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i s.357 good or bad

  • yes

    Votes: 133 90.5%
  • no

    Votes: 14 9.5%

.357 sig

33K views 68 replies 50 participants last post by  gnappi 
#1 ·
just wanted to get people general opinion on this round. was looking into getting a hand gun and was wandering if i i should consider this.
 
#28 ·
It's not hard to find if you know where to look. I ordered 1000 rounds a couple months ago and got them in 4 days from an online retailer. Just as cheap as the .45acp that I order too.

I think people get "not easy to find" confused with "forgot to plan ahead" a lot of times.
 
#30 ·
Law enforcement personnel need ammo that can penetrate barriers like windshields and sheetrock. The .357 Sig does this better than 9mm or .40 caliber according to tests I've read.

But civilians are not called to get in shoot outs so I don't see it as a factor in that regard.

My call on this is that in the .357 revolver, Federal's 125 grain at 1400 fps is considered by many experts to be the gold standard for man stoppers.

You can get .357 Sig from Federal in 125 grain at 1400 fps, so I would say by reading the specs that the .357 Sig should do as well as the .357 S & W.

And that would be good company to keep.

On the down side the ammo is more expensive than the .40 caliber ammo.
 
#31 ·
new_guy, your question can't be answered correctly by the poll's choices, unless you understand that we're answering 'yes, the 357SIG is good or bad' and 'no, the 357SIG is good or bad'.

Personally, I love the cartridge, believing it to be the best combination of magazine capacity, knock-down power, accuracy, and reliability. The only two handguns I own are two Glocks so chambered, a new 31Gen4 and a 32Gen3, after going thru three .40s, three .45GAPs, and a 10mm.



If you don't reload, the best-overall PD cartridges available are the Speer 125 Gold Dots and smaller companies' loads using the Barnes 125g. TAC-XP, the best PD bullets money can buy IMO.
 
#32 ·
For Law enforcement or those less concerned about ammo cost & availability, the .357 Sig is probably just peachy. Is the ammo hard to find? I'd guess that it depends on where your located. Around my neck of the woods, it's less common and more expensive than the typical alternatives. Since I reload most of my range ammo, there is less to be gained IMHO, because bottlenecked cartridges have a larger PITA factor. As for the "feeds more reliably" thing. Is there a large problem with the traditional semi-auto cratridges feeding reliably? If my 9mm or my .40 has never had a failure, does that mean I could still see improvement by switching to .357 Sig? If I for some reson wish to duplicate the ballistics of one particular .357 magnum load (the 125 gr "hand of God" load) I'll use a .357 magnum.
Heck at the end of the day, it really isn't an improvement (ballistically) over the .38 Super. I'd much rather have a 1911 in .38 Super than a Glock in .357 Sig.
YMMV.
 
#33 ·
Police seem to like the .357 Sig for its ability to penetrate barriers like windshields and plasterboard. They also deride the .40 for not doing well at those same tasks.

But civilians have different needs than cops do, and the .40 is well-suited for civilian use where penetrating barriers moves the event into a "shoot-out" situation (which civilians are not supposed to engage in). For a defensive role, I think the .40 is fine.

Also the .357 Sig does not drive a 9mm slug. It drives a .357 Sig slug; if you load 9mm slugs in a .357 Sig casing (they have the same physical dimensions) the 9mm will blow apart.

And although the .357 Sig drives a like weight bullet at a like velocity to the .357 S & W they will not behave the same way as the construction of the bullet is different. I'm not saying which is better; I really don't know. But I know that the bullet configurations are different so the expansion and penetration will be different too.
 
#34 ·
ammo is hard to get
i haven't seen any for quite some time
there are other calibers that do the same and a lot more plentiful ammo
 
#35 ·
Also the .357 Sig does not drive a 9mm slug. It drives a .357 Sig slug; if you load 9mm slugs in a .357 Sig casing (they have the same physical dimensions) the 9mm will blow apart.
Seriously?
Contrary to all the noise, the .357 Sig's ballistics aren't that remarkable. You can interchange 115gr XTPs all day between the two, without any kabooms. Compare the two cartridges in a reloading manual, the differences in performance aren't that spectacular. The .357 sig can make better use of slower powders for maybe 200 FPS +/- or so more. If you start going into +P & +P+ 9 mm, the gap closes.
 
#41 ·
It's a great round. They did an amazing job trying to match the great 357 magnum. The 357 sig is worth your attention and one thing I don't look at is the cost of the ammo, your life is worth an extra couple of dollars to get the kind of results that are produced by the 357 sig.
 
