.357 SIG

[hogheaven]

So the guy down at the local gun shop told me that reloading for a .357 SIG would be nearly impossible... I don't see how it is any different than loading for anything else...Anyone had any problems with reloading this round? Tips?

[gandog56]

They're a bottleneck pistol case. A bit harder to reload as you can't use a carbide die and have to use case lube. Harder, but nowhere near impossible. It's just a .40 cal S&W case necked down to 9mm size. Sort of a 9mm on steroids

[ligonierbill]

Well, my dies are backordered at Midway, so somebody sure is loading them. Sometimes a round has a little quirk that requires some attention, and it gets blown out of proportion. I was loading .300 Savage for years before I heard the short neck/sharp angle made it difficult. Not for me. Your LGS probably wants to sell ammo, and they should label that stuff .357 $ig.

[FlyFish]

A bit harder to reload as you can't use a carbide die and have to use case lube.

I (and others) avoid case lube when reloading .357 SIG by first resizing the case body in a .40 S&W carbide die and then resizing the neck in the regular (non-carbide) .357 SIG die. Works great, and no lube needed. With a progressive press and enough stations, there's really no additional work, either.

Otherwise, I don't find .357 SIG any more difficult to work with than other calibers. As a high pressure round, if you're working close to max loads you need to pay attention to things like powder charge and OAL, but you should be doing that anyway.

[Brian Pfleuger]

The guy at the guy shop doesn't know what he's talking about. 357sig can be reloaded just like every other center-fire cartridge.
Almost everyone who loads it uses 10mm/40SW carbide dies followed by the Sig die.
The only slightly unique challenge is neck tension/bullet setback. There are simple solutions, such as using heavily compressed powders, Lee factory crimp dies, etc.
As for cost of ammo, at Bass Pro, last I looked it was essentially the same price as the other major calibers. Maybe a $1 or 2 more for 50 rounds. I'm not even sure it was that much.

[jepp2]

If you know the pitfalls, loading the 357 Sig isn't any harder than loading any other cartridge. Some key points:

- select the correct bullet. Not all 9mm bullets will work
- size the brass properly for your barrel link
- minimize expansion of the neck
- check for setback to know what you have

Good luck!

[Brian Pfleuger]

Yes, and the easiest way to size your brass correctly is to use your barrel as a gauge. I size mine so the case sits 0.001-0.002 below flush with the barrel hood. That gives me perfect headspace. I've come to the point where I don't bother expanding/flaring at all. I then use a light crimp from a Lee Factory Crimp die, can't even see it. I also use a compressed charge of 800x, which is listed as Hodgdon max but is very potent. I have no problems at all with setback.

I have chronied that 800x load yet but... wow... it's by far the most potent load I've run and I pushed a Power Pistol load 5% over published max. I had the chrony set up one day and I knew it was much to close but figured I'd give it a try because time/circumstance didn't allow me to reset it. I was about 5 feet away and the muzzle blast literally rocked the entire chrony/tripod, almost tipped it over.

[hogheaven]

thanks for all of the replies...this is what I figured you all would say..I figured on it requiring a little more effort or attention but nowhere near impossible. I have a glock 31 gen 4 in .357 sig and I have shot .40's as well and It seems to be a much flatter shooting round. What do you all prefer? How does a .45 acp stack up?

[Brian Pfleuger]

It depends on what you want to do.

I personally have no use for the 40SW. 10mm is my favorite. 45acp is fun. 357sig is cool but I like 10mm better.

They're all good.

[crowbeaner]

I use RCBS dies and size my brass in a single stage press before loading them on my RL450. It makes the process much easier when I do this, and takes some of the stress off my dear old press. Brian is right about the 800x; it's good stuff and being used for a LOT more than just shotshells lately!

[gandog56]

Originally Posted by FlyFish;

I (and others) avoid case lube when reloading .357 SIG by first resizing the case body in a .40 S&W carbide die and then resizing the neck in the regular (non-carbide) .357 SIG die. Works great, and no lube needed. With a progressive press and enough stations, there's really no additional work, either.

Well, that is the way I do it, but I don't know if he also reloads .40 or 10mm, and has the dies.

[57K]

They're kind of expensive, but unless Dillon has suspended production, they make a carbide die set for the .357 SIG.

[schmellba99]

If any of you need some 1x fired brass, let me know. I have some that I will never use on account of not owning, nor having any desire to own, a .357 Sig.

Not sure on quantity right now. It's not a huge amount, but enough to make it worth while anyway.

[snuffy]

I will never use on account of not owning, nor having any desire to own, a .357 Sig.

Ya just don't know what you're missing! The 357 sig is an awesome handgun cartridge. The reason for it was to have a high cap semi auto pistol with the same power of a .357 magnum revolver with a 4 inch barrel, when using a 125 grain bullet.

To take the above comments a step further, the bore size is really the same as 9mm, .355, BUT you have to have bullets that have a truncated cone shape, not the normal round nose 9mm bullets. Like the Hornady 124 XTP, and the Hornady 125 HAP,(Handgun Action Pistol). The straight driving surface, and the abrupt taper to the flat point allows the maximum grip for that short neck.

