357 sig is it a waste?

[dragon813gt]

I have a conversion barrel for my G20SF. Who doesn't like the option to shoot something different w/ a simple barrel swap? I don't use the 357 Sig barrel for self defense. It's strictly for range fun. And in that role it's great. Lots of flash and noise

I have little doubt it makes a great SD round. I have to many other options. Shooting the 357 Sig costs more money than other options and is one of the reasons it's hasn't grown in popularity. There are police departments that use it so it's not a complete oddball.

[texasnative46]

To All,

Everything that I know about .357SIG (which is little, btw) is that our Texas DPS bought them, had POOR results & have now returned to 9x19mm Luger caliber handguns.
(GT Distributers in Austin had a goodly number of EX-DPS firearms recently for sale CHEAP.)

yours, tex

[9.3X62AL]

No experience with the 357 SIG beyond about 50 rounds downrange through a friend's Glock and P-226. I have several 40 S&Ws laying around, but haven't yet gone after a 357 SIG barrel. Or dies. Or brass. Primers? Yeah, got those.

The biggest reason for not "going 357 SIG" involved my agency's reticence about authorizing it as felon repellent. If I can't carry it to hunt critters or shoot deserving ne'er-do-wells with, its popularity dims out for me. Things changed as of 08/04/16, when my old shop regained its bearings and opened up caliber and action choices considerably. I still haven't gone after any 357 SIG debris, but have purchased two 10mm pistols recently. When the TenGun is cool for school, who needs the smallbores? 36 calibers might expand, but 40 calibers darn sure won't SHRINK. I Want It All--diameter, velocity, bullet weight. "Less is more"--mi nalgas. THAT is the kind of backwash you get from folks that don't get shot at much--like police chiefs, city council pogues, and county supervisor REMFs. Let's just say that they and I don't share a lot of common ground.

[osteodoc08]

To All,

Everything that I know about .357SIG (which is little, btw) is that our Texas DPS bought them, had POOR results & have now returned to 9x19mm Luger caliber handguns.
(GT Distributers in Austin had a goodly number of EX-DPS firearms recently for sale CHEAP.)

yours, tex

That's interesting considering the only difference is velocity. Not sure how the performance would be poorer than 9mm unless poor bullet construction/choice was made.

I'd be more inclined to think that cost was the major factor in going (back) to 9mm.

[dkf]

To All,

Everything that I know about .357SIG (which is little, btw) is that our Texas DPS bought them, had POOR results & have now returned to 9x19mm Luger caliber handguns.
(GT Distributers in Austin had a goodly number of EX-DPS firearms recently for sale CHEAP.)

yours, tex

You have that the wrong way around. The DPS started phasing over to the new S&W M&P 9mm pistols and had a lot of different issues with them. So they stopped the transition and went back to the P226 chambered in .357sig. The .357sig outperforms the 9X19 pretty much across the board. The whole deal sounds an awful lot like what we went through with the PSP here in PA. A desk jockey making decisions they shouldn't be.

That's interesting considering the only difference is velocity. Not sure how the performance would be poorer than 9mm unless poor bullet construction/choice was made.

I'd be more inclined to think that cost was the major factor in going (back) to 9mm.

In the premium JHPs used for duty ammo the major companies have a completely different bullet for the .357sig. The bullets are designed to handle the extra velocity. If memory served me right the Texas DPS used Speer Gold Dots. Speer has two different Gold Dot loads for the .357sig, each load has a different bullet proprietary to the .357sig.

[texasnative46]

dkf,

SORRY but you are in error. = That's WHY that GT Distributers has all those "turned in & looks new" EX-Texas DPS pistols CHEAP, if anyone wants them.
(NOT I said the duck.)

yours, tex

[dkf]

dkf,

SORRY but you are in error. = That's WHY that GT Distributers has all those "turned in & looks new" EX-Texas DPS pistols CHEAP, if anyone wants them.
(NOT I said the duck.)

yours, tex

http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/201...rns-sig-sauer/
http://smith-wessonforum.com/smith-w...turns-sig.html

If you are seeing used DPS pistols in .357sig it is probably because they switched to the P320. Has nothing to do with bad performance of the sig round. Departments switch rounds all the time and the officers have no choice in the matter.

[6bg6ga]

The 357sig is faster than the 9mm. Speed however isn't everything in my opinion and having said this I probably opened up a can of worms. I personally would rather have a larger caliber even if it means slower speed. The 40 cal hits hard and there is plenty of ammo around for them. The 357sig when I looked into them weren't easy to obtain cases for and this is also why my 10mm went bye-bye.

[Budzilla 19]

Obtaining cases is usually a matter of opportunity on this board! I own a carry gun in .357 Sig, and like it and the .40 barrel that goes with it equally! Just my .02

[dragon813gt]

You can buy cases from Starline. I picked up 1k non nickel off this board for little money. Case availability isn't a big deal anymore.

