357 Sig popularity
- Thread starter liketoshoot
- Start date
There are lot of makers making pistol in .357 Sig. Sig (of course), S&W, Glock and other, these are the top 3 that come to mind.
No, it has/is not "taking off". It has been out for a while now and there are some die hards that love it (just like the 10mm) but is not main stream. Stores carry the ammo but at almost double the cost of 9mm, there is not much demand for it.
I have never reloaded for .357 Sig but being a bottle neck pistol round, it might be more trick to reload for but you will get a better answer if you asked that question in the "reloading" section part of the site.
No, it has/is not "taking off". It has been out for a while now and there are some die hards that love it (just like the 10mm) but is not main stream. Stores carry the ammo but at almost double the cost of 9mm, there is not much demand for it.
I have never reloaded for .357 Sig but being a bottle neck pistol round, it might be more trick to reload for but you will get a better answer if you asked that question in the "reloading" section part of the site.
There are some pistols brought in that are already in 357Sig, but most people buy an aftermarket barrel for their .40cal. You are looking at roughly $35 a box of 50. If you plan on reloading don't expect to pick up brass at the range, you will likely have to source it on the net. The average 9mm bullet will not work as they are to long, you will need truncated cone, these are a bit more costly. I use 6gr of Unique behind XTP's still having failures to feed and the Hornady folks gave me a lead on a device to alter the shoulder of the round. Dies can be easily bought.
Down Under it is gaining popularity but only among IPSC shooters as due to our calibre restrictions (9mm/.38 is the limit for almost everyone) it is the only way to make major power factor in Standard division.
As far as buying a pistol goes though we don't get much choice besides a Glock, M&P or the HS2000 (Springfield XD but marketed under the original Croatian manufacturer's name outside North America). Most people get an STI Edge and ream the barrel to .357Sig. I personally had a 9mm Edge and had it done but you also have to have a smith open up the breech face to accept the bigger case. If you get a .40 slide this is unnecessary of course.
Here the price of factory ammo is about double as well. I reload and it is no harder than 9mm or .45 once you have the dies set up properly. People make it sound a lot harder than it is just because its a bottleneck cartridge.
As far as buying a pistol goes though we don't get much choice besides a Glock, M&P or the HS2000 (Springfield XD but marketed under the original Croatian manufacturer's name outside North America). Most people get an STI Edge and ream the barrel to .357Sig. I personally had a 9mm Edge and had it done but you also have to have a smith open up the breech face to accept the bigger case. If you get a .40 slide this is unnecessary of course.
Here the price of factory ammo is about double as well. I reload and it is no harder than 9mm or .45 once you have the dies set up properly. People make it sound a lot harder than it is just because its a bottleneck cartridge.
All I would like to add is:
-if you have a 40cal gun, you can pickup a new barrel from storm lake with lots of different options, they will ship directly (through questar). got my threaded 400corbon barrel (±4weeks delivery time) from them
-I havent reloaded much 400corbon (45acp case resized for 40cal), but sizing the 45acp brass with the 45acp sizer THEN running it through the 400corbon sizer eliminates the need for lube but adds one crank per round.
Don't know if this is valid for 357sig...
-To AussieNorinco: Regarding 357sig and major factor in standard:
-if you have a 40cal gun, you can pickup a new barrel from storm lake with lots of different options, they will ship directly (through questar). got my threaded 400corbon barrel (±4weeks delivery time) from them
-I havent reloaded much 400corbon (45acp case resized for 40cal), but sizing the 45acp brass with the 45acp sizer THEN running it through the 400corbon sizer eliminates the need for lube but adds one crank per round.
Don't know if this is valid for 357sig...
-To AussieNorinco: Regarding 357sig and major factor in standard:
I agree. It's a bit trickier, partly because of the need to lube the cases, but smooth loading once you get the hang of it. And cheap, too: the cases last a long time and they use commonly-available 9mm bullets. Which brings me to...
You know, I read that everywhere but I haven't yet encountered a 9mm round-nose that I wasn't able to load in a .357Sig case. Sure you don't have much room to manoeuver OAL-wise, but it's definitely doable. I think the increasing fear of litigation makes it so loading manuals discourage the use of round-noses in .357Sig cases because of the greater risk of bullet set-back. The risk is real but easily mitigated.
Oh, I guess I should add that it's an awesome round. One of my faves. Definitely worth the extra hassle.
- Location
- Southeastern Michigan
Like the 10mm the 357Sig is a great round.
I use a .357SIG barrel in my Glock 22. It runs smooth on factory ammo. I did buy some reloads from a chap in Maple Ridge and they started jamming every few rounds. A quick check revealed that the rounds were of different lengths. Guess there was a quality control issue in his reloading. That's the only issue I've encountered.
.357SIG is an enjoyable round to shoot.
.357SIG is an enjoyable round to shoot.