[Gster]

[QUOTE]So the guy down at the local gun shop told me that reloading for a .357 SIG would be nearly impossible...

I guess you learned that the guy doesn't really know as much as he thinks he does. If you start loading them, take a box to show him and then tell him how much they cost per round compared to what he wants to sell them for. Do you reload? If so, you already know that you can make better ammo than you can buy.

[Misssissippi Dave]

I have a Dillon set for my 550B. It was necessary to remove a little material from the powder funnel to keep from expanding the case prior to adding a flair to seat the bullet. I used calipers to measure the bullet then measure the funnel before the flair point and it was .0005" larger than the bullet was. Now it is .004" smaller. I chucked the powder funnel to a drill and used red scotch bright to remove the material. It also leaves a smooth surface doing it this way. I would do a little and remeasure until it was where I wanted it. My goal was to only make it .003" but I had to go a little more to get rid of one area that was slightly to big.

Now I can put a slight flair on the case to make seating the bullet easier. I tried one dummy round with the flair I use and no crimp. Pressing the round on the bench won't move the round deaper in the case. I am using Montana Gold 125 grain JHP bullets. They are not cone shaped but seem to feed well without any back set manually running them through the action. I have yet to take these first test loads to the range.

I was concerned about how difficult this round was going to be. It does take more time than usual (for pistol loads) to set the dies up correctly. Having to worry about head spacing on the shoulder is different for me.

I would suggest checking any type of expander you might be using for pistol ammo to make certain the case is not being expanded more than .003" less than the bullet diameter prior to the point where you are starting the flair to get rid of one problem many people might encounter. I think if you were to check you may have this happening with dies from many manufactures. So far I have only found this problem with the Dillon .357 Sig and RCBS .357 Mag dies I have. My other dies are very close to needing material removal from the powder funnels.

[Nick_C_S]

It's just a .40 cal S&W case necked down to 9mm size.

No they're not. There is a length difference, so simply necking down a 40 Cal will result in big problems. I know it's unlikely you planned on performing such an operation (necking down 40's into 357 Sig), but it's important to know that there is indeed a difference.

[dahermit]

I (and others) avoid case lube when reloading .357 SIG by first resizing the case body in a .40 S&W carbide die and then resizing the neck in the regular (non-carbide) .357 SIG die. Works great, and no lube needed. With a progressive press and enough stations, there's really no additional work, either.

Neat trick! Good to know.

[Nick_C_S]

I (and others) avoid case lube when reloading .357 SIG by first resizing the case body in a .40 S&W carbide die and then resizing the neck in the regular (non-carbide) .357 SIG die. Works great, and no lube needed. With a progressive press and enough stations, there's really no additional work, either.

Yeah, I have a friend who does this too. It works. (I don't load 357 Sig.)

[schmellba99]

Ya just don't know what you're missing!

I know it is a good round - I have shot one more than once. Just not for me, especially at the price ammo generally goes for.

I would probably just get a .40 if I felt the need for an intermediate caliber.

I have around 100 cases if anybody wants to trade me for them.

[Beanie-Bean]

Well, I managed to save up a nice stash of .357SIG ammo at around $14.99/box of 50, or sometimes $16.99/box of 50, but that was before the craziness kicked in. I held off buying the Dillon dies (because they were twice as much as the regular dies) until I finally ran out of practice ammo and had a ton of cases on hand to load.

Here is a shot from when I was first loading out this caliber. I chose to load from the starting loads and ladder up to about mid-range, and I used the Chargemaster as the powder measure.



Here is a shot of my favorite projectiles to use. I haven't ordered any Montana Gold 125 gr. bullets yet, but I do have quite a bit of their .355" and .400" bullets at the bench. As soon as I run out of all the Speer I bought a while back, I'll be making the switch, or at least trying out the MG bullets. I did a load with some Hornady 124 gr. XTP, but that stuff is way too expensive for plinking.



Some dummy rounds, case gauge, a Glock 31 barrel for my G22 to test the load out, and my favorite tool for .40S&W/10mm/.357SIG brass: Redding G-Rx carbide FL sizing die. It takes any bulges out of those calibers, and it makes loading on the Dillon a lot easier, too.



My favorite powders so far have been Blue Dot and Longshot, but I've also done some nice loads with Power Pistol and Unique, too. So far, so good. All the Glocks eat 'em up, as well as my SIG Sauer P-series pistols chambered for .357SIG.

[Peter M. Eick]

The sig is easy to load. Dillon carbide dies save a lot of lube issues. AA9 is so full that with normal loads the powder supports the bullet so no setback issue. 9mm bullets are cheap and fun to shoot.

I blast everything from 88 grn "screamers" to 147 grn XTP's out of my 229 Sport and love it. I have reloaded more 357 Sig than any other autoloading caliber. Over 13,000 so far with no issues.