Somebody school me on the .357 sig

[*Klutch*]

I guess what I'm asking is, is the performance really worth it. I would prolly get a Sig of some sort but I am thinking 357mag performance with 12-15 rounds would be a good woods gun

[SHEPHERD321]

No, get a 10mm.

[chinaboy]

I believe the 357sig shoots flatter than other pistol carriages if you are shooting distance. And it may retain more energy at distance than some other pistol cartiges.

[borekfk]

LifeSizePotato has a pretty cool video about .357 SIG

[NEPAKevin]

357 SIG advocacy page. Some of the info is dated, but a good summary.

[gun-bunny]

What benefits is there over a .40?
Or basically something other than 9mm

I like to reload the .357 Sig because I can share bullets between the .380, 9mm and .357 Sig. Yes, it does take some searching for projectiles that will fit the .357's OAL and have some parallel side length left to seat the bullet properly. After you find them, they work great through all three. The lower grain bullets- Hornady 90gr XTP's are almost 1000 fps out of my Glock 42, and 1750 fps out of my Glock 35 (converted to .357 sig). I don't buy the "almost" up to .357 Sig speed from 9mm +p when you can work up a load to safely fire projectiles at really good velocities out of .357 Sig.

[Tim Ault]

Little faster with a 125 gr bullet than the 9mm . Gonna be more noise and recoil though . Less recoil than a 40 but the 40 bigger and heavier going for it and more choices in weights and better availibity . I've never considered it because it really won't do all that much better than what a hot loaded 9mm will or better than what a 40 can .

[dkf]

The neck is too short, causing bullet set back. Because of this I don't consider +p safe with this round.

There is no such thing as .357sig+P. You shouldn't be rechambering the same rounds regularly anyway. Though setback is not as big of a deal as a lot make it out to be.

But if I can almost get there with a hot 9mm where is the advantage

You are not going throw a 125gr bullet over 1550+FPS out of a 4" barrel with any 9x19 load. The major factory .357sig 125gr JHP loads are usually around 1380fps out of a 4" barrel but you still are not going to get there with 9x19. You just have decide if you want the extra fps and are willing to deal with the extra cost and little more recoil. The .357sig is really a reloaders round and it costs me only slightly more to load .357 than 9.(more powder). The ammo has went down some the last couple of years but fmj range ammo is still more than 9, .40 and .45. Premium JHP ammo is about the same.

[Pointman73]

When .357 SIG hit the market, people went nuts and started buying Glocks and SIGs in this new Wondercaliber. I shot a Glock 32 Competition and a SIG 229 in the caliber and found it to be snappy and as cool as everything else.

Years later, while testing rounds on vehicles (LE training guys, not gang banging), we found .357 SIG to be an amazing penetrator, even to the point of over penetration. This is not good out in the world.

I had an option to buy a duty gun, which was the DHS gun (SIG 229R DAK .40S&W) and never got the .357 barrel for it due to the cost of the ammo. I rarely shoot .40 anymore as 9mm is king. The ballistic benefit just doesn't exist. The concept of a bottleneck cartridge being more feed reliable, well, is just that, a concept. With a quality pistol, feeding isn't an issue.

Just for something else to have, sure, why not? Like previously mentioned, cost is the factor. One caveat is the high pressure of the cartridge. I would inspect the gun after each session to check for issues.

[Yoder]

But if I can almost get there with a hot 9mm where is the advantage

It cost more money, so it's more better. You won't be able to shoot it as much which is also better. I don't think ballistics are that important with handguns. Being accurate and confident is way more important than another 100 fps.