Ultimate .357 SIG pistol?

[Timberland]

OK so I am not cool with the .40 but something about the .357 SIG facinates me, maybe just the high speed and flat trajectory. Anyhow so what pistol would best suite this round? What barrel length would be most beneficial to getting the most out of the 357? Coincidentally I want a subcompact Glock, but would the short barrel reduce its effectiveness?

[Greenspartan117]

OK so I am not cool with the .40 but something about the .357 SIG facinates me, maybe just the high speed and flat trajectory. Anyhow so what pistol would best suite this round? What barrel length would be most beneficial to getting the most out of the 357? Coincidentally I want a subcompact Glock, but would the short barrel reduce its effectiveness?

Hmm, well it depends what you're looking for. For carry a P-239 in .357 Sig will do fine. If you want the lest recoil, and highest velocity, the P-226 in .357 Sig should do the trick as it is the largest gun that Sig makes in its .357 Sig caliber. I hope that was of some use to you.

[BossHog]

I own four pistols chambered in .357 Sig and I think the best platform for this round is the P226ST. The all stainless construction handles felt recoil really well.

[C.G.]

Any Sig is fine, but I prefer the P229 in .357 Sig.

[Miltiades]

Also fascinated

OK so I am not cool with the .40 but something about the .357 SIG facinates me, maybe just the high speed and flat trajectory.

Something about the .357 Sig fascinates me also. That is the fact that with similar bullet weights, the ballistics of .357 Sig are almost identical to the .40 S&W. If you go to the Corbon ammunition website:

Corbon Ammunition website

You will see the following:

.357 Sig 125 grain JHP, 1425 fps velocity, 564 ft-lbs energy.
.40 S&W 135 grain Pow'rBall, 1375 fps velocity, 567 ft-lbs energy.

Given the higher price of .357 Sig practice ammo, the identical ballistics of defensive ammo with similar bullet weight, and the limited gun availability compared to .40 S&W, I am fascinated that the caliber still exists.

[luvtolean]

Something about the .357 Sig fascinates me also. That is the fact that with similar bullet weights, the ballistics of .357 Sig are almost identical to the .40 S&W. If you go to the Corbon ammunition website:

Corbon Ammunition website

You will see the following:

.357 Sig 125 grain JHP, 1425 fps velocity, 564 ft-lbs energy.
.40 S&W 135 grain Pow'rBall, 1375 fps velocity, 567 ft-lbs energy.

Given the higher price of .357 Sig practice ammo, the identical ballistics of defensive ammo with similar bullet weight, and the limited gun availability compared to .40 S&W, I am fascinated that the caliber still exists.

Ignoring the fact that different sized bullets of the same weight have different terminal effects (namely penetration)...

From the same site, here is why the .357Sig exists:

Model Product Name+ Price Buy Now
SD357110/20 357 MAG 110 GR. JHP 1500 FPS/549 FTLBS

SD357SIG115/ 357 SIG 115 GR. JHP 1500 FPS/575FTLBS

20 357 MAG 125 GR. JHP 1400FPS/544FTLBS

SD357SIG125/ 357 SIG 125 GR. JHP 1425 FPS/ 564 FTLBS

So, riddle me this, why is the .357 Magnum still around if Cor-Bon's loadings of the two cartridges, shows the .357Sig to be better performing?

The whole point to the .357Sig was to give .357 Magnum performance, which many LE agencies love, out of an autoloader.

The .40, the .357Sig and .357 Magnums all have their places. None are going away, and one of the nice things about .357Sig is that only a barrel swap is needed to go from .357Sig to .40 S&W should the owner decide to.

I really like the cartridge, there's just something cool about bottlenecked pistol cartridges. But out of a subcompact, it's going to have a hell of a lot of muzzle blast and flames are going to shoot out like crazy with anything less than premium ammo. I imgaine it'd be similar to shooting .357Mag out of a snubbie...an awesome, and not necessarily good, experience if you have never tried it.

I launch .357 Sig projectiles out of a P226. Lots of people love sigs, and it's a nice enough gun I suppose, but I prefer 1911s and Glocks to them. Because of this, I don't shoot much .357 Sig.

My P226 will reliably feed empty .357Sig cases too. With the P226 and the better feeding of bottlenecked cartridges, it's unlikely you'll have many stoppages with it.

Heavy guns make shooting it nicer as a general rule, but I don't think the recoil is bad, I think the .40 recoil is worse.

Though compared to a Glock, you can feel the effect of the higher bore axis in a Sig, so if you like Glocks, I think you'd find shooting .357Sig out of one pleasant enough. Though I have to say, I HATE subcompact Glocks...

[laabstract]

try a glock 32

[C.G.]

Something about the .357 Sig fascinates me also. That is the fact that with similar bullet weights, the ballistics of .357 Sig are almost identical to the .40 S&W. If you go to the Corbon ammunition website:

Corbon Ammunition website

You will see the following:

.357 Sig 125 grain JHP, 1425 fps velocity, 564 ft-lbs energy.
.40 S&W 135 grain Pow'rBall, 1375 fps velocity, 567 ft-lbs energy.

Given the higher price of .357 Sig practice ammo, the identical ballistics of defensive ammo with similar bullet weight, and the limited gun availability compared to .40 S&W, I am fascinated that the caliber still exists.

Maybe because the Secret Service uses it?
And personally, I like the recoil of the .357 Sig better than .40SW.

[Miltiades]

Kudos to Sig

I really like the cartridge, there's just something cool about bottlenecked pistol cartridges.

The Sig marketing department has done its job well.

[Fjold]

The unattractive side of the SIG 357 is that with the smaller case it is limited to lighter weight bullets. The 140 grain and heavier bullets intrude too much into the powder space. When comparing the SIG to the 357 magnum remember that the 357 Mag is commonly tested in vented barrels to give real life revolver level performance. Out of a closed breech gun the magnum will get higher velocities. Remember that with everything else being equal, the bigger case will always get more velocity.

Here are some quotes on that subject.

The goal of the .357 SIG project was to offer at least the level of performance of the famous .357 Magnum cartridge and +P/+P+ (overpressure and double-overpressure) 9 mm Luger loads. The .357 SIG arguably accomplishes this goal with a 125-grain (8.1 g) bullet. Anything heavier, however, shows the cartridge somewhat inadequate to the original Magnum.

The .357 SIG is a good police cartridge; however, it does not quite reach the performance of the venerable .357 Magnum with heavier loads (over 125 gr.) or even with typical commercial loadings in 125 gr. bullets (e.g., a typical commercial .357 Magnum load propels a 125 gr. bullet to 1450 ft/s, while a typical .357 SIG load propels a 125 gr. bullet to 1350 ft/s). Offsetting this slight disadvantage in performance is the fact that pistols carry considerably more ammunition than revolvers. Another disadvantage is that because the .357 SIG uses a .355 bullet at higher velocities than other 9 mm cartridges, very few bullets have been specially designed for it, and the .357 Magnum bullets that are designed for the same velocity range cannot be used due to their diameter.

[luvtolean]

The Sig marketing department has done its job well.

Actually, it was the 7.62x25 that did that "job".

I am not particularly a Sig fan, but I think the .357Sig cartridge is an interesting round.

Then again, I'd like to own a .400 CorBon and 5.7x28 too...

Fjold- I realize that. I was just pointing out comparing one or two loads from one site was a silly way to judge a round. You got my message.

[Miltiades]

Numbers

I was just pointing out comparing one or two loads from one site was a silly way to judge a round.

Have you found that "coolness" comparisons are better than numerical comparisons?

[-hanko]

So, riddle me this, why is the .357 Magnum still around if Cor-Bon's loadings of the two cartridges, shows the .357Sig to be better performing?

Answer is simple: the .357 magnum can take bullet weights up to 180gr, half again more (or less) than the 125 gr load in the sig round. Anecdotally, I'm reloading very accurate rounds using 158gr bullets that chrono just above 1600 fps.

Original post mentioned 'flat-shooting'...I'd have to ask first what is the gun being used to shoot, and second what is the longest anticipated range...

9mm, .40sw, .357 sig, .45acp, and .357 magnum all shoot close enough to poa at 50 yds with varying bullet weights to guarantee stopping an adversary . General recommendation is to find the largest diameter bullet that has consistent penetration of around 12-18 inches if the target is human...bigger hole, more blood, etc.

For just target shooting or plinking, get whatever you like. For hunting, you're undergunned with the sig cartridge for standard game animals but more than covered for varmints.

-hanko

[Moonclip]

I like the round and probably the all steel frame Sigs are among the better platforms for it. I like bottleneck pistol cartridges myself, I've messed with the 7.62x25 for years. My sole 357sig entry was a used sigpro though which I had issues with. I need another 357 sig pistol eventually as I like weird rounds like this and the 10mm and the 38super and the 9mm Largo and...

[Exiledviking]

My favorite 357SIG pistol is my P226R. I am waiting on a 357SIG barrel for my HK P2000. That should be interesting...