#42 ·
The 357 sig is a great cartridge. And, so is the 9mm, 40 cal, 45 acp, 357 magnum and 10mm. Of course there are others but if I try to list them all I would forget one. What's more important is the skill of the user and a person mind set during a stressful encounter. If a person couldn't defend themself with any of the calibers that I listed, then they need practice more than they need a new gun. Truthfully, with today's choices of ammo, I believe that any advantage one of these calibers would offer is statistically insignificant. Just my opinion, but the 357 sig is as good as any.

Wild Bill Hickok's favorite pistols were a pair of Colt Navy model 1851 blackpowder pistols in 36 caliber. I think those pistols would have failed the FBI standards in 4 layers of denim covered gelatin. Terrible shot capacity and a booger to reload. I still wouldn't have wanted to face him with any of the above mentioned calibers. I just sayin :)
 
#45 ·
The poll is ambiguous...No answer is right or wrong. I like the .357 Sig round very much. I bought a G32 and rebuilt it and gave it a sweet trigger and then bought a Lone Wolf barrel and put it in my G27. Magnificent weapon. Recently I found a used Sig 229 in .357 and bought it. First Sig I have encountered with a magazine disconnect...and I wish I could get it out of the gun...but it too is a sweet shooter.
 
#47 ·
just shot the 357 sig in my brother's 2 new guns,the s&w M&P full size 4.25 barrel, and the glock 33 w/ the pearce grip extension mags. loved shooting,and need to own both.going for the G33 first,then the S&W. I have a good accessability on 357 ammo,so,it's a no brainer.I got 6 bullseye hits w/ 3 pairs overlapping,after 3 mags from the G33. love the short reset on the trigger,and it seems be easy to what I call "getting into the groove" with this weapon.
 
#48 ·
Seriously?
Contrary to all the noise, the .357 Sig's ballistics aren't that remarkable. You can interchange 115gr XTPs all day between the two, without any kabooms. Compare the two cartridges in a reloading manual, the differences in performance aren't that spectacular. The .357 sig can make better use of slower powders for maybe 200 FPS +/- or so more. If you start going into +P & +P+ 9 mm, the gap closes.
For the people that don't know much about the .357 Sig and are just guessing that it is nothing but a 9mm +p+ you really should study the round before spreading false information. Below on the left is a Speer Gold Dot 124 grain 9mm +P and on the right is a Speer Gold Dot 125 grain .357 Sig. As you can see they are made different because the .357 Sig. Was designed at 1450 fps.

Full power .357 Sig. is a bad ass round that most people have never shot because the watered down stuff is what is sold to the general public most of the time. I am glad that the .357 Sig. is a pretty well kept secret and full power ammo is hard to find.

Below left is a 125 grain Winchester Ranger .357 Sig. On the right is Winchester Ranger 124 grain +P+ 9mm. Liquid Food Natural material Cosmetics Jewellery
 

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#49 ·
Let there be no doubt that the .357 in Sig or S&W magnum is a hot load. But at the end of the day, it's all academic. There isn't enough of a difference in each round from the 9mm, .40, .45, or .357 Sig to warrant saying one is THE BEST or better than another. It's all perception and personal preference. Like it was mentioned above, the differences really are not all that staggering. I would not want to get shot with any of it! And all of it will kill you. Does it make any difference what you were shot with if you're dead?
 
#50 ·
Found a little more information.

The Virginia State Police has reported that attacking dogs have been stopped dead in their tracks by a single shot, whereas the former 147 grain 9 mm duty rounds would require multiple shots to incapacitate the animals.[10] Proponents of the hydrostatic shock theory contend that the energy available in the .357 SIG is sufficient for imparting hydrostatic shock with well-designed bullets.[11][12][13] Users have commented, "We're really impressed with the stopping power of the .357 SIG round."[3]

In tests, the .357 SIG outperformed the 9mm, .40 S&W and the .45 ACP in higher percentage success rates in one-shot stops, fatal shots, accuracy, and less number of rounds used to stop an assailant. Loaded to the same pressure as a .357 Magnum, but 14 percent higher than a .40 S&W or a 9mm, the .357 SIG creates quite the report when fired. Recoil is similar to the .40 S&W-if you need something to compare it to-but less than the .357 Magnum. It can handle a 160-grain bullet, but 125-grain jacketed hollow points perform best for self-defense. Its stopping power is undeniable.
 
#51 ·
Yeah...the only thing about "tests" are they do not account for real life. No one said the .357 isn't going to stop, but it isn't guaranteed to stop with only one shot either. I recently read an article where the author cited personal experience where a little old lady severed the aorta with one shot from her .32 shooting FMJ, but a cop could not stop a knife wielding attacker with five shots with .45 JHP. There is a place for theory, but it really isn't in real life. Just food for thought.
 
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