The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Newbie (actually maybe wannabe) question about .357 SIG

Reg · May 31, 2000, 06:03 PM

While it may be "somewhat" easier to reload a straight walled cartridge, do not think that you cannot start reloading with the .357 SIG. This is exactly what I did about 3 years ago. I did a lot of reading and asked a lot of people about reloading in general. I then began to carefully reload rounds for my new SIG P226. Several thousand rounds and a couple years later, I am still hooked. I now also reload for several other calibers.
I think I was better off starting with the bottle-necked cartridge because I was extra careful and did not have any potentially dangerous attitude such as "aww..how hard can it be... I already know what I'm doing".
I actually find a couple of advantages of reloading the .357 SIG over the .40:
1) 9mm bullets are MUCH cheaper than .40
(just make sure to use bullets with a short ogive... Rem 115 & 124gr JHP, Rainier 124gr FP work excellent)
2) lots of used .40 brass has bulges from being fired in guns with unsupported chambers (ie: glocks)
3) Starline .357 SIG brass is top quality and about the same price as 9mm or .40 brass

The Lee dies are about the cheapest that you can buy and the general consensus is that they give about the best crimp of any dies for the .357 SIG. (they sure work well for me).
I know that some people have complained about bullet slippage, but I have never had a problem with my combination of Starline brass, Rem JHP's, and Lee dies.

If you enjoy shooting the .357 SIG, by all means do a lot of reading and then start cranking out the reloads!

May 31, 2000, 06:03 PM	#4
Reg Member Join Date: January 13, 2000 Posts: 54	While it may be "somewhat" easier to reload a straight walled cartridge, do not think that you cannot start reloading with the .357 SIG. This is exactly what I did about 3 years ago. I did a lot of reading and asked a lot of people about reloading in general. I then began to carefully reload rounds for my new SIG P226. Several thousand rounds and a couple years later, I am still hooked. I now also reload for several other calibers. I think I was better off starting with the bottle-necked cartridge because I was extra careful and did not have any potentially dangerous attitude such as "aww..how hard can it be... I already know what I'm doing". I actually find a couple of advantages of reloading the .357 SIG over the .40: 1) 9mm bullets are MUCH cheaper than .40 (just make sure to use bullets with a short ogive... Rem 115 & 124gr JHP, Rainier 124gr FP work excellent) 2) lots of used .40 brass has bulges from being fired in guns with unsupported chambers (ie: glocks) 3) Starline .357 SIG brass is top quality and about the same price as 9mm or .40 brass The Lee dies are about the cheapest that you can buy and the general consensus is that they give about the best crimp of any dies for the .357 SIG. (they sure work well for me). I know that some people have complained about bullet slippage, but I have never had a problem with my combination of Starline brass, Rem JHP's, and Lee dies. If you enjoy shooting the .357 SIG, by all means do a lot of reading and then start cranking out the reloads!