rotate cartridges so there's never one boolit used for the chamber cocked and locked... :drinks:

[August]

I would approach this with caution. I have spent a lot of time getting the process of reloaing this round down. The neck is very short and doesn't hold a bullet very well. I eliminated the expander plug to increase the neck tension and reduce bullet setback problems. This is an often recommended and accepted practice. It would be impossible to seat a lead bullet under this condition. I use AA#9 powder exclusively, because it fills the case and acts as further mechanical support for the projectile. ANSI specks, and all reloading manuals, caution that this round (unlike some bottle-neck cartridges) headspaces on the case mouth. This makes crimping the bullet a dubious practice at best. The biggest problem I've had in reloading the round is with achieving proper headspace in the finished round. To do this requires a factory crimp die -- most people like the Lee for this purpose. It does an overall sizing of the neck rather than rolling the mouth into the bullet (which affects headspacing, if you are working to ANSI specs).

I would like to suggest that you look at the plated bullet offered by National. It is truncated cone and well suited to the sig. It is relatively inexpensive and a good solution to cost versus safety issues.

Having said all that, you can set up to headspace the cases on the shoulder. No one will endorse this solution, but many of us have found it to be the best solution for reloading the round. This gives up a lot in terms of reliability, but that isn't usually a factor in range/target ammunition. The reason is that crud is apt to collect in the shoulder portion of the chamber and using a reloading process that does not set the shoulder back to factory specs leaves no room in this location for unburned powder. Again, for the range, this isn't a problem and isn't likely to be for several hundred rounds, assuming you're using a clean burning powder. I don't know how you would get past the neck expaning problem. The only way this MIGHT work is to use a full house load of AA#9 or Blue Dot and rely on the powder prevent bullet setback. I think I'll pass on that solution.

[StarMetal]

Deputy Al and I have been shooting the 30 Luger for quite some time. I would say it's a very comparable round to the 357 Sig in shape, especially a very very short neck. Another round similar I might add is the 7.62 Tokarev. Al and I shoot that too. Al aslo shoots the 30 Mauser. Okay with all that said first I have no problems what so ever with shooting lead. I've just recently gone throught 3000 cast lead loads in my 30 Lugers. Furthermore this is out of four entirely different pistols. Lee makes a special crimp die for the 30 Luger also. Be a charm if they'd make one for the Sig. I have no problems shooting hardened wheelweights or aircooled at any velocity in any of the pistols. No leading. Unless the round takes more then one direct hit at being jammed between the feedramp and the slide, it's not pushed in much, at least on my 30 Lugers or 7.62x25 Tokarevs. So the Lee die much be crimping it pretty firmly. The aforementioned chambering on the shoulder, which the 30 Luger and 7.62x25 Tokarev were designed to do, do get some fouling especially using slower powders and/or dirty powders. But that takes a good many rounds. Compared to a the two rounds I just mentioned, the Sig round has plenty enough shoulder to chamber on and why the company designed it the other way is beyond me.

By all means give it a go. Again, as aformentioned, don't rely on it for a defense round. Hunting, plinking, target...is a green light go.

Joe

[PatMarlin]

Having said all that, you can set up to headspace the cases on the shoulder. No one will endorse this solution, but many of us have found it to be the best solution for reloading the round. This gives up a lot in terms of reliability, but that isn't usually a factor in range/target ammunition.

I set up my case headspace on the shoulder. I set my sizing to get the case head flush with the breech face inserted in the removed barrel on my Sig. This functioned perfectly, and I just found the article I learned this from, that shows how to do it here:

http://www.realguns.com/Commentary/comar65.htm

Makes total sense to me, and it showed with the perfomance of the ammo. Now I need to work on accuracy and leading, but I know a lot more about cast boolits now than I did back then, so I think I can make it happen... :drinks:

[Bad Flynch]

I own a Springfield XD-357 but have yet to shoot cast in it. I started with ja****ed bullets just to get my act together. I must say that the advice in the several articles on www.realguns.com (http://www.realguns.com) is right on the money and I do use the Lee Factory Crimp die for this bottlenecked caliber. The Lee die fixes the problems. I also bought a set of headspace gauges and have used them to set the sizing die headspace on the shoulder, and by the way, the gauges measure the headspace on the shoulder--not on the case mouth.

I do not see why lead bullets would not be just fine, given a proper profile and a decent crimp. However, I have seen some complaing elsewhere about 9mms and leading, presumably because of overly large throats in some of these case-shucker barrels. Large bullets are evidently in order as long as they will function properly. One fellow needed them about 0.357" or so to shoot properly. Never did get to the bottom of that story satisfactorily, so measure your barrel's throat and size the bullets accordingly. Hard bullets of the usual 92/6/2 commercial alloy should shoot fine with a good lube like alox.

[PatMarlin]

I bought a brand new set of .357 Sig Dillon carbide dies at my favorite pawn shop for $19!!!!

They had never been used, and in the box. For those of you who know what they cost new, can I get a whoooo hoooo on that one?.. [smilie=w:

They had a bunch of junk dies marked at the same price, hee, hee.. :mrgreen:

I still like lee dies, so we'll see which ones work best... :drinks: