A bullet or mold for 357 Sig

[am44mag]

I plan on getting a 357 Sig barrel for my 10mm XDM in the next couple of weeks. After doing a little research into this round, it seems like it's not exactly cast boolit friendly due to the short neck, and the issue of overly long bullets not allowing the round to fully chamber. My go to cast boolit for 9mm is the Lee 124gr TC. I'm not sure if it will work in the 357 Sig, but I already have the mold, and I already have a ton of boolits PCed and ready to go. It'll be worth a try. I was considering getting some Berry's plated bullets (specifically the hybrid hollowpoint), but I noticed that they are limited to a velocity of 1250 FPS. To me, there's not much of a point in dealing with 357 Sig if you are just going to limit it's velocity to the upper limits of 9mm +P. I want to shoot this cartridge as it was intended to be shot. With a 124/125gr slug smoking out of the barrel at 1300-1400 FPS.

Looking at some other molds, it looks like the 120gr Lee TC might have a slightly shorter nose than it's 124gr sibling. I have also heard of people using the LEE 140gr SWC boolit meant for 38/357 mag. They say it feeds fine, but you never know until you try it.

Beyond this, am I just going to have to bite the bullet and buy true J-words? Do any of you that load cast in your 357 Sigs have any advice to bestow upon me?

Thanks in advance fellas.

[Sig556r]

I use NLG boolits on my mod glock 22 to maximize neck surface as I convert .40S&W brass mostly. RFN is better than TC as far as feeding is concern but a ramped barrel won't know the difference.

[cwlongshot]

I like the LEE 125-358 bullet myself.

CW

[Elkins45]

The important thing is that the bullet have a decent length of parallel sides so you can get god neck tension. That’s why the normal 115 grain FMJ has such a problem with setback.

I would think the Lee 124 would be fine. I have even used the little 105 grain SWC with good results. My current go-to is a 128 SWC from NOE that has very long parallel sides.

[am44mag]

I'll give the 124gr TC a try, but I think I'll go ahead and order that 358 125 RF too. I've been meaning to get a mold for light 38 cal boolits anyways. Worst case, I have something new to shoot in my 38s and 357 mag.

Thanks fellas.

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[Moonie]

I also use the Lee 125gr 357 mold for my 357 sig, XD subcompact. Originally in 40 S&W but I purchased a ported 357 Sig and ported 9mm barrels for it. Tom over at accurate molds has some molds that have the proper nose length for the 357 sig.

[am44mag]

I was mistaken on the mold I had. I have the Lee 356-120 truncated cone, not the 124gr one.

I loaded up 50 rounds of it, and it shot great. They fed smoothly too. I have the 358-125 RF on the way, so I'm excited to try it out too.

Thanks again fellas.

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[cwlongshot]

I got a different mold Myself. Its a Accurate 135 RD. I loaded a few Saturday and they fed but wouldnt all completely go in to battery. Its a fairly blunt bullet I need to do somemmore checks. But I like the bullet.