Anyone familiar with the 357 Sig?

 

Worth the trouble, or just get a 40?

 

 

I'm a big fan of the 357 Mag round...but the Sig round looks a little goofy. I've also read it's a PITA to reload.....any truth to it?

It's a .40 S&W case bottlenecked down to 9mm size basically. Bottlenecked cases = more steps to reload.

The 125 grain 357 mag has the law enforcement track record as the most effective man-stopper (i.e. bringing down a criminal and ending a fight). Various reasons have arisen as to why it is not used as much, like recoil, political correctness of using a "magnum" against criminals, prevalence of semi-autos, etc.

The 357 Sig is able to duplicate the ballistics of the revolver round in a platform that has higher capacity, less recoil, and feeds extremely well due to the case design.

To me, the round is a winner for self protection. It is flat shooting and devastating. Reloading it is a pain in the ass though due to the bottleneck design.

Fantastic penetration and good ballistics. Choice for many LE agencies. As far as reloading, really depends on your skill and what you are used to reloading.

 

What are you looking at shooting it from? One route is to go with something that's a drop in barrel caliber change. For instance, I have several Sigs that I have both .357Sig and .40S&W barrels for for a few second swap (both rounds use the same mags).

Yea, I was doing some research on this last night. The reason for the SIG round is because the rimmed MAG round won't feed properly in a semiauto.

 

 

I was wondering if any of you had personal experience with one. Basically, is it worth the hassle (ammo availability, reloading, brass, etc..), or should one just get a 40 S&W and not deal with the rest of it?

 

 

I'm new to the semi handgun world. I grew up with revolvers (357, 41 and 44 mags). I was looking at the Glock 31....didn't know about the changeable Sig barrels. Would like to know more about it....which model, price range, same magazine, etc....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basically, it appears that the 40 is a more "universal" cartridge. I'm slightly afraid the 357 Sig would end up with the same fate as the 41 Mag.

 

 

Side note....why in the hell are 1911's so expensive?

Sorry, no. The .357 sig has the same performance as the .357mag in a VERY narrow band of options, most of the .357mag loads outperform the .357sig. In exchange you are getting a cartridge that is unpleasant to shoot, loud, expensive, all of which results to less time practicing. Statistically, given modern ammunition, there is a insignificant difference between different handgun cartridges, as advances in bullet designed have flattened the differences. I think most people will be much better served by practice and training and focusing on shot placement. The cost of .357sig being what it is, most people will be much better served by choosing something else.

DHS uses .357Sig. Talked to some DHS officers in Penn station during the Hurricane Sandy aftermath.

Accidental repost

Side note....why in the hell are 1911's so expensive?

 

Some are more then others. You can get decent ones around the $900 range (current madness aside). They are more expensive because as an older design they are harder to manufacture then the $80 Glock (rumored to be it's actual production cost) and because there is a certain degree of snobbery/fanboy behavior surrounding them. That said, 1911's have some brilliant design features and ergonomics which is why there are so many people who buy them, when most firearms designed at the same time are now curio's.

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad I found this site.

 

 

Would still like to be educated on the interchangeable barrel Sig though...

BTW, here is a fairly popular image comparing the performance of various cartridges given modern bullet design. Basically what that images shows is that science is getting pretty close to squeezing everything can be squeezed from an handgun in terms of performance by engineering bullets specifically for each cartridge and the overall performance is getting to be quite similar. From there on, it is all about shot placement, so pick a caliber you can afford to practice with. I used to think more power was better, but I've been swinging back to more practice is better. Of course, some revolver cartridges will do better, we are not talking about .44mag here, we are talking about things that can be shot from a reasonably sized semi-auto, not grizzly hunting weapons or silly Desert Eagles.

 

 

To your barrel change question, most .357sig handguns are built on the exact same frame and barrel specs as the .40s&w handguns, so just switching a barrel is often a really easy to convert them. You can purchase after market barrels that do just that.

The only difference will be in your point of impact. 357 Sig is a hotter, flatter shooting round, and so will shoot a bit lower. The difference is almost negligible at "self defense ranges" under 10 yards.

Even if you did reload for 357 sig the biggest issue is getting brass. It hardly exists.

I once scooped up around 2000 casings off the floor. After sorting them I think a

total of maybe 5-8 were 357 sig.

 

If you're not reloading it's very expensive. Personally I will only shoot what I can

afford to shoot A LOT.

Excellent....I haven't started reloading YET, but am planning to real soon.

 

Sounds like I should stick to the 40. Thanks guys.

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad I found this site.

 

 

Would still like to be educated on the interchangeable barrel Sig though...

 

The sig p226 and p229 can be changed from 357 sig to. 40 by just changing the barrel.

 

No fitting, uses the same magazine etc.

 

I've shot 40 out of my 226, changed barrel and continued with 357.

 

 

Awesome. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm glad I found this site.

 

 

Would still like to be educated on the interchangeable barrel Sig though...

 

Take your pick. You can have a P226, P229, P239, P250, SP2022... Just about every Sig offered in .40S&W can have a .357Sig barrel dropped in.

I like the Glock 31 gen 4 myself, you can actually change this from a 357 sig barrel to a 40 SW barrel using the same mag and you can also get a 9 mm barrel as well but need to get magazines for that.

Never cared for Glocks until I shot one and then bought one. It fit my hands perfect.

Yea, I was doing some research on this last night. The reason for the SIG round is because the rimmed MAG round won't feed properly in a semiauto.

 

Dan Coonan's .357 Mag. semi-auto is back in production again. His was the original.

http://www.coonaninc...dex.php/cPath,5

 

 

Some background -

http://www.thetrutha...-357-automatic/

You can swap the barrel in a Glock also. So.g22/31 can be done

You can swap the barrel in a Glock also. So.g22/31 can be done

 

This is a good idea, get a glock/sig 40 and 357 barrel or vise versa. Just a word of advise, this round has alot of power behind it. Let me now state the obvious, if you are going to use it for self defense choose a good modern self defense round. something that will expand to slow that bullet down, overpenetration can be an issue, gel tests may or may not confirm this. (depends on which ons you see) I have a friend who is a Leo and told me a story of their pd shooting a suspect with this round, it went through the car door, through the suspect , out the other side of the other door and never recovered. Yes that is only one story in one town. Yes the clothes etc could have clogged the tip etc and made it act as a fmj. I like this round, it commands respect. Report and flash are truely impressive as well as ballistics. Having both barrels is like having two guns Im not talking you in or out of it, in fact I want one. Just consider what you want to use it for, self defense, expensive plinker, or do it all gun?

I like the Glock 31 gen 4 myself, you can actually change this from a 357 sig barrel to a 40 SW barrel using the same mag and you can also get a 9 mm barrel as well but need to get magazines for that.

Never cared for Glocks until I shot one and then bought one. It fit my hands perfect.

 

 

How is the recoil/ follow up shots compared to a 40 if you know?

It's a .40 S&W case bottlenecked down to 9mm size basically. Bottlenecked cases = more steps to reload.

 

Not really noobis

 

 

 

How is the recoil/ follow up shots compared to a 40 if you know?

 

I really can't tell the difference, that's because my hand are large enough to absorb the recoil.

It seems to be a little louder though. Follow ups no problems..

I love it!

IMO, I think the recoil is less the the 40's I have. Sound is the same but less recoil. It all depends on what rounds/ load/ bullets you are shooting.

Get a 10mm