Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Best 357 sig dies?

I picked up super clean glock 22 gen 3 for $229. Then I found a threaded stainless 357 sig barrel and bought some once fired sig brass.

Who makes the best 357 sig dies. I see some are 2 die bottle neck sets and some are 3 with an expander. I use a hornady progessive mostly to load handguns. I may run a carbide 40 die first, then a 357 sig full length steel second where the expander goes, then powder, than seat, than crimp in station 5.

Any problems not running an expander? The rcbs set doesn't even include one. I think the carbide 40 first will let me get by with just a light shot of one shot on the steel 357 die next.

Bb

The RCBS expander is on the decapping and resizing die. works great. No need for the 40 die first.

The most important die is the Lee crimper for the 357, this die has "fingers" that pinch the crimp, and not "fold" the crimp.. regular fold crimpers will push the neck back into the case at the taper junction.
you may want to experiment with getting all dies to work simultaneously or load in steps

Use bulk powders to prevent set back also 800X is outstanding.

800x is great in my 10mm but it meters like corn flakes. If someone made a new 800x that metered well and was flash suppressed I'd shoot it in most things.

I use a lee factory crimp as the last step on most all my pistol loads. Sounds like it's even more necessary on the sig.

I guess I'll start with the rcbs plus a lee crimper.

Thanks,
Bb

What you ask for is called Accurate No. 9, and it's just about the ideal 10mm powder for 165-220gr bullets. It's a ball powder so it meters great, delivers max velocity and pressure with a slightly compressed load, and produces very low flash (AA7 is good for low flash as well, and lighter bullet 10mm loads). Personally I have zero reason to put up with 800x when AA9 is available, or several other good powders like AA7 or Longshot. I'd also never consider using 800x in a progressive press unless using mild loads that could tolerate large charge weight variations, but in that case why bother with 10mm, just shoot a 40 S&W.

Edit - meant to add that AA9 is really good for the 357 Sig as well, for the above reasons and also because it's bulky enough to prevent bullet setback.

getting back to the sig 357, 800x meters great in Dillons (probably the most widely used powder and reloader in action shooting events, because of low cost)

the problem using a progressive with the 357 sig is one of timing. making sure the handle bottoming out, the expander die and the crimp occur at the end of the cycle.

What? No, it's not. Maybe at some point long ago, but I don't know of anyone using it on a regular basis any more.

It definitely does NOT meter "great" in Dillon powder measures, unless you're OK with .5+ gr variations; it's notorious for metering poorly, that's not just me. Are you thinking of something different than 800x? This stuff is a very large flake powder that meters like cornflakes, with a lot of variation. Perhaps you're thinking of 700x, which does meter well and is good for mild loads (but not really a good full power 357 Sig choice)? 800x is very different, and at top end loads it really needs to be loaded and weighed individually.

I meant to add in my comment above that AA9 is just about perfect in the 357 Sig as well.

check out Brian Enos lot of folks use it, I know a lot of people who use it.. The 800 users are satisfied and just not "touting" other powders... Take your Dillion powder measures apart and clean them once in awhile

Don't use it for 10mm, (since topic changing is ok) use Longshot for the hotter loads.

Not thinking of 700X but do I use it extensively in skeet loads, 3/4 oz, 1400 fps 12 ga. while your on the subject.

I've never had 800x meter well in anything. I used it a bit during my broke college years because a relatively low charge ran 240s in my 44 pretty well and I bought several cans cheap. I had to weigh and trickle each charge. I won't do that again. I mostly use longshot or power pistol these days. Nothing runs a 40 like longshot.

I do have some #9 but was a bit put off by it a few years back when IIRC manufacturers, even the country it was made in suddenly changed and my lots were way different. If accurate has now made up its mind what #9 is I don't mind running it again. Not much meters better than those accurate ball powders.

I need to play a bit more with be86 too. It has seemed pretty good so far. Also plan to try autocomp in my 9mm. I've been using power pistol there and it's pretty flashy.

Bb

Yeah, I've been on Brian Enos forums a lot. I haven't read a single person there claiming it meters well; almost all of the conversations include comments about poor metering and many saying they won't use 800x for that reason (and I'm in the same camp). It has nothing to do with cleaning the powder measure, and everything to do with the huge flakes of 800x.

Do you actually use 800x, or are you just going by someone else's comments online?
I challenge you to find any other handgun or shotgun powder in current production that meters worse than 800x. Bet you can't. It doesn't matter much for shotgun loads, but is a real pain to use well in pistols, especially for high volume.

Also - good 10mm powders are good 357 Sig powders. The powder needs of both cartridges are very close.

Autocomp and Ramshot Silhouette are both really good in 9mm for full power loads. Not much reason to use them for mild loads. Silhouette is slightly faster burn rate than Autocomp, but still ends up with nearly a full case with the lighter bullets.

I approach tho 357 Sig the same as rifle rounds in that I want to at least know an approximation of where I am in regards to headspace, and that is more of a concern with brass fired in another pistol.

So the RCBS FL die is where I start and then do a drop test using the pistol barrel as a guage. Then once the shoulder length is dialed in, I can set the sizer for the batch and check to see if Case Length is going to be a concern and if I have to trim.

So, if brass prep is necessary, loading full Progressive is out on the first go-around at least.

If you are shooting coated or plated bullets you will want to slightly flare the neck.

RCBS doesn't supply that expander..so where can I find the right one...? Oh yeah...a spare 9mm works fine.

RCBS or LEE...

LEE is fine but I usually end-up owning both for most of the calibers I reload. Sometimes one brand will work better to achieve best results with some batches/brands of brass.

Yep, controlling shoulder bump is good with fired 357 Sig brass. I measure the shoulder bump just like a bottleneck rifle case and set the die for .004" bump compared to fired brass from my chamber (measured with the primer removed).

I've never yet found a need to trim a single case though. Are you trimming based on your chamber, or on book trim specs? You'll likely find the chamber is significantly longer than the book specs for the brass.

I load mine on a Dillon 550. Can't remember if I'm using Hornady or RCBS dies.


The only really worthwhile case prep I've found with 357 Sig is to sort the brass by headstamp (and weigh the different headstamps to see which can be combined). I've found differences of 100+ fps from different headstamps in the cartridge with top end loads, because the case capacity does vary quite a bit.

Right, I don't necessarily trim, I just check Case Length with unknown brass...I don't remember the last time I actually trimmed a piece of pistol brass in any caliber...decades.

If after measuring my Chamber Length I had a batch of straight wall pistol brass that was shot so many times that it needed trimming, I would recycle it rather than take the time.

The OP may be using an aftermarket barrel and many of those have match chambers, so I would check to verify measurements.

Straight wall semi-auto pistol brass typically gets shorter after being fired a lot, not longer.

In theory the 357 Sig could get longer, but I haven't seen it happen to any significant degree. I'd guess mostly due to the short case length.
My point being there's not much need for "brass processing" steps, other than maybe case sorting. Load away on a progressive, no reason not to whether the first use of that brass or not, and 357 Sig is no different in that regard than other common semi-auto pistol cases.

IMHO as mentioned it’s best your thinking rifle losing when loading the lil Sig 357.
HS set of the shoulder for me. I’m feeding four of them. Wonderful lil caliber. 800x works great as do Blue dot, Long shoot and 7. Depending upon needs.

I won’t progressively load it. Lil too much going on I’m happy on a turret single stage press. 800x gets scooped and trickled. So it’s a specialty powder
For me. Long shot & 7 meters beautifully. Blue dot ain’t bad.

I’m Loading on self Modified RCBS.

CW