[charlie b]

I kinda understood the reason for the .357 Sig. NM state cops carried the .357Mag and liked the power over any of the 9mm. They are by themselves, sometimes hours away from any help so wanted the capability of the .357Mag in a semi-auto.

What I never got is why they didn't go to the 10mm. Probably just ignorance on the part of the people choosing? .357Sig is same performance as the magnum so easier to sell? Don't know. There was plenty of statistics on the 10mm from the FBI studies years ago.

Oh well.

[jdfoxinc]

Being a bottle necked case jams are almost non-existent.

[Andy]

I have a glock 33 and I find that neck tension on a couple types of factory ammo (both rem) I have tried is insufficient to hold the bullet in place over repeated (3 or more) chamberings of the same round. I find this very annoying as it is a bedstand gun that I try to shoot often and as such I find that I am frequently having to shoot up or pull bullets from expensive defensive ammo. 5+ chamberings can push the bullet dangerously low in the case in my opinion. This might happen to me once a week just by normal use unloading the gun to shoot/clean/show to someone so the cost adds up.

If I were buying again and were considering the .357 sig I would buy a glock 40 S&W or 9mm instead and try it out. If you end up being dead set on doing the .357 sig route after that all you need is a replacement barrel and a magazine (if switching from 9mm). That way you start with the common/lower priced brass you can find cheap and only go to the expensive thing if you feel it is necessary after using the gun.

[9.3X62AL]

Andy makes a good point about "telescoping bullets". I wondered about this in 357 SIG, because it crops up for me with my 30 Luger and 30 Mauser/7.62 x 25 Tokarev ammo. Granted--my ammo are reloads, and if given a light roll crimp into a groove or cannelure the bullets hold very well. But the 357 SIG supposedly gets its headspace on the case mouth--NOT on the case shoulder as the 30 Luger, 30 Mauser, and most neck-and-shoulder rimless rifle cartridges do--so a roll crimp might affect headspace control. Having dealt with the bullets sliding inward on feed ramp contact issue previously, the chance of its occurrence was another strike vs. the 357 SIG for my uses.

[725]

Back in 2002, I taught the Federal Air Marshalls down at FLETC N.M. and we used the .357 Sig. It's a lot of pistol round. Great choice for anti-personnel, and by it's design, makes for an easy to chamber cartridge (read reliable). All depends on what you are looking for in a pistol.

[paul h]

I wouldn't say the 357 sig is a waste if your goal is to launch 125 gr hp's ~1400 fps.

However, as a cast bullet shooter my preference for a 9mm/38/357 is a cast bullet of 147-158 gr @ ~1000 fps. And given the sigs short neck I just don't see it being friendly to the longer/heavier cast bullets.

[Soundguy]

158 Gen cast ( various profile) is my favorite 38/357 load

[Love Life]

I like the 357 Sig and don't find it to be a waste at all. I load it with hard cast 125 gr bullets. I also load and shoot the 9X25 Dillon, which is what the 357 Sig wants to be when it grows up, lol.

[35remington]

Autoloaders can puke for so many reasons related to operating issues that having a bottleneck case is a non factor in obtaining feed reliability. Autoloading pistols are not prone to have more jams if the front end of the case is the similar to the back end. The autoloading action rides the bullet more in feeding than case shape. If straighter cases were in any way inferior to bottleneck in feed reliability the bottleneck would predominate and it of course does not.

Reasonable to presume straightwall case designs are in the majority for a reason. As enumerated above two diameter cases pose issues of their own. Some diligence may be needed to overcome them but some take that as less of a problem. In a design sense the 357 Sig has some Vega parts under a Ferrari hood. If you don't use those parts you might think it is great.

[dkf]

I have a glock 33 and I find that neck tension on a couple types of factory ammo (both rem) I have tried is insufficient to hold the bullet in place over repeated (3 or more) chamberings of the same round. I find this very annoying as it is a bedstand gun that I try to shoot often and as such I find that I am frequently having to shoot up or pull bullets from expensive defensive ammo. 5+ chamberings can push the bullet dangerously low in the case in my opinion. This might happen to me once a week just by normal use unloading the gun to shoot/clean/show to someone so the cost adds up.

If I were buying again and were considering the .357 sig I would buy a glock 40 S&W or 9mm instead and try it out. If you end up being dead set on doing the .357 sig route after that all you need is a replacement barrel and a magazine (if switching from 9mm). That way you start with the common/lower priced brass you can find cheap and only go to the expensive thing if you feel it is necessary after using the gun.

Get some Federal HST .357sig ammo, you can get it online in 50rd boxes. The HST doesn't hit the feed ramp as hard do to the more rounded profile. You shouldn't be rechambering a round that many times though. After the rouund is chambered twice put it on the bottom of the magazine or shoot it. One thing about the .35sig though is once the bullet gets to a certain point setback int he case pressures start to go back down.

Speer has a setback pressure chart on their ATK LE website. Pressures never gets near proof. http://www.le.vistaoutdoor.com/downl...s-Pressure.pdf