357 SIG

[FlyingPen]

Never say never.

I load 9mm for $60 per 1000 and 45 for $80 per 1000.
The 308 I was shooting sunday only cost me $22 per 100 because I got a killer deal on 155gr SMK bullets.
It cost me more in gas than ammo for the day.

At some point, you will see the value in saving your brass.
For now, keep sending it my way.

When I move into a place with a garage, I probably will start reloading for 308. I barely have time to clean my guns right now much less reload 9mm. If I get so good at it that I can do it while watching TV, maybe but I think that would probably lead to dangerous careless mistakes.

[ar15barrels]

If I get so good at it that I can do it while watching TV, maybe but I think that would probably lead to dangerous careless mistakes.

NO distractions.

I gave up TV 10 years ago.
Gives me more free time for more important things like reloading.

[AJD]

Not really, the tests were done in the mid 90s. If you compare the best rounds available for each today, the 357SIG still handily beats the 40SW. There are 357SIG rounds with a muzzle velocity in the 1700fps range.

This is from Speer's 2007 LE catalog on Gold Dot duty ammo:


Gold Dot terminal ballistic data (after IWBA heavy clothing) directly from SPEER's 2007 LE catalog:

Caliber/Weight/Penetration/Expansion/Test Weapon:

9mm, 115, 18.85", .510", P226
9mm+P+, 115, 15.90", .530", G17
9mm, 124, 16.43", .555", P226
9mm+P, 124, 15.88", .560", G17
9mm, 147, 16.93", .540", P226
.357Sig, 125, 17.50", .535", P226
.38+P, 135, 13.00", .554", S&W640
.357Mag, 125, 22.75", .394", S&W65
.357Mag, 158, 24.85", .402", S&W65
.40S&W, 155, 14.45", .630", G23
.40S&W, 165, 17.55", .583", S&W4006
.40S&W, 180, 14.10", .662", G23
.45ACP, 185, 15.00", .651", P220
.45ACP+P, 200, 15.20", .675", G21
.45ACP, 230, 14.55", .675", S&W4506

The FBI also tested the Gold Dot ammo using similar protocal and found similar results as well. According to Dr. Roberts who is a member of the IWBA (International Wound Ballistics Association) and who runs the tacticalforums site, the FBI also found that the .357 sig did not show superior penatration above other service calibers through all barriers tested. Now maybe there are some loads in .357 sig that do exhibit more penetration than the GDs, but as you can see most well engineered HPs penetrate more than enough and beyond even the FBI recommended minimum of 12 inches, that even more penatration isn't much of an advantage for most cases. Btw, you'll notice the other important terminal result of expansion shows that the .357 sig shows nothing of significance over other loads.

Btw, I'm not knocking the .357sig at all. I think it is more than adequate for defensive purposes compared to other handgun calibers and I've seen evidence that it has the ability to provide very good accuracy as a target round. Maybe even better than the others... With that said, I have yet to see anything that would show that it offers anything significant in terms of wounding potential or effectiveness over other calibers.

[FlyingPen]

Ok I thought there were tests done that do show barrier, especially windshield penetration was superior especially in the matter of deflection.

I like 40SW myself although I'm not a fan of it's recoil characteristics.