Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 357 Sig

Didn't want to derail the 40 S&W thread

With some mention of the 357 Sig in the other thread, I figured it should have it's own discussion.

So looking at ballistic charts, a +p 9mm will push 124's ~1250 fps and 147's ~1100 fps. The 357 Sig will push 124's ~1450 fps and 147's ~1250 fps.

I'm curious how the added velocity fixes any of the 9mm's short comings?

I thought i have seen it written that a steady diet of +p ammo is supposed to be hard on some platforms. Where has the 357 is designed to work in a 40 cal platform. Just sayin.

Better barrier penetration, performance in tissue isn't tremendously different. I personally see it as a solution to a non-existent problem.

My preference for practice loads is to back off a few tenths to a 1/2 gr from a max std pressure charge so using +p for carry isn't an issue on the life of the platform.

Seems like a rifle is a better option for barrier penetration. Not to mention with the Sig's short neck, it seems like it's really designed for the 124's, not the 147's. which negates the barrier penetration argument.

I have a question. If you all feel like this on the 357 Sig. then how do you fell about the 9X25 Dillon? Flame material on!! Cheers NC

I wouldn't mind and plan on sometime to get a 357 barrel for my G27. But I might go with the 4 inch model barrel.

I’m not a competitive handgun shooter so I don’t need to jack up a 9X19 or come up with some new round to meet some arbitrary power level. For my use and my thinking the 9X19 with 124’s at ~1200 fps achieve everything I want from an autoloading pistol. The plus is plentiful and cheap brass as well as lots of excellent pistols and that can be achieved with lots of different powders.

If I want more performance from a 35 handgun then it’s the 357 magnum with 180 or 200 gr cast at 1300 fps. I don’t see that happening in an autoloading handgun unless it’s chambered for the 357 and then it’s some sort of Dessert Eagle behemoth.

I'm about to pull the trigger on one, well at least getting a barrel for my Glock 23. I figure it's a cheap way to try one out.

My daily carry gun now is a Glock 32 and I couldn't be happier with it or the .357 Sig. Its powerful, has plenty of capacity, and is small enough to carry easily but still shoot well.

At one point the .357 mag revolver load, with a 125 JHP at 1450 fps, was considered (or maybe hyped is a better word) as the ultimate manstopping load for a handgun. When it first came out the .357 Sig was supposed to match that specs, and work in a 9mm framed autoloader. I think just about everyone thought it met that goal pretty well, and several large agencies adopted it.

Of course, the .38 Super and the 9x23 are also hard on its heels, but few agencies adopted them.

Since then the .357 mag is loaded down, and bullets in the 9x19 have gotten better. A 9mm +P also works very well, costs less, kicks less, and fits more rounds in the magazine.

Never loaded the .357 Sig, but did work with its big brother the .400 Corbon. Be careful loading those pistol cartridges with extra short necks - it can be hard to keep bullets from setting back in feeding, which could cause a Kb.

If I was convinced I need more velocity from a 9mm pistol I'd go with a Super or a 9x23. Or even a 9x25

yes, you can buy hot 9mm ammo that pushes it way up there, at a cost. I have some that says 20% or 30% over saami spec something like that. So you are pushing the pistol at its upper limits at 9mm. Or you buy the sig, where is, was designed to operate.
one big difference i think, is with the sig round, you don't worry much about holdover at distance you point it, it goes there.
barrier penetration is another thing, and some believe speed kills.
the bullet is slightly different than a 9mm designed projectile too. Which one would take account of in reloading.
I think personally of the .357sig as being in some ways similar to a .38super.
I bought a barsto barrel years ago as a drop in for a glock 23, and have shot the snot out of it.
the .357sig does mimic the 125grain .357 magnum load, but smaller cartridge, lot more mag capacity, and can fit in smaller guns. My glock in .357, the baby glock, is like have better than two cylinders full of 357magnum. If i put a 17round mag in it, thats like a full .357mag revolver and two speed loaders.

A 10mm fills that role perfectly.

The agency I worked for adopted the 357 Sig in glock 31 pistols as a duty firearm about my two years before I left

The 125 grain Gold dot is a great round.

A couple of incidents I remember were both critters, but two different circumstances.

The first involved a horse struck by a tractor trailer, the animal laid almost in the center of the road, and With houses and rubberneckers I decided not to risk a ricochet by shooting the animal in the head, so I fired a double tap through the ribs right behind the shoulder.

Upon rolling the animal over to remove it from the roadway we found both slugs exited the off side and embedded into the blacktop


The second was a road hit whitetail, that was thrashing about in a marshy area, and I wasn't wading out to shoot it.

I used the hood of my Tahoe as a rest and made and head shot at and bout 70 yards.dispatching the deer.
That shot was taken with a Sig P226


I'd like to see the 9mm boys do that.


Our Game commission switched to the 357 Sig from Smith 586 revolvers, every one I talk to says they are having great results on Black bear with it

Me too. I love my Glock 32 in 357 sig caliber.

I'd like to try one too. Not much of a pistol shooter but wife and I are currently taking some training courses. Learning alot. Shooting the Super for the course.

I really like my Glock 32. Hasn't kaboomed with reloads yet, guess I'll keep living dangerously!

It's my only CCW and I feel comfortable with it. I'd feel comfortable with a 9mm as well but I like the idea of a little more velocity. I'm a believer in the idea of more hydrostatic shock.

So, a handgun round that will plow through a horse and keep going is a good thing? Maybe not if you are on the other side of the horse.

Not if you want to shoot the horse and the guy on the other side of the horse.

I carry a 31 on most days or a Khar CW-45.

in some reading i seem to remember when they were working up the .45acp round as basically a replacement to the .45colt, one of the thoughts was it had to be capable of stopping a horse. Still in the days of the calvary. And there isn't a lot of difference between a 230grain .45acp, and the old 250grain .45colt military round, both at similar velocities.
My baby glock in 357sig was used to pop a deer. A woman shot a mulie as i was watching from a distance. Basically shot it in the butt deer goes down laying there and her family congradulating her for getting the deer. a6mm rifle by the way.
I walked over, looked at the deer and said you know that deer ain't dead.
didn't want to lite off a rifle round at point blank range, so the baby glock was used. Not much of a test, right behind the ear it did go through, instant lites